Nestos Dried Greek Fresh Vine Leaves of May 200 Gr (7.05 Oz)

While these grape leaves are listed as dried, they are actually fresh (well, canned without liquid). They are slightly damp, supple, slightly thicker than I expected, and I think would work very well for stuffed grape leaves or dolmas. They are definitely not dry.The leaves are pretty large, sturdy - they held up to me handling, separating, compressing, and repacking them with no tears - and in perfect condition. I had ample time to examine them as I separated them, folded and crumpled them separately, and put them in a larger canning jar that I could vacuum-pack and freeze so I can remove them later a leaf or two at a time to add to ferments. I just say all that as I know from reviews of other grape leaves that some brands have very thin, fragile leaves.The single ingredient listed is vine leaves. There are no other ingredients: no salt, no preservatives. While the Amazon listing and ingredients state vine leaves, these are grape leaves as far as I can tell. (I was feeling a bit dense and confused when trying to figure out from the listing if these were actually grape leaves and finally just went ahead and ordered them.) The expiration date was a year and a half out. I bought these in May and the expiration date was December of the next year.Just what I was looking for.

I was thrilled by the possibility of grape leaves that aren't stored in brine and preservatives... but I also wondered how in the world fresh grape leaves simply stored in a sealed jar could stay good. Well, truth is, they can't. I purchased these on Amazon and opened them the day they arrived to make Warak Arish for the holidays. I was disgusted to find that the jar was filled with mold covered grape leaves! Some had just a few dozen small dots of mold, but most had large patches of grey fungus. Yuck! I photographed them, put them back in the jar, and immediately contacted Amazon for a refund. Lesson learned - after a holiday without Warak Arish I will stick to the standard, brine filled jars of grape leaves that those of us without access to fresh leaves have had to use for over a century!

Exactly what I needed