As a control freak, I like making my own stuff. When I ate grains and legumes, I regularly made peanut butter, bread, crackers, granola, and pasta. Now it’s more like sauerkraut, birthday cakes, and sometimes raw milk kefir and grainless granola.
But every once in a while it’s handy to have premade stuff in your pantry that you can use to fix a quick meal when you’re short of time. The drawback, of course, is the price, especially because most Paleo-ish packaged products come from the US.
This time I tried coconut wraps. I wasn’t particularly craving wraps but ever since I saw them mentioned in a Paleo blog I knew I got very curious. Pure Wraps are made out of coconut meat, coconut water, and Himalayan salt. They’re not cooked, but dehydrated. So they’re good for raw foodists, vegans, vegetarians, Paleos, Primals, low carbers, gluten intolerant, diabetics, etc. Pretty much anyone except those who have a coconut allergy or aversion. But are they as amazing as they sound?
I bought a couple of packages from Rachaels Organics. Each bag contains 4 wraps and costs $10.70. Shipping was $3. I made it a double test by trying a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks (Melissa Joulwan’s Well Fed): the Waldorf tuna salad. BTW, the recipe in the book is similar to this one.
As you can see in the photo below, the wraps are not too big (that’s a regular 185 g tuna can beside it).
Pure Wraps
The wraps are very thin, yet flexible and sturdy. They’re unsurprisingly very oily (thanks to the healthy medium-chain triglycerides in coconut) and sweet. So be warned if you’re one of those persons who dislikes any hint of sweetness in your savoury meals. I didn’t mind it but would maybe prefer a flavourless wrap with other fillings.
Waldorf tuna salad in a Pure Wrap
The verdict? Factoring in taste, value, and convenience, I don’t see myself buying Pure Wraps frequently. I will probably have them once or twice a year as a special treat. I will, however, try some coconut flour tortilla/wrap recipes, and report back.
Coconut Wraps official website (US): improveat.com
Other Paleo-ish product reviews:
CO YO (coconut milk yoghurt)
Paleo cookies, granola, bars & pasta
Kelp noodles
Good way to reduce the carbs! Did the wrap itself taste like coconut even though it was made from it?
It didn’t taste as coconuty as shredded coconut, but more like young coconut.
Very expensive for 4 wraps. What I really want to know, did they taste like coconut?
Sara, see my answer to the comment above.
Wow, how exciting to see completely gluten free wraps and ones that are ok for raw foodies / vegans! I’m giving a gluten/dairy free diet a go for a month or so, so these look awesome! I would love to give them a try :)
Good on you! I bet you’ll feel heaps better with no gluten & dairy :)
Me too..! Definitely makes for some extra creativity in the kitchen hehe.
I agree!
Would you use any of these wraps in a dessert perhaps? I’m not sure how I feel about coconut wraps for my savoury meals :)
Yes, I can totally see they would be great for mango “pancakes”, wrapping gelato, fruit & whipped cream, etc.