Sunday, March 29, 2009

Costco gets real chapatis

Last weekend, I saw what seemed to be real wheat chapatis in the refrigerated section of a Costco location here. They were called "roti-chapatis".

"Costco chapatis" have been popular among many Indians. What we called Costco chapatis were really the Tortilla-land brand, uncooked flour tortillas. They were much better than the cooked tortillas you find in most stores and very convenient to make. Especially when you have a large group to cater to. However, it's not very healthy as it is made with enriched wheat flour.

Now, Costco seems to have a healthier option for all the lazy Indians out there who won't make their own chapatis from scratch - "roti-chapatis" from Roti-land! From the branding and the packaging, it is definitely targetted at the Indians and Indian-foodies. It's made by the same people in San Diego, who made the Tortilla-land tortillas. The front of the pack says it's made with 'durum wheat floor'. The back says it's made with both enriched wheat flour and durum wheat flour - no word about the relative proportions.

So, what's the verdict on taste? Pretty good. Very similar to home-made chapatis. The size is somewhat smaller than the old flour tortillas. It also costs more - $6.99 for 30 pieces, compared to $6.29 for 44 of the flour tortillas.

Not sure if this is available at all Costco locations. If you find it in yours, definitely try it out.
Posted by at 3/29/2009 10:35:00 PM
Labels:

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for Costco Chapati news.
    Did you post a current Hindu Calendar for 2009, like the one for 2008? If not have you seen one on the net as complete as your 2008 calendar?
    Thanks
    Maya
    ReplyDelete
  2. The calendar is updated with information for 2009. Are you not able to see that?
    ReplyDelete
  3. they were the best.. I saw them last month in Seattle downtown costco and have been looking for them ever since.. couldn't find anywhere..

    do you know if anyone has them?
    ReplyDelete
  4. Chapati Lover,

    I've been seeing these chapatis at most of the Costco locations around here. Costco is notorious for discontinuing items which may not be bought by the majority, although a minority like us may LOVE them. For example, they introduced Don Lee farms veggie burger patties and then discontinued them in many locations. Those are one of the best veggie patties I have ever tasted. Lot of people are pissed off about that.

    The only thing you can do is write to them online and also talk to your local Costco's store manager. The more people write and ask about a product, better the chances of them stocking those stuff.

    LL
    ReplyDelete
  5. LL,

    I just called up one of the stores here and they said that they were asked to pull these off the shelves.. didn't give any reasons but not available in any stores now..
    I'm going to write to them online.. or may be callup the manager again tomorrow..

    I've seen it happen with many items.. Actually all stores do these things.. Once I found the actual paneer(punjabi packig) in my local QFC but havent' seen it after that.. spoke to the manager and she said that she'd try to source it again, but nothing so far..

    Indian "ready to eat" is a huge market and hopefully somone will get it right :)
    ReplyDelete
  6. I found these again at one of the Costco's.. but I'm sorry to report that this time they seem like maida roti's.. They now remind me of the tortilla which you get at QFC or Safeway.

    We bought two packets but will be returning one packet.. Really disappointed with the new product.
    ReplyDelete
  7. Interesting, Chapati Lover. I am on my third packet of rotis now. I wrote this blog when I got the first one. The second was somewhat similar to the first one but the uncooked rotis tended to stick together a lot more. It was a hassle to pick them apart before heating. In this third packet, the rotis don't stick together as much, but when I opened it two days ago and used it for the first time, it did make me wonder if the maida content had gone up. Looks like that's been your experience too... I wish they would publish the proportion of wheat flour and maida on the packet of the rotis.

    LL
    ReplyDelete
  8. I was so exicited to try these roti chapati's when i came to know about them through a friend....But was totally disappointed when i came back home after getting them from costco...the chapatis were spoilt...i got three packs and all three are spoilt...and the other thing i noticed is they stick to each other and can just not separate...I am planning go return them at costco tommorow...
    ReplyDelete
  9. Pooja,

    Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Perhaps, there was something wrong with the batch from which you got your packets of chapatis?

    I had a similar experience last year when a few packets of tortillas from Costco were already spoilt when I opened the packets or got spoilt soon after. As for chapatis, only one packet was quite sticky. All others have been alright. I am still purchasing these chapatis from Costco and am a satisfied customer so far. Only, I wish I knew what percentage of the ingredients is whole wheat flour.

    Hopefully you had better luck, if you bought subsequent packets from a different batch.

    LL
    ReplyDelete
  10. I found these at the Costco on Coleman in Santa Clara. They taste great and have a nice chewy texture! I heat them on a regular 12" circular pan, and they almost always bubble up. By the looks of the ingredient list, "enriched wheat flour" is listed first, followed by water, and then "durum wheat flour", which means that there is much more enriched flour (50% plus) than there is durum. Hope that helps.
    ReplyDelete
  11. There is more 'maida' in it then the real wheat flour. We were disappointed after we tried it. You don't smell real chapati when you cook it.
    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello there, a real good news about uncooked chapati. I went to Berkeley Bowl store for my regular grocery shopping and I found another Chapati there from some company named Eazy Foods. I took a packet to try and after heating it on a regular way on a pan, I was amazed to see the result. This is 100% whole wheat uncooked chapati and I think that is why it is totally brown in color but its' taste is far better than that of Costco Roti Chapati. These are available in both locations of Berkeley Bowl here in Berkeley. I checked their website also www.eazyfoods.com but they didn't mention about the other locations it is available. I think I found a great product for myself and I am quite relaxed as I cannot skip chapati on any day.
    ReplyDelete
  13. Vinayak,

    Thanks a lot for telling us about Eazy Foods chapatis. I will look for them in the grocery stores here.

    LL
    ReplyDelete
  14. Becasue so many people were asking, we have added a store locator to our website. So you can now check and see if your Costco sells Rotiland. And if not ask them to carry them.
    http://locator.circlefoods.com/where-to-buy/
    ReplyDelete
  15. We bought this roti from costco last night and tried it.
    First thing they stick to each other and it is hard to get them separated without tearing atleast a bit in the center.
    Also it is so true most of the flour mixed in it is maida,,,that is why it is so white and stretchy and thick. This is not at all good for health
    ReplyDelete

Please do not comment as Anonymous. Please use a name when commenting... even a false one will do! :-) You don't have to register to use a name.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)