Dum-dum mystery flavors are made when the line switches flavors. The two flavors mix a bit during the changeover so they wrap them in the mystery flavor wrappers.

"I'm not going to light it" That was a faster u-turn than the british government.

MRE: Flameless ration heater BigClive: Hold my beer!

The US grape flavor is actually patterned on Concord grapes. They were developed in Concord Massachusetts. Thus the reason US grape flavor doesn't taste like anything you find in Europe.

_Let's get this out onto a workbench... Nice_

"Chernobyl in a bag" The marketing department should use that phrase .

Grape is the most common "purple" flavor in America because blackcurrants were banned here for many years. The plant can harbor a fungus that destroys certain American species of pine trees. Somewhat recently, the ban has been lifted but blackcurrant is still a very rare flavor here.

In MRE Date Codes the last 3 digits are the day of the year it was produced, so 16047 is the 47th day of 2016, or 16/02/16. Looks like the Nut and Raisin Mix was manufactured on the 88th day, or 28/03/16.

Totally feeling your pain for the missing walnut...

I have to admit, I've never seen Steve1989 light his FRH on fire. Nice...

As a Brit living stateside it's my experience that Americans usually break up the crackers and mix them with the soup/stew.

"It should puff up and get angry and hissy." - And as opposed to other bags that puff up and get angry and hissy one might encounter around the world these days, this one is generally more preferrable.

Clive and anyone wondering what the mystery flavor dumb-dumb come from, here is the answer. They use a continuous manufacturing process to make the suckers, so one flavor is run right after the one before it. This causes the flavors to mix. Instead of discarding the mixed ones they label them as mystery flavor.

When I was in the Army, we got some of MREs (only we called them "one in one", meaning one package for one whole day) which were so far beyond their "best before" date that the tinned cheese has gotten all mouldy inside the tin and the wrappers around the candy became inseparably fused to the candy. The three packets of crackers (for breakfast, lunch and dinner) were still perfect though and since this being the Belgian Army, each package contained a bar of dark chocolate of the highest quality!

In North America we usually crush up the crackers and add them to the stew or soup. Adds substance to the meal, especially after the cracker bits have had a good chance to soak up the juices. 🤤

“The Russian one went thermonuclear, it was like Chernobyl in a bag” I love this

The Royal navy might have some hardtack (ship's biscuits) left over from the Battle of Trafalgar for you to try. Worth checking.

"Basically, it was like Chernobyl in a bag" I actually let out an audible giggle that startled the cat The cat, however, was not impressed :)

I was never too fond of artificial grape flavor or scent even as a child back in the '60s and '70s. Then in 1984, I got a job at a factory where we used large quantities of highly concentrated artificial grape scent in 55-gallon drums. I've never been able to stand anything grape flavored or scented since then. I shudder thinking about it.

"Let's get this out onto a tray. Nice."

I thought I was watching a Steve1989 video, but then Clive started talking! That freaked me out a little bit!

04:59 - Our high school machine shop teacher, a really straight-laced sort of chap, astonished us when he divulged that his end of day beverage when backpacking was vodka and Tang!

All the stuff rejected by Poundland ends up in MREs 😏

Now I'm wondering how long a tiny internal combustion engine would run on the gasses generated by the heater pack. Thank You Clive for once again putting your life on the line for the world.

Very enjoyable video as usual Clive. Perhaps we should all be packing a few of these away in our cupboards under the stairs, cellar, etc just in case!

Meal for a commando, right up to the point they see the lollipop.

American 'grape' flavor is based on the taste of Concord grape juice, not European grapes. It's a different species and flavor.

This feels more like a prepper/private MRE than anything you'd actually see used in the military or by the government for emergencies.

This is exactly how I needed my morning to start. I appreciate and enjoy all of your content Clive.

“When a maaaan loves a wal-nut...”

Pinto Bean Stew is something my mom used to make all the time. Definitely in the category of American comfort foods.

You need the explosive containment pie dish for stew heating, for technical continuity, for safety and for humour..

Reading the title after watching a horse shoeing video about a horse named pinto bean....

Excellent MRE review, I love your food-related diversions from the technical stuff. Hoping to see more of these :)

I shall never forget the Scottish MRE, the best video ever made.

“It was like Chernobyl in a bag” 😂 classic Clive.

Love the Clive MRE reviews! Please do more!

