So, we’re winding our way down through the odds & ends which didn’t ship, in terms of food. This morning we used the rest of the yellow cornmeal along with some Chana flour (Garbanzo / Chick-pea flour), some onions, and some meat analogue to make a breakfast cornbread pie type of thing. This afternoon’s experiment involves white cornmeal, potato flour, two cans of chunked pineapple, some dried currants, and miscellaneous other odds and ends in search of a sweet cake type of dish.
In the process of using up the last bits, we’re truly realizing how dependant upon our herbs and spices we’ve become, having had easy access to whatever the San Francisco Herb Company had to offer. And, oh, how we’re suffering. Today I scraped the remnants of our last batch of Garam Masala from the spice grinder, in an effort to provide some flavor to this … cakey thing we’re making. Those spices had to be at least a month old, but we’re desparate.
So, onto the great Internet I go, thinking I’ll just drop in a phrase like “Glasgow Scotland spice importer” and end up with a company. Umm … no. Nothing. Lots of stuff about Posh Spice, but that’s just not anywhere even close to where I want to go. After about an hour of fruitless searching, I’ve about concluded that the people of Glasgow eat curry … and pickles … and beer … but seem to avoid spices. Or, at least, they don’t actually go out and buy them in anything like the quantity we’re interested in.
ANYBODY with an idea about where to obtain bulk herbs, spices, and tea, please let me know? Because I’m about to the end of my rope as far as trying to figure out how to phrase “herb” so that it’s intelligible to the Scots. I’m certain there’s a spice importer in Glasgow – how can there NOT be?
Giving up on the Internet. Off to knit.
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I’m not sure about ‘bilk spice importer’ but http://www.grassrootsorganic.com/
Grassroots is a great wholefood/deli in Woodlands (ie near the university) and I get a lot of my spices there.
India
Scotland is absolutely bursting with spices — more, frankly, than I used to be able to find in the States. Only last week I had to find someone to take half of my kilogram (yes, really) of cardomom. The only thing I’ve had any difficulty finding has been black cardomom pods, and I have plenty now. Most supermarkets have various dals, and Glasgow is full of Asian food stores where you can buy all sorts of interesting things. We regularly go there to buy Japanese and Korean foodstuffs like miso, kimchee and tofu, and you can buy spices at these stores by the job lot. I’ve got a lot of gram flour right now that I don’t really use, and someone recently gave me a 2-kg bag of atta. Poppards and poppodums can be found at even mom-and-pop corner shops, as can tinned mango puree and all sorts of other things — too many by far to mention. I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed!
http://www.seasonedpioneers.co.uk/default.aspx might be a good one to look at on the internet. Their prices seem to be reasonable and they have a wide variety of herbs and spices and spice mixes. It’s not something where you can walk to the local store and pick up something you are out of, but might be good if you can plan ahead.
Thank you all! I thought I was just losing my touch in finding things on the web, because I’d struggled for so long to find anyplace like what I’m used to.
I packed nearly a pound of cardamom along with the rest of my spices. 🙂 I’ll not run out too soon, at least not of cardamom, but I’m nearly through my bulk teas, and that’s truly a crisis. But at least we know they’ve tea over there. 🙂
I have noticed that our tesco extra has an Indian section, where you can buy huge bags of spices and humungus tins of oil! Have a look to see if there is one in Glasgow. I think it may only be the larger stores! You may also find indian supermarkets are a good place to go.
Also I have found a few online:
See Woo. Or go to Yellow Pages, which is our business listings in the UK.
The Tesco in Dumfries has an Indian food section too, and it is very well stocked. Glasgow’s is bound to be half the size of Texas.
Hi there, I came across this blog whilst trying to search the web for the same thing as I haven’t been living in Scotland for long. I’ve just done a search for asian supermarkets and came across Matthew’s Foods which looks like quite a large supermarket near the city centre. I’ll definitely be heading there on the weekend. Hope this helps!