Discovery Box 3
Or, Katie finally gets to force you to eat tinned fish. whahahah.
Ok ok ok, before you groan - TINNED FISH, NOOOOOOO. You did sign up for a “discovery box”, so let us show you something new! To be totally honest, this is why I started this box program. Get a box to get out of your box :)
Hear us out. If you know us, you know we basically live on tinned fish. We love it. We love that it’s a high-quality, sustainable, cost-effective way to eat fish. We love the “anti-cooking” of it all. We love how protein-packed it is. But mostly, we love its versatility. Crack open a can and toss it on a salad, place it over a steamy bowl of rice and kimchi, top a pizza, or snack on it with chips or crackers. The Jose Gourmet website has a lot of information about each type and how to use them. But we like to keep it simple.
While you may think we chose this brand for their killer packaging, Jose Gourmet combs the coasts of Portugal and Spain to find seafood of distinction. They believe in the principles of fair-trade, often paying in advance and never negotiating for better pricing. The artwork of Luis Mendonça on the packaging is meant to pay homage to the these fishermen and canneries who rely on manpower and life long dedication to their trade.
Suggestions: Mackerel : We love these mixed with a little aioli on some toasted baguette with a fresh tomato and pepper. Also amazing at the beach with a legit bag of chips (see discovery box goodies) and some pickled onions w/ hot sauce. Mussels: Top your pizza with these, you won’t be sad. Also great on pasta, or served with a crusty bread for dipping!
Espinaler Appetizer Sauce
GF, Vegan, DF, SF - $8.50
By the end of this Discovery box, we will have you all on the “seacuterie board” bandwagon. You can’t do that without the best hot sauce to pair with your tinned fish. Espinaler is the best. It’s not overpowering and enhances all the flavors.
Espinaler has been around since 1896! They have continued to practice sustainable fishing and hold strong to having transparency in their processes, actions and commitments. We love that.
Suggestions: This sauce will quickly become a household fav. It’s great on potato chips, olives, or fish. A pro tip is to take the leftover oil from the tinned fish can and add some hot sauce for a quick salad dressing or to top some roasted potatoes!
Brami Lupini Beans
GF, DF, - $5
We try REALLY hard to offer products you can’t find anywhere else, but we can be swayed when it’s a personal favorite. We have been loving and eating Brami Lupini beans for years! They are our favorite car snacks! We had no idea they were based in Carlsbad until we placed the order for the boxes! WHAT amazing! These babies have more protein and fiber than a chickpea or an almond! You can eat them whole or peel them. They make a wonderful salad topper, hummus base, or snack!
Suggestions: We are building you a killer board here folks. Trust me. But I like these the most: chopped on a salad with some spicy greens, fruit, and a vinaigrette dressing.
Gjusta Goods Pickled Red Onions
Vegan, GF, DF, - $6
If you have been here before, you know that we love anything from Gjusta. Recently, we had their pickled onions and became addicted. Maybe it's the coriander or the thyme or just their homemade nature. Yes, we pickle our own onions, but these are better!
Suggestions: Again, the board. Or put some fish on a chip with a few of these! Yum! We love a veggie sandwich stacked tall with these on top or an egg bowl with some of these sprinkled on top. You really can't go wrong here!
Chef Eron Sea Salt Chips
Vegan, GF, DF, SF - $9.50
No Instagram yet!
Here is how you know we love you. We pull together box ingredients a few months in advance. For this one, we had the most amazing potato chips sourced (as one does when it’s an end-of-summer tinned fish theme!), and then the company closed. Apparently, good chips are a ton of work and not a ton of money. All of our favorite chipmakers were gone! Yes, we have some fancy chips from Spain we love. But for this, we needed a thick, sturdy chip. Our hometown is in an area known as the “snack capital” of America. So, we reached out to all our hometown favorites, which led us to Chef Eron! These chips are hand-cut, hand-salted, and hand-packed. They are a labor of love, and you will love them too!
Suggestions: PUT THE FISH ON THE CHIP AND EAT IT. That is it. Maybe top it with some onions and hot sauce if you're fancy.
Ecology Center Early Girl Tomato
GF, DF, SF, Vegan - $5 per pound
Suppose you haven't been to the Ecology Center before. PLEASE GO. It’s a small farm in San Juan Capistrano that is built on some sort of “chill me out” vortex. Whenever we are feeling overwhelmed or just out of wack, we go there, and it totally calms us. The Ecology Center is a 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified farm and education center that is a hub for southern California’s ecological movement. It started as a dirt lot, and what they have been able to create is mind-blowing. The farm-to-table dinners are a favorite, but they are only second to their farm stand. Always Hungry Grocery & Goods is partnering with this farm and others to offer the Carlsbad community fresh local produce every day of the week! They are known for their gorgeous flowers, succulent lettuce, heirloom toms, and berries! We went with the tomatoes for this box because you can’t call it a summer box without featuring these juicy, sweet babes! Yes, a heirloom is gorg and tasty, but they swore these were the perfect ones for toms on toast!
Suggestions: Toast some bread, slice a tomato, flake some mackerel over the top, crack of pepper, and a hit of salt. Dinner is done!
