It's a Wrap

By Karen Hammonds Tools and Gadgets

Credit: Stretch-Tite

I'm always intrigued by product testimonials, and one on the Stretch-Tite website really caught my eye. A woman writes that she left a casserole on top of her car, and five miles down the road the casserole flipped over and landed on her roof rack—but the plastic wrap held tight. I think it would have been a little more impressive if the casserole had sailed off the car and into a ditch, but I have to agree that this wrap is terrific.

Many chefs, like master baker Rose Levy Berenbaum, swear by the stuff. It's stretchy and clingy, and it sticks not just to metal and glass but also to plastic. What I love most is that it doesn't cling to itself before reaching its intended target.

Now for the downside: Stretch-Tite is made from PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, and there is concern that chemicals from PVC wraps may transfer into foods, especially at high temperatures. The jury's still out on this, but it might be wise to avoid wrapping fatty foods directly in Stretch-Tite, and if you use this or any other plastic wrap when microwaving, don't let it come into direct contact with food.

You can find Stretch-Tite and Freeze-tite, which is wider and thicker, at some supermarkets or online at King Arthur Flour. I've also got my eye on the Stretch-Tite Wrapmaster 2500 dispenser. "This ugly piece of plastic will change your day-to-day kitchen life," raved Jill Santopietro in the New York Times Style Magazine last year.