What is the deal with all of these recipes having hard to find ingredients.

[kurt28]

What is the deal with all of these recipes having hard to find ingredients. I keep finding myself at the grocery store with my grocery list asking the lady at the counter if they carry this item or that. If they do then someone trys to help me find it when they themselves don't acutally have a clue where it's at or what it is. And when they don't have it, I have to drive thirty miles to the nearest health food store to get it.

Do you have any sun dried tomatoes?

Do you guys carry Braggs amino acids?

How about mellow white miso?

Do you have pine nuts? -I finally found that, it was seven or eight bucks for a tiny bag, and $33.00 a pound at the health food store. Seriously, isn't that a bit high. Never mind the pine nuts, they probably aren't any good anyway.

Sorry if I sound a bit negative, but seriously I think that lady at the counter is starting to recognize me.

[ReneeH]

O.K., many of the things you are looking for you can get online if there is no Whole Foods around where you live. Or, sun-dry your tomatoes yourself! Get creative! Or, get the phone book and call around to stores in your area and ask them if they have these ingredients....save yourself some legwork.

Another thing you could do is omit certain ingredients and see how the recipe turns out. Alissa tells us in her books to experiment. Go for it!!!

Or, substitute.... For Braggs use Nama Shoyu (which is a more preferred brand...) or Tamari or Coconut Aminos (which is better...IMO). For the pine nuts (which are expensive some places...) try Cashews or Macadamia nuts. One time I made Alissa's Eggplant Pizza, which calls for Pine nuts, and used Cashews and it turned out just as yummy!!!

So, go for it!!! :) Let us know how things turn out!!!

Oh, BTW, there's no negativity in RAW!!! :) It's ALL good!!!! :D

[Revvell]

Check out some ethnic markets in your area ~ if there are any. Middle Eastern tend to carry things many others don't. Check out GoldMineNaturalFoods.com for some things as well.

[ReneeH]

Check out some ethnic markets in your area ~ if there are any. Middle Eastern tend to carry things many others don't. Check out GoldMineNaturalFoods.com for some things as well.

Yea....I got my Raw Buckwheat and Ryeberries from them...they're wonderful! Thanks Revvell!!!

[Revvell]

Yea....I got my Raw Buckwheat and Ryeberries from them...they're wonderful! Thanks Revvell!!!

Welkiss. :)

[maggiesdaddy]

It's a little off topic but I have a question about sun dried tomatoes. I really like the taste of the ones packed in oil as I find they add a deeper almost "cooked" taste to sauces (which I guess makes sense because the oil in them is most likely not raw). However, oil or dry packed in my area is really to expensive for my budget. The jars of oil packed are about 8-10 dollars and the dry packed are the same.

If I dehydrate tomatoes can I use them the same as sun dried?

[devil's angel]

maggiesdaddy ... yes u can , most people like to soak their dehydrated tomatoes in oil and spices for a day to a couple weeks before useing them though . good luck .

[rawlight]

What is the deal with all of these recipes having hard to find ingredients.
Sorry if I sound a bit negative, but seriously I think that lady at the counter is starting to recognize me.

I think this is relative. It depends upon where you live if some of this stuff seems rare or unique to you.

And thankfully, these days, there are so many online places to get the goods:)

Move to Cali. There isn't much that is rare around here:) !!

[cosmicpixie]

I'm new to it all too and got alot of my stuff online. The raw or vegan diet is pretty specialized in some respects and your local Walmarts (or Tesco here in the UK) just won't stock alot of it. I checked out lots of different online stores before finding one that did most of what I needed with free delivery over a certain amount. Other stuff I got off ebay.