And here I am back again, I love these videos 😁😁😁

I noticed it didn't have a military stock code number on it, so probably not to military spec, but useful enough for emergencies.

I like your attitude towards food, Clive.

Natural grape juice is also mostly sugar. To the extent that if you check drinks that say "no sugar added" (as opposed to those that say "unsweetened") you will often find "deionized grape juice," which is grape juice with most of the non-sugar components taken out.

“If this really is grape, maybe it needs vodka to reinforce it”. 😂😂

Very cool video. TY you BigClive.

Exploding heater bags, that's the trademark Clive twist on MRE reviews. 👌🏻

If Ashens has taught me anything, it's that best before dates are suggestions for the weak. I eat food I've found stuck under chairs in abandoned houses for god knows how long thanks to that channel.

Grape flavour is the US equivalent of blackcurrant which was illegal to farm 'til 2003 in the States and still is in most states. Discovered that travelling to Disney in the early 2000s with small kids, wondered why we couldn't get their regular cordial. Grape is everywhere, not sure most modern Americans even know of blackcurrant's existence. It's the reverse for us Brits although we're well aware of grape, a grape flavour drink is definitely wine! :-)

This is the most entertaining demonstration of an MRE, bar none!

At what point in my life did I come to find it entertaining to watch someone review a 'food pack' that I will never, ever, have to eat myself? Cheers Big'un.

Mystery flavour is just the flavour between runs. They go well enough together.

love when you do the MRE videos:)

You kill me Big Clive. I could watch this forever 😂😂😂

Another one of BigClives ASMR videos 😴. I hear he's good at these 😂😂

And the gases go BOOM, and Clive doesn't even flinch... Like, I do this every day. So basically, the heater is short circuited battery in a bag. I wonder if you could light a few LEDs from the leftovers?

I aspire to be as eduated and well versed as you some day. Thank you Sir best regards from Sweden

Those things used to come with a tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce and a chicklet. And pinto beans should be eaten with cornbread, with a side of mashed potatoes.

I just love this channel. :-D

In the Australian army we had rat packs (ration packs) that were meant to last you one day. Apart from the usual things they included toilet paper, matches, a hexamine heater, tinned cheese, some chocolate that was rumoured to contain laxative (epsom salts to counteract the effects of the cheese) and "biscuits" that were meant to be eaten for breakfast. It was generally known that the only way to eat the biscuits was to put them in a canteen cup with some water and let them soften for fifteen minutes. After that time you could look at the biscuits and come to the conclusion that they were still inedible, throw them away, and use the water to shave with. You could also eat the biscuits during the day with some cold contents of one of the tins - usually tuna or something similar, but had to be really careful you didn't break your teeth on the dry biscuits. ETA: Everything edible in the pack was supposed to be consumed, however when preparing your pack to go operational you would chuck a lot of the stuff away. There's no point carrying three or four hexamine heaters for example. You would often swap things with other soldiers at this point, so you could offload your tinned cheese to people who actually ate it, and get extra coffee and condensed milk. Some of those blokes finished up with so many tins of processed cheese, I swear they probably didn't shit for the whole operation and for a week after. The army chocolate was really bad, and I don't think anyone ever ate much of it. The cordial had a high salt and sugar content and was meant for electrolyte replacement. Everything was sealed in foil lined paper in army green, except for some of the sugar sources which were usually life savers or similar. Most of the rat packs were past their best-before date by the time we got them, or they had been stored for too long in a hot warehouse. Oh! There was also combined can opener/spoon which you could trade with Americans for cigarettes. They had a similar can opener but it was tiny and useless. The spoon part on ours was a handle that gave you leverage when opening the can. That dates me BTW, this was a period when NO cans had pull tops on them. It was the little can opener or your bayonet, or you went hungry.

Wow he called it a lollipop...awesome!!!

I'll be honest. Before this video was finished, I was rummaging through our canned goods and found a can of chili. It's really good! MRE's are amazing. Does anyone really know how long they last? In the late 60's, us kids would visit the local military surplus store and buy WWII rations and eat them while camping. They were in excess of 20 years old and were still good.

I love these

There was no way to heat the coffee which leads me to believe they weren't expecting anyone to actually drink it.

Love these videos!

Stew LOOKS GOOD!~

Describing a wet wipe as palatable is a very big Clive thing to do.

Clive, here in the U.S., we break up crackers and mix them into soups and stews. Just thought I'd let you know since you wondered how you were supposed to eat them.

