Where can I find in/around Chicago.....?

Looking for local (not mail order) sources for the following:

1 - Junket Rennet Tablets

2 - Krusteaz Pie Crust Mix

3 - fresh galangal

4 - fresh durian


Anyone know?

Thanks.

Galangal is available at a number of Thai and Vietnamese markets around Argyle, specifically Thai Grocery at 5014-16 N. Broadway, Chicago.

Durian is also available at Thai Grocery, but when I've seen it, it's been frozen (as it is at many other Asian food sources in the neighborhood).

I don't think fresh durian is available anywhere on this continent - my impression is the odor of an unfrozen durian in the cargo hold of an airplane would cause the crew to go on strike and faint from the fumes. However, as David says, it is available at any number of thai and vietnamese grocery stores.

Here's a link that describes one man's struggle to import durian. Eventually, US customs agreed, on the condition that all imported durian be

vacuumed for insects, soaked in water and frozen.

As for the rennet and the krusteaz...er....i dunno.

1 - Junket Rennet Tablets

I have bought these at Sunset Foods in Highland Park as well as Woodmans in Kenosha, WI. I believe you can also order these by mail as I saw some offered on cheese-making websites.

2 - Krusteaz Pie Crust Mix

If you look in the recent thread about pies, both Mike G and I offered our recipes for making pie crust. If you go very basic, it is flour, salt, shortening and water ... pretty elementary stuff. You may want to try making it yourself.

Regards,
Cathy2

It seems to me there is a Woodmans in Algonquin or thereabouts as well, though how that helps someone trying to find something in Chicago, I am unsure

Dorty,

I'm not sure if you are making a jackfruit, junket-custard pie with ginger sauce or not....but I want some.

Don't know where you would find Rennet Junket in Chicago (or Midwest for that matter). But the Vermont Country Store will sell you some by mail. See link below, you may also wish to do a search, because I didn't plow through all the pages...Grape and Grain also has Cheese making supplies, everyone I know (I am a Cheesehead