De Schreds Coconut Chew Review

Back when I quit dipping in 2006 there was a product on the market called KIKIT which was made from coconut. It may have been one of the first products I ever tried on my journey to quit dipping. They’ve been out of business for several years now and every once in a while I’ll get a message asking about them. I’ve always had to respond and say that there wasn’t anything similar on the market. Until today.

Introducing Da Schreds Coconut Chew. They have a simple mission: “To provide a tasty, healthy, and consumable alternative to smokeless tobacco products, as well as a delicious, healthy snack food that the whole family can enjoy.”

According to their website daschreds.com:

Our shredded coconut chew is offered in a variety of proprietary flavors which provide the consumer with a delicious and edible snack meant to be either slowly savored or quickly devoured.

It is intended to provide the consumer a healthy alternative to smokeless tobacco which can be consumed rather than expelled.

Does not contain tobacco, nicotine or caffeine.

Da Schreds Coconut Chew Thoughts

So, let’s get into it. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The packaging isn’t great, but that may be my samples. That said I don’t really care about packaging as long as the product inside is good. I believe Da Schreds is a small startup so I actually really appreciate the fact that they’re busting their asses, printing their own labels and packaging their own product. Kudos.

As this is a straight up FOOD product there’s no need to spit… this is meant to be consumed though I suppose if you want you certainly could spit the juices. The product itself is exactly what you’d expect – shredded coconut.

It is a bit ‘gummy’ meaning that it sticks together quit nicely. I’m not sure if this is a natural property to coconut or if they’ve added something to get that ‘stick’. They’ve added sugar so that may be it. For each of these flavors I took a pinch and popped it in my mouth and just sort of held it there. If you want to go the more ‘traditional’ route of packing a pinch between your cheek and gum you can do that too. It holds together better than I thought it would quite frankly.

I had six flavors to try, all of which have some pretty entertaining names: Topanga Mango, Banzai Pipe-Lime, L.A. Cherry Bomba, Malibu Berry, Denver Mintergreen and Pomona Punck-It. All products are essentially the same shredded coconut with different flavorings added to them.

If you’re holding this in your mouth the way you would a traditional chew you’ll find that the flavor that’s added doesn’t last SUPER long… but remember, this is a food product doubling as an alternative. That said, the flavor of coconut lasts forever which makes sense. This isn’t a coconut FLAVORED product, this is actual coconut which is then flavored.

These days keto is all the rage and coconut is one of the fruits that you can eat. I found this quote here:

“One half-cup of coconut has 13 grams of healthy fat, and about 2.5 grams of net carbs”

That being said, I’m not sure exactly how much sugar is added so that may kick you out of ketosis. I’ll reach out to the folks at Da Schreds to see if I can get a better answer.

UPDATE

Kevin fron Da Schreds got right back to me after I posted my review. He had this to say:

“To answer your question regarding sugar, each can has 7 grams of sugar from the sweetened coconut (14% daily value). The Michigan State University food lab certified our product as shelf stable, prior to granting our Michigan Food Processor license (not an easy process). They mentioned if we changed the sugar content, it would require an additional analysis. The sugar acts as a preservative (much the same as sugar cured or salt cured meat). Thanks again for the time you put into the review. We appreciate you!”

Which flavors you like will be completely a personal preference. L.A. Cherry Bomb and Malibu Berry were my favorites and Banzai Pip-Lime was my least favorite. I was concerned about Denver Mintergreen. As dippers, unless you always gutted your chew, we’ve been conditioned to NOT swallow mint / wintergreen products as that tends to lead to heartburn. I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Not my favorite but definitely a good flavor.

Da Schreds Coconut Chew Ingredients

The ingredients list is pretty small (which I appreciate):

Coconut, Sugar, Water, Propylene Glycol (Preserves Freshness), Salt, Sodium Metabisulfite (Retains Whiteness), Natural & Artificial Flavors.

Da Schreds Coconut Chew Recommendation

I was really pleased to see a new coconut product come on the market. Da Schreds Coconut Chew is filling the void left in marketplace since KIKIT went belly up. If you don’t like coconut you’re not going to like these but if you’re looking for a food product that will give you something to ‘chew’ on this is a good option.

They’ve put together a good flavor lineup and I’m all about products that are 100% tobacco and nicotine free. The more options for quitters out there the better. Give these a try – would love to hear what you think!

Special thanks to Kevin from Da Schreds for providing me samples to try and review!

You can purchase Da Schreds from their website at daschreds.com or visit them on Facebook or Twitter. Tell em KillTheCan.org sent you!

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