where can i find a specialty store thats sell all those crazy molecular gastronomy ingredients like agar- agar?

[hungryman0930]

Message

[Paul H]

Now that we've tracked down supplies of agar agar, does anyone know where small quantities of xanthan gum can be procured?

[Robert Lauriston]

Le Sanctuaire.

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Le Sanctuaire
315 Sutter St, San Francisco, CA 94108

[Paul H]

Le Santuaire only offers these bulk chemicals in 1 lb increments. I am hoping for a source of smaller amounts. Thanks.

[janel a.]

What about Rainbow? Don't they have a large selection of choice in their bulk section? I am pretty sure I saw agar-agar over there....

[twinpeaks]

I get mine from MOM for about a buck. (Telephone brand powder, 0.88oz, made in Thailand)

[Paul H]

Whole Foods (4th Street) sells bulk powdered agar agar for $4.55 per oz. A Chinese grocery at 1199 Stockton has the Asian stranded agar agar (Hang Loon Marine Products Co.) for $1.35 for 1.5 oz. Also, as mentioned above, Le Santuaire sells powdered agar agar for $40/lb ($2.5/oz) in 1-lb. increments only.

[LarryW]

There is a new store somewhere in the city that sells all of that, but I can't remember the name. Until someone jars my memory for me, go to

www.chefrubber.com

They have all the chemical goodies you're looking for.

[Robert Lauriston]

The new local store is Le Sanctuaire, see the link in my post above.

[Melanie Wong]

Agar-agar is widely available and cheap at Chinese grocery stores. A 2 ounce package I have on hand was $1.49, in long strands. A quarter of a strand is enough to gel 4 cups of liquid. At this rate, this is enough for a few hundred gallons.

[rworange]

Raley's has agar-agar.

[Paul H]

The Agar-agar @ Le Sanctuaire is $40/lb. And one pound is the least you can buy.

[Melanie Wong]

The 2 ounces I bought is going to last me several years . . . and I've been using some every day or two this month. It took some experimenting. My first trial using a whole strand (or 4x what turned out to be optimal) of it was so firm, I could barely cut into it. I wish I'd tried dropping the mass on the floor, probably would have bounced!

Do you know if what Le Sanctuaire sells is pure agar-agar? Maybe not and more is needed for the same gelling strength.

[Paul H]

I would suspect that the Le Sanctuaire agar-agar is quite pure. The large amount is likely not due to reduced strength, but to the target audience of restaurants chefs who are likely to use far more of this stuff than you and I.

[PekoePeony]

Ferran Adria actually has his own line of (pricey) molecular gastronomy ingredients called Texturas. I'm not sure if you can find them at La Sanctuaire, but you can purchase them on La Tienda -- do a search on "texturas" and the products they carry will appear.

http://www.tienda.com

La Sanctuaire sounds really cool though, and may be a better resource.

[chemchef]

I'm pretty sure I've seen agar agar at the Berkeley Bowl.

[hungryman0930]

thanks man i'll check la sanctuarie

[Robert Lauriston]

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/379016