Cortas - Grape Leaves, 35 oz

Easy to work with and not too much wasted

I like that most of the leaves were quite large. But, there were few that were too small for stuffing. There were also a few so badly torn that they were only good as a liner in my pot to protect the good ones from potentially getting scorched. They were salty ad expected from the brine. I short 30 minute soak in tap water followed by a gentle stir, rinse & resoak took a good bit of the brine out. For the price per ounce, when compared to others, I felt they were worth it.

I haven't used this for a while but recall it as being fine, as advertised. Grape leaves come out of the jar ready to stuff., not deteriorated in any way. However, this recent jar I don't get to use at all for Thanksgiving or Christmas appetizers because in transit the jar leaked all it's liquid out over everything else in the package. Might be partly that jar could have been enclosed in a small box as well as the pretty-good bubble wrap which liquid leaked out of -- but mainly it appears to be result of Amazon's extremely poor packaging this time. All sorts of heavy and less heavy objects were loosely tossed in a too - large box to rattle around and smash into each other - which they did in spades. Covers of toiletries, box of cereal, especially affected. It was an unusually extra bad packing job -- so much so that it almost suggested deliberate action - say, someone knew they were quitting that very night and they might as well mess up on one or some of their last boxes, before leaving what might have become a very boring or frustrating job -

I have tried different brands of grape leaves, but I have never seen any brand worse than this one. The leaves and vines were thick, and they had holes or torn. In the whole jar, i was not able to find a single grapeleave that didn't have a hole or a was not torn. unbeleivable! not a single one! I ended up using a few leaves at the bottom of the pot and at the top since the holes and cracks don't matter there. I patched a few leaves so i can make stuffed grape leaves , but I used another brand (yergat) for the rest. Guess what? there is a big difference is taste too. The cortas are more slaty with a taste that is not as pleasant. Next time you are shopping for grape leaves, do yourself a favor and buy another brand (yergat, orlando, and mechaalany are good). This brand's quality is trash ("zbeleh", for those who speak arabic).

I think I hit the jackpot with the jar I received. Every leaf was perfect. Leaf sizes varied but all were usable. They were a hit! I'm buying more.

I'm thrilled with this product. I shopped and compared a number of grape leave brands and decided to buy Cortas because it didn't contain preservatives such as Benzoic acid (Sodium Benzoate) as do the other brands. The leaves are so young and tender that there is no need for me to cook them to prepare dolma. I like to eat them raw to avoid destroying their vitamin and nutrient content. If a few happen to have a little hole or tear that's no problem for me cuz I simply interpose them when making dolma. I will share my healthy dolma recipe on my blog Shirleys-wellness-cafe.com

The price was very good and it was shipped and delivered fast, but a few of the leaves were a bit tore up, there were some nice leaves in the jar and most were usable for rolling the meat mixture. I loved the large mouth jar and the way the were packed made it very easy to remove from the jar without damaging the leaves. These were not my favorite leaves but they did the job and everything else was excellent.

I rinsed them and they weren't salty. I had other brands still salty after rinsing. I liked that their stems were already removed which reduced my work handling them. Compared to other brands I used there weren't torn leaves. Dolma turned out very nice and leaves were cooked just right. They were soft and flavorful.