Here's How! – Sourcing Ingredients

Chris Stanley is a cocktail geek and reprobate-at-large whose overlong ramblings & flowery language is normally limited to An Exercise in Hospitality.

It’s no secret that I (and many of my fellow cocktail bloggers) am guilty of tossing syrups, bitters, infusions and all manner of other feats of mixoloical cleverness about with near-reckless abandon in recipes. The Tiki Cult™ seems most guilty of this delightful affliction, but I’m right in there with ‘em…

Indeed, the most frequent comments we seem to get on such posts are questions about ingredients – “Sounds great, but where do I find X, Y and/or Z?” To be honest we’ve all been in that boat at one point or another – it’s not like we grow Sugarcane, Vanilla or Allspice in our backyards after all (well, most of us don’t). To boot, many of the components of these ingredients can be frightfully expensive to purchase. So, what follows is a guide to sourcing some of the more esoteric ingredients you may encounter here at the Mixoloseum, on any of our various members’ pages, or might just want to play with & draw inspiration from:

The Interweb
A phenomenal resource, accessible from the comfort of one’s own home no less! Here are a number of websites from which you might source all manner of interesting or rare ingredients without having to get out of your bathrobe, or break the bank on:

• Mountain Rose Herbs - Based out of Eugene, OR, this company carries almost every herb, root or spice a cocktailian could ever need, in a number of quantities & most are organic/wild-harvested. An invaluable resource for rare or hard-to-find bitters, tincture, infusion or syrup ingredients, they also offer a variety of house tea blends. If some prices seem a touch high, it’s due to quantity – even their smaller sizes tend to be far more than the average hobbyist could use at one go.
• Spices Etc. – Based out of Savannah, GA, a good resource for standard (and some more exotic) spices and herbs, with a great selection of interesting items like dried fruits, citric acid & flavored sugars. Their best value lies in a variety of dried citrus peels – available in large strips rather than ground – which makes them a good source for bitters-making.
• Tenzing Momo – A brick & mortar apothecary shop based out of the Pike Place market in Seattle, WA. This simple webpage conceals a great resource for some especially rare ingredients – one of the only vendors I know to carry Cinchona (for Tonic water) for example. Prices will appear especially low – be warned that this is due to quantities – as near as I can tell, each herb/spice item is sold in 1-ounce increments, so adjust an order accordingly.
• Auntie Arwen’s – An apothecary & herbalist (as well a regular merchant at the Pennsic Wars), Arwen’s carries a selection of herbs, roots, flora, spices & extracts equal to any listed above. Their true specialty, however, lies in crafting specialized blends of these – often on a custom/to-order basis. Need a ‘Mango-white Pepper-Grains of Paradise’ blend? Arwen’s has you covered…
• Sweet Vanilla Products USA – The wonderfully-resourceful Tiare of A Mountain of Crushed Ice discovered this little gem – an eBay store devoted almost exclusively to the sale of Vanilla beans & their byproducts. Ordinarily commanding a king’s ransom for miniscule quantities, sourcing this delicious orchid byproduct is now both easy & incredibly inexpensive.
• Fee Brother’s – If the homemade route isn’t your thing, Fee’s, based out of Rochester, NY is a fantastic resource for commercial syrups, bitters & flavorings. The company has been operating since the early-1800’s, so quality is assured. Orders are on 60-day net, so bulk purchases are the way to go – though their products are also sold elsewhere, usually at a nominal markup.
• Kegworks.com - A great resource for just about everything & anything cocktail-related, both for equipment as well as commercial mixers, bitters, syrups and other interesting products. Especially useful for those of you who’d rather not take the homemade route, though some of the crazier ingredients many mixologists use just aren’t produced commercially.
• Forgotten Flavors – A German company (webpage is in German) who commercially produces a pair of hard-to-find cocktail ingredients – Falernum syrup & Swedish Punsch. Quality seems to be their main concern, so if you’d rather not make either ingredient yourself, give theirs a go.

Cultural/Ethnic Groceries
These are among my favorite places to shop – and not just for cocktail supplies! Various world cultures often utilize flavors, whether through spices or other ingredients which are often unknown or unpopular in the more mainstream culinary culture; these stores cater to these flavors and the individuals who enjoy them. I highly recommend investigating your area for ethnic stores of all sorts – anywhere there is a significant community of individuals with strong cultural backgrounds one can find businesses like these.