Ah a knickerbocker glory - you are making me want to head to Nardinis now for one.

a year plus later, that bassy fwump still gets a chuckle from me.

What you have there, Clive, is what Steve1989 refers to affectionately as 'Tactical gas station food'. I do believe that he said that the Pinto beans and ham, was widely disliked by the troops, and was replaced. Try and find a French, Spanish or Norwegian ration - they are incredible. Oh, and when you opened those crackers - nice hiss.

no trident heater this time? have to admit i'm a little disappointed

You managed to turn a *flameless* ration heater, into a *flaming* ration heater. 😁

That "mystery flavor" sucker reminds me of ninth grade chemistry class. We mixed alcohol and a relatively mild acid to synthesize esters (the natural chemicals that generate fruit flavors and smells), and then smelled the result. Even though we all used the same amounts of the same ingredients, nobody could agree on exactly what fruit it smelled like, but everyone agreed that it was fruity. We were encouraged to taste it and again, nobody could agree which fruit it tasted like, but it was fruity. Turns out the exact rate of heating and total heat applied affected the result- it can be fine-tuned to approximate the ester mixes found in various fruits. (Filtering and other processes help.) I think that's the origin of your mystery fruit sucker- somebody ruined an industrial-sized batch of synthetic esters, so they decided to print up special labels and sell the result. Seems to have worked...

There are normaly 4 digit codes on the packages. You can take the converter here: www.mreinfo.com/mres/mre-date-converter/

"Let's get this out onto a tray" 7:00 "Nice"

How ironic that it says "flameless" on the heater bag and yet it produces flammable gas.

I think the American "grape" flavor is styled upon Concord grapes, rather than the seedless grapes usually found in grocery stores. Concord grapes taste quite a bit like that synthetic grape flavor.

"It's wet......" Nice!

Good stuff again. I think it would be super funny if he did this in the same video as the carbonated jager just to show how fun this guy is. Then maybe showing him drinking the whole bottle and finishing the mre while he does some cool shit like play snes.

Anything in USA that's "grape" is actually a flavor best described as "purple".

More food videos please Mr Clive 😊👍

I didn't know there was a website for these things. I need to get some.

Big Clive, how cool would it be to assemble a circuit on one of those military-grade crackers? Most of the 4" x 4" crackers we get in MREs here in the US are already pre-drilled for the components!

I’m surprised there wasn’t a tiny Tabasco sauce in there. A bit of hot sauce on that bean concoction would be nice.

Could we please have some more MRE reviews?

You're supposed to lean the cardboard box with the heater on a "Rock Or Something".

Please, I have a question: What makes this channel have all this interaction and the huge amount of comments? Is it because of what it is doing? Or because of his beautiful distinctive comment?😁😁

Exploding FRHs is the one thing missing, from Steve 1989's reviews.

I'd say that wine is more a flavored grape drink than a grape flavored drink. But it's always interesting to see these kinds of things.

This whole thing can be prepared and consumed on the move utilizing a mess kit mug, a canteen, and the pockets of a tactical vest(at least I think it can) love to see somebody do it.

Salt in the water is supposed to help the heating reaction when they're a bit old.

I believe it's better to leave the open side of the flameless ration heater toward the outside of the box and prop it up on an angle so it can vent the gases properly. Also, stop messing and checking on it! Leave it and forget about it for the allotted amount of time. Also, as is customary, you should slooowly open any sealed packages to check for a hiss, and then comment on it - "Nice hiss."

Great video!🤣

LOL. He's just as entertaining to watch as Steve1989MREinfo. But it's like watching a Foreigner consuming an American type MRE.

Grape drink is always synthetic tasting. It is a hard flavor to reproduce. The best grape sodas typically have grape juice in them...

Nice.

Round about 6:48 you can hear all of the moisture being drawn out of Clive and entering the crackers. Forever crackers indeed. Seems like an acceptable quality MRE.

Sweet and synthetic lovely

The mystery flavor was always my favorite flavor of dum-dums. You got a different flavor every time. Now that I’m older, I realize they’re probably a mix of flavors when the factory switches between flavors, and a little of the old flavor mixes with the new on the assembly line. Best to not let any product go to waste. Just call it a mystery flavor!

so its palatable you say , thanks for sharing.

Yer, wish I had a forever knob,mines a now an then nob.

Wow, that was a fantastic "Whoomp". Had me laughing for a while :D