You guys, I just got my first Hatchery box!! I've been wanting to subscribe for the longest time, and I finally found a Gilt City coupon (plus a promo code!) for 3 months and got a great deal to start. I have this unbelievable appreciation and love for independent and local creators. Hatchery is a great way to introduce you to ones you may not have heard of! If you don't know what Hatchery is, it is a subscription box ($20/mo) that contains 5 to 6 large samples of curated independently made food items. It comes alongside a well designed brochure, outlining each product and it's makers story. It also suggest recipes and ideas to help expand and bring the product to life in your own kitchen. I can already see one or two of the products from this month being staples in my pantry! I always try to support local and independent for many reasons. There is always a story behind what they do and you are supporting someones true (and tasty) passions. You almost always know the ingredients going into their products - they tend to mostly be natural, organic, and free of chemicals, dyes, etc. Cutting out overly processed foods is something I am focusing on in my own day to day life. Oh, and their pretty packaging is hard to resist! :) Here is what came in October's Hatchery box!

CRUNCH DYNASTY

I think at first glance, I didn't understand. What is this? But then I tasted it and immediately thought, if I could sprinkle this on pho... no wait, chicken. No, baked MAC AND CHEESE (which happened to be the inspired recipe in the included tasting book). But then after naming about 20 different things, I was like, this can go on ANYTHING to kick it up a notch. It's just a crunchy, spicy goodness that you can sprinkle on anything your heart desires. I never knew how badly I needed this crunchy, spicy-ness in my life. Thank you, Hatchery.

OMMEGANG ABBEY ALE Beer Jelly

One word: charcuterie! I am so, so, so excited about this beer jelly. I haven't tasted it yet, but I opened it and it smells like, well, beer. It only has three ingredients - pectin, sugar and Ommegang Abbey Ale. Suddenly I can't stop thinking about cheese (nothing new). Soft cheese, hard cheese, any kind of cheese alongside some crusty bread. Or spreading on a brie and baking. Or on a sandwich stacked with prosciutto, coppa, mortadella. Yeah, that.

SWEET IS THE SPICE SWEET AND SALTY SURRENDER

Sweet! I tried a little bit of this on it's own to see what I could do with it. My feeling is it will be most used at breakfast time, when I want something a little on the sweeter side. I'm thinking sprinkling on waffles, oatmeal, maybe sweet potatoes and veggies... I think there are a lot of tasty things you can do with this if you think outside the box. Essentially all it is is a perfect blend of sea salt, maple syrup and cinnamon. Ooh, I think those weekend bagels/english muffins just got a little sweeter...

Tesserae's Caesar Dressing

This dressing looks interesting! It is a non-creamy classic caesar, with it's first ingredient being organic coconut milk. I love coconut milk, but I'm not sure how I feel about it in my caesar dressing. Definitely a new twist, but can't knock it 'til you try it, right? This sample was small and the packaging kind of bummed me out since once it's opened, you can't really reuse it. I guess it's enough for one salad though!

Made with Seoul Korean Gochujang

This seems so tasty! My box came with the original sesame flavor. Red peppers and fermented soybeans are the base of this sauce, with some heat from garlic, miso and sesame oil. I can definitely see myself using this on beef, vegetables and rice dishes! I'm so excited to try this. I also thought this was a great size sample, enough for a few dishes.

The box also came with two coupons - one for use at the Hatchery marketplace to buy full-size versions of these and past box products! Overall, I'm pretty happy with my first Hatchery box! I do wish there was one more sample, since I felt that the Caesar dressing was very small. I also did get two spices so I was hoping for a little more variety. But of course, I'm so excited to unwrap the next perfectly designed box and see what I get to experiment with! Hatchery is truly inspiring me to think outside the box in the kitchen and I'm loving it!