Pure Excellence! (Pure Dairy Free Soya Spread)

Member Name: flutel

Product:	Pure Dairy Free Soya Spread
Date:	14/06/09 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great quality product for everyone - not just vegans and dairy intolerant

Disadvantages: I wish they also sold Pure in handy smaller tubs

Choice is a bit of a luxury for vegans - and when it comes to something to spread on sandwiches and toast this is no different. At my local supermarket this is the only dairy-free spread; fortunately, it is a good one.
I know of only one other supermarket dairy free spread and that is at Sainsburys - but I shop there infrequently.

Price
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There are three varieties of 'Pure'

Pure - Soya Spread

Pure - Sunflower Spread

Pure - Organic Spread

The soya and the sunflower spreads both cost £1.12. Tesco stocked the organic spread a few months ago but it has disappeared off the shelves. Its price was a little more expensive at £1.45 ish. I am unsure as to why they have stopped selling it. Possibly because it is more expensive and therefore less popular. Also, it has less of the added vitamins and minerals it.

Generally, I think that Pure is a little more expensive than your bog-standard margarine/spread but it is not enough to put you off (if you had a choice).

Ingredients
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Soya Oil (45%), Water, Vegetable Oils, Salt (0.75%), Emulsifier (Mono and Diglycerides of Vegetable Fatty Acids), Vitamin E, Natural Flavouring, Vitamin A, Colour (Natural Carotenes), Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12

Per 10g serving, Pure contains 3% of your daily calories, 0% sugar, 8% fat (saturates being 7% of that and 1% of your salt intake.

The sunflower spread contains added omega 3 and 6 - so if you wish to make sure you get a shot of those important nutrients choose that variety. The soya spread does not have them added.

The spread is also free from additives, free from Dairy, free from genetically modified ingredients, free from gluten and suitable for vegans (as mentioned previously).

I think it is always good to check that the soya you are eating is non GM type. There is so much soya grown in the world now (mostly to feed meat-producing cattle) and soya added to many foods. I personally want a quality product and the long term effects of GM foods are not known.


Packaging
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The Pure Soya Spread is sold in a 500g rigid opaque plastic container with a slighly less opaque lid. It is a functional design and keeps the product well during the time you are consuming it; it never splits. It has a green coloured design on the tub (the sunflower variety is a yellow design and the organic variety is a blue design). This makes the different varieties easily identifiable. When you peel off the lid, the spread has another coating of a greaseproof paper protective covering. I truly wish that there was also a smaller tub of 250g available to buy - because sometimes when I am going camping or taking a bag of food with me when I am going somewhere (you get used to doing this as often the alternative is to eat nothing/crisps) I would like a smaller pack. At the moment, I have to fiddle around decanting some of the spread into a tupperware for camping - a bit iccy. Recycling - The lid details it as 05 - which I believe is just being added to my local authority collection. Otherwise, it is a landfill nightmare.

Appearance and texture
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The spread has quite a 'bright' look to it as you skim your knife across it and does not have that yellow appearance that comes with many creamy, buttery spreads. It is thick and spreads well. When put on to hot toast, it melts easily in the same way that standard spreads would. I prefer to eat toast with the spread fully melted.

Taste
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The reason why I prefer the spread fully melted is I think that the spread is a little non descript in its unmelted state. If you think about it, butter is eaten on its own on bread for its thick, creamy experience - but margarine and spread are an altogether different experience; they are there to enhance the texture and flavour of the topping that you add after. I don't eat Pura in a cold state - unless I have a tasty soup to dip it in. I would describe the flavour of Pura spread as quite 'neutral'.

Baking
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I currently have 3 tubs of Pure in my fridge as I am about to make a large vegan birthday cake . This spread works very well in baking (although many vegan recipies use oil as a fat) in the same way as regular good quality spread canbe used and works very well indeed as a frosting on the cake. I will be making a chocolate frosting and all of the previous ones have kept a good firm texture when applied to the cake. Because the spread has a very neutral taste, it adapts very well to flavours you can add - such as chocolate or lemon.

Value for money
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I have no issues with spending £1.12 on this good quality product. I feel confident that what I am buying is a truly vegan product and a lot of care has been taken with its production.

Extra Information
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Pure have a website which discusses the products in greater detail. It is well worth a look for people with specific dietry needs because it has a recipe section where you can refine your search. I ticked 'vegan' and the search threw up a huge number of recipes for snacks and starters, main meals and desserts. They look quite good too! For example - what about
Baked butternut squash and red camarge rice pilaf for tea tonight? You can even join a special 'Pure' club to get more details of other things. I was very impressed with the care and attention to detail - in the same way that I am with their spreads.

The website address is: www.puredairyfree.co.uk. For those without internet (not you I know) there is a freephone - 0800 028 4499

Conclusion
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It is a long time since I ate butter but I do remember the taste of it. If you wanted to replicate that buttery experience - this is not the spread for you. There are countless other spreads trying to do just that on the shelves. If you want a spread that is great in all other ways - and is a compassionate food choice - this is an excellent buy. When I use it I often marvel at the unnecessary use of animal ingredients in such basic foodstuffs; it is so good without those products.

Summary: I could not do without this spread!