Heart Seed Orchard and Gardens Organic Valencia Oranges
Vegan, GF, DF, SF - $5 per pound
I know that oranges are winter fruit in my head. But I had a few reasons for including these in the box. 1 - Chef Perla is growing the most delish, bright, sunny, regenerative oranges I have ever had. They taste like sunshine. 2 - I can do whatever the F I want. So peel this orange and enjoy every freaking bite.
Suggestions: Straight up, or slice thin with the tomatoes, some honey, olive oil and avocado, pepper and salt! Enjoy a heat free dinner.
Bodega Juice Co. Coldpressed Organic Juice - Honeydew, Kiwi & Lime
Vegan, GF, DF, - $11
This juice company is one of the reasons we started Always Hungry. This cute little family is putting it all on the line. Hustling to make this company happen and creating the best juice we have ever had. Their flavors are fresh! The packaging is fun! Locally sourced, cold pressed and organic! They also make some killer popsicles and will be by the shop slinging them at the end of August. Follow us on instagram to find out when!
From the company:
“Check out our Honeydew Melon Juice, made in collaboration with Always Hungry. It’s a super refreshing mix of sweet honeydew melon, tangy kiwi, and a hint of lime. We keep it simple with just three ingredients, all organic and locally sourced from our favorite North County San Diego farms. Whether you're cooling down after a workout or just need a tasty pick-me-up, this juice is the perfect way to stay hydrated and feel good.”
Suggestions: We love this over ice on a hot day or frozen into ice cubes that we add to our smoothies. We are definitely not telling you to add some gin or mezcal to this for a summer sipper!
Lexington Bakes - Hazelnut Gianduja Gluten Free Brownie OR Cosmic Forest Cookies
Another reason we started AH. The community. This little foodie world is small but mighty. We’ve been chatting with Lex since we stumbled upon his brownies in NYC. He is actually from LA, and his product is produced there. He uses all the best organic “less naughty” ingredients. He is so supportive and sends us brands to check out all the time. Love him and his excitement around food. That comes through in his baking. Lex was one of the brands totally screwed by Foxtrot Farms closing (IYKYK, and if you don’t - he basically wasn’t paid for PALETTES of product). We told him we would put him in the discovery box, and he was so excited to be part of this journey! Yeah, for resilience!
Hazelnut Gianduja Gluten Free Brownie
GF - $7
These brownies are a modern, Naughty-Ingredient-Free spin on the classic chocolate-hazelnut spread flavor of Nutella.
Inspired by Capri’s famous flourless cake, ‘Torta Caprese,’ these triple hazelnut brownies are made with freshly ground Hazelnut flour, textured with chopped Hazelnuts, and topped with cocoa-dusted Hazelnut pieces for a satisfying crunch.
This one is best served chilled.
Suggestions: They suggest harvesting them slightly early and allowing them to ripen for a week or so to enhance the sweetness. Plant them now and you'll be harvesting them around the end of our Cali summer. Plant in full sun and sit and wait for the glory to grow!
Cosmic Forest Cookie
Vegan - $7
Cosmic Forest is their modern and vegan spin on the classic Black Forest cake flavor with black cocoa powder, fudgy dark chocolate, and bright raspberries.
Topped with French Sea Salt and their house-made coconut-sprinkles, dusted with blue spirulina powder and pink dragon fruit powder.
This one is best served chilled.
Freeze-Dried Scooter Crunch Bar
$8
We try to put something a little silly in each discovery box. This month, with it being an ode to summer, WE thought, why not a little ice cream bar? These nostalgic freeze-dried bars are one of our top sellers at our 110 N Myers store. Yes, kids love them, and so do we! They almost turn back into ice cream as you eat them, and the experience is just magic. This scooter crunch bar brings us right back to high school. Except now, we totally know who we are and would tell you to f-off if you food-shamed us for eating ice cream - stupid, mean girls can shove it, hah. As with all boxes, this is our treat to you. Our second dessert is to help smooth over the fact that the box is over, summer is coming to a close, and we all are going back to our normal lives again. Boo hoo. (But also WHOO HOO)
Suggestions: Great for the beach, a car snack, a kid who won’t stop whining, and more.
A Grand Pairing: These boxes were never meant to be meal boxes but more a way to find new foods to enjoy. But as with all things, it's out of our hands to decide where things go. We can’t help but tell you how to eat. Here is what we would do with the items in this box. We would create one hell of an epic summer seacuterie board (yes, it’s a word, ok! ). We would crack open both tinned fishes (but not the whole way bc we're not animals, and we love the look of the top curled back). We’d then dump the chips around the fish for a good view of all their saltiness; around that, we would place some sliced tomato topped with a little salt and cracked pepper. Then, we would poke the tiny bottle of hot sauce in the mix. Put the onions in a prettier bowl and add to the board. Sprinkle the Brami beans around and add a few quartered oranges for visuals (also good with a little cracked pepper). To the side, we would have a pitcher of gin/honeydew juice/ spritz cocktail and a plate of sliced-up brownies and berries.
Xoxo, With love and buttered (add tomato) toast,
KJ