Loose/Bulk Spices in Santa Clara co. / Sunnyvale area?

[vprasad]

Just about all of the ethnic stores around here carry spices in the little 2 oz plastic packets-- are there any places in the Sunnyvale/Santa Clara co. area which carry bulk spices in bins? In particular I'm looking for:
black pepper (tellecherry)
nutmeg
star anise
cassia (scratch that; seen some nice big bundles of cassia in a few mexican supermarkets)

[chefj]

You should be buying your spices from a Indian grocery for sure. There is a big Indian population in your area and the busier stores should have fresh spices for a good price and larger packets than 2oz ers. Probably 50% or more less than Whole foods

[anzu]

Elephant Pharmacy in Los Altos (on El Camino) has lots of bulk spices, herbs (including Chinese ones), and tea. Someone else mentioned WF in Palo Alto, which I think has all of the spices you mentioned.

[YSZ]

The Country Sun store on California Ave in Palo Alto has a very nice selection of bulk spices at a very reasonable prices. I bought clove powder, turmeric,garam masala, and chili powder today. Now I just have to find somewhere that has green mango powder (can you tell I'm starting to cook Indian?).

They also have a lot of different chocolate bars, FWIW.

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Country Sun Natural Foods
440 S California Ave, Palo Alto, CA

[anzu]

Can you get that at an Indian grocery store?

[adrienne156]

Yes, it is commonly known as "amchoor".

[hawaii_4me]

Maybe the best best bet would be to order through the internet:

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzey...

It maybe more efficient than driving to all these stores looking for specific spices. Hopefully they will be fresher also.

I have never ordered from this company. I have seen their ads in food magazines. I have learned a lot about different black peppers by reading their catalog!

[screetchycello]

I adore Penzeys. They have excellent stuff, and it's cheap. I've never been disappointed by anything I've ordered from them, and I've probably spent $200 there in the last two years.

[daveena]

When I lived in Santa Clara, I bought mine from Kumud Grocery. They came in bigger bags - maybe half pound, or one pound bags. Plus, huge branches of curry leaves for a dollar. Although, I don't remember seeing nutmeg or star anise - maybe 99 Ranch would big bags of those?

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Kumud Grocery
2039 El, Camino Real Santa Clara, CA

99 Ranch Market
10983 N Wolfe Rd, Cupertino, CA

[tristan]

I think Whole Foods has bulk spices, at least they used to.

[vprasad]

Whole Foods in Cupertino n/a
Whole Foods in Los Altos n/a
The closest place I've found to non-yuppie quantities of spices is Bharat Bazaar on Reed Ave in Sunnyvale. They're not bulk spices, but they are enough to last a while.

Now I'm on a quest to find somewhere that's got bulk dried herbs such as dried oregano. Any suggestions?

[hawaii_4me]

I get my bulk spices at Whole Foods in Palo Alto. They have jars of spices and a decent selection. Whole Foods in Palo Alto is on Homer (between Emerson and Alma). I know that they have nutmeg and star anise. They have black pepper, but I am not sure what tellecherry is.

If you find another source of bulk spices in our area, please let me know!

[Paul H]

"Tellicherry is a higher-grade pepper, made from the largest, ripest 10% of berries from Malabar plants grown on Mount Tellicherry."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pe...

.... but I buy bulk black peppercorns in a plastic jar @ Costco. Good enough quality and remarkably inexpensive.

[FlaSheridn]

The Palo Alto Whole Foods stopped selling bulk herbs a few months ago, the new Los Altos one never sold them, and Elephant Pharmacy went out of business.

[wolfe]

One of the problems with old threads is that some things close but then new things open.
PENZEYS
Menlo Park

771 Santa Cruz Ave
Menlo Park, CA
[phone]

Mon.-Sat.: 10:00AM - 6:00PM
Sun.: 9:00AM - 3:00PM

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Penzeys Spices
771 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park, CA 94025