Product Pick: PureWraps

PureWraps, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

I gave PureWraps a test-run after seeing their ingredient list: Coconut Meat, Coconut Water, Himalayan Salt. I got in touch with the people from the company and had a long (VERY long) conversation through email with them. They're great people and I got a very good impression. I decided that, while expensive, these were worth a try. I ordered them at $5.99 for four wraps.

When I received them, I knew that I'd have to do something very special with each one. Something that I just missed wrapping up, with clean dry fingers and well-bundled ingredients.

The people at Improveat assured me that these weren't easily tearable and they were indeed something you could pick up and eat. They were right-- they were pliable enough and didn't crack like lettuce does. It was nice to have something dry in my hands. I don't know that they would hold up in a lunch-box (though I'd be willing to give it a try, as that was what I originally wanted them for!). The taste was great-- pleasant and mild, but not invisible. It had a good tooth-feel.

The four tests (in no particular order):

1. Blueberry, Almond, and Coconut Butter Flute: One of my favorite snacks pre-primal was almond butter or peanut butter on a lavash with blueberries. Here, with almond butter and coconut butter, the delightful burstiness returned with proper squish-and-pop feel. Wonderful.

2. Turkey Wrap: Actually, the last thing I did. I don't often have deli-meat around, so it took me a long time to finally get around to making this one. I wanted to make a "real wrap," so I did the normal sandwich fillings. This turned out very well, too-- though, being a few months after making the other three, the wrap was still pliable yet a bit crackly. I solved this the sushi-making way: liquid. I spritzed on balsamic vinegar to soften it up and encourage it to stick to itself.

3. Chicken Wrap: This was filled with guava fajita-meat and served as my taco-test-run. Er, burrito. Taquito? Some other American bastardization of the Mexican cuisine? Hang on, lets get this right: This would be a test-run of a Tex-Mex Burrito.

4. Spring Roll : The first thing I thought of was the dear-to-my-heart gỏi cuốn, or Summer Rolls, that I grew up with. Paired with seaweed noodles, this would work.

All in all, I feel that they're something fun to change things up. They're convenient, and delicious, but for me they'll have to be a special-occasion kind of treat. The reason is two-fold: 1) The price is so limiting that at more than $1 PER sheet, they're too high for even a proper taco-night. 2) They're a higher carbohydrate option than I'm used to (8 grams per sheet) but their ingredients check-out just fine, so as a fun little indulgence, fine. I didn't try the curry flavored one (though I gladly would) and while I understand why the cost is high, I think it would make the product more successful if it were more accessible.

All in all, I rate these very high. On a scale of 1-10:

Ingredients: 10
Ease of use: 8
Nutrition: 7
Convenience: 9
Price: 2
Over-All: 8 (Mathematically, 7.2, but I really to love them and the price was the only thing bringing them down!)

So, get some and have some fun with it. I purchased mine at NaturalZing, a blast off a website on its own.  Let me know what you think.

Happy Eating!