About Us
Hi, I am IG, the founder Plantraw™.
As a kid I saw family members gaining weight and getting sick with the modern-day scourges of blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.
Determined not to go there, I studied everything I could about nutrition and health--from biology in college to books, journals, and professional podcasts.
As someone who used to crave refined carbs I had to find satisfying alternatives that I could adhere to in the long run, real foods that wouldn't make me feel deprived and wouldn't harm my body.
For snacks I would prepare for myself healthy treats which I couldn't find anywhere, and I used dates instead of sugar (I never liked the aftertaste of plant-based sweeteners).
Friends and family loved my creations, kept asking for more, and were telling me that I should consider producing and selling them in stores. Since I cared a lot about health, and wanted to improve people's lives, this was exciting feedback, and I decided to follow my newly-found passion and start this business.
My first product was the cocoa-date (or “chocolate”) truffles.
When entering new stores I would do "demos," giving out samples to introduce the product, and hear what customers had to say. I wanted to make sure I was delivering an excellent product that customers would love, and so I implemented requests and suggestions, like size and additional flavors.
Over the years I have developed additional products: The Ice Crage™, a vegan ice cream alternative, and Raw Crisps™--dehydrated, almond crackers with veggies and seeds. These are vegan, keto-friendly, fiber-rich, gluten-free, kosher snacks with no added sugar.
Ice Crage™ (thus called because it’s all the rage) is now in stores in the New York tri-state area, receiving rave reviews and eager spoons dipping.
Dates have been an important ingredient in every one of our products. It has felt wasteful to throw away their seeds; I was sure that they were a good source of nutrition.
I decided to roast and brew them, like coffee or tea, and sent the beverage to a lab. The results confirmed my assumption: These seeds were rich in antioxidants and other nutrients. So we have been accumulating these seeds and will be launching our date-seed coffee in the next few weeks.
We are continuing to develop new products. Among other things, we are now working on a new line of keto-friendly, vegan ice cream alternative. We’ll make sure to post about it as we approach completion.
As part of our mission to improve people's health we launched our Plantraw Living™ blog in which we will be detailing methods and tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
To your health,
IG, Plantraw's found and CEO.