Forming ‘working’ relationships with the employees or proprietors (many times one & the same) of such establishments is also recommended. You’ll often get deals of the sort generally only offered to members of the communities they serve, not to mention that it often helps to have someone on hand who can read the foreign languages used on the packages. Even without such arrangements, one will often find ingredients at fairly unheard-of prices when compared to those at your average grocery store. Here are just a few examples of stores like this:

• Middle Eastern – Spices, often expensive ones like green Cardamom, Ras al Hanout or Saffron are atypically-cheap staples of places like these. Likewise, teas, coffees and interestingly-flavored beverages of all kinds are often obtainable. As many Middle Eastern cultures utilize complex & unusual sweeteners or flavorings in aspects of their cuisine – especially beverages – one can find commercially-bottled syrups (Almond with Orange-flower water (i.e. Orgeat), Tamarind, Date, Rose & Honey to name a few). High-quality Rose or Orange-flower waters, as well as flavored or artisanal Vinegars, are often similarly easy to find.
• Hispanic & Caribbean – That tiny corner bodega often conceals a treasure trove of flavorful ingredients. Chiles, dried or fresh, fruit Nectars & Juices, Sodas (often sweetened with sugar, like Mexican Coke, Malta, Barritt’s, Jarritos or Ting), dried Hibiscus (called Sorrel or Jamaica). Whole spices like Allspice, Anise or Achiote seeds and produce like Passionfruit, Sugarsop, Mango, Coconut, whole Sugarcane, Key Limes & Ginger are generally available quite inexpensively.
• Asian – Rare & often strange (from a Western standpoint) ingredients are the watchwords in these establishments. Hard-to-find ingredients like Yuzu juice, Lemongrass, (high-quality) Coconut milk, unusual waters, tinctures and extracts like Jasmine, Rose, or Ginger are common. Teas of just about every stripe – particularly high-grade green & white varieties like Macha or Gunpowder will also be fairly common. Finally, many establishments like these will either have an in-house herbalist or will be able to recommend one in your area – another helpful resource.
• Indian – Here it’s all about the spices: items like Cardamom, Cloves, Coriander, Mace, Allspice & Cinnamon are often available at unthinkably-low prices and in large quantities. Likewise, dried fruits such as Dates, Figs and Oranges, as well as dozens of varieties of nuts & seeds (whole, blanched, chopped &c.) are often offered. Similar to Middle Eastern shops, unusual flavorings and sweeteners like Gur or Jaggery (date palm sugar), commercial beverage syrups like Thandai (a spicy Orgeat variant) and hard-to-find fruit Nectars (Passionfruit or Pomegranate) abound.

Fresh/Farmer’s Markets
As anyone from California will attest, this is the best way to get fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs too – often at fantastic prices. Once you’ve found a good farmer’s market you’ll never want to go back to the supermarket again – so be warned. Offerings at this sort of establishment vary wildly with season, location and suppliers. Look for a market which (ideally) knows exactly what farm(s) their produce comes from – even better a market run by the individuals who grow the produce themselves – and stocks particularly-seasonal items only within the appropriate period. As with the ethnic/cultural spots listed above, forming a ‘working relationship’ with the folks in charge can be extremely beneficial.

Health & Nutrition/”Alternate Lifestyle”
If you can stomach the overwhelming scent of patchouli for a bit, checking out the local ‘hippy shop’ or health-nut haven can result in some impressive finds, both equipment & ingredients-wise. Handy tools like juicers, mortar & pestles, blender balls and pollen presses can be found in locations like these. Also, extracts, whole herbs and spice/tea blends, interesting Honeys, Agave nectar and other items are often for sale; especially in “New Age”-type shops. Just be careful with extracts – be certain what you’re buying is both pure & of ‘food-grade’. Many shops like this maintain listings of their offerings & will sometimes ship via mail even if they’re not represented online, so requesting a catalog or ordering one through phone or mail can be helpful.

Have a favorite source for hard-to-find or unusual ingredients? Be sure to let us know about it in the Comments section…

Cheers & Enjoy!

Neither Chris nor the Mixoloseum have any affiliation or ties to any sources specifically-mentioned by name or link (save as satisfied customers).

Tagged as: herbs, ingredients, source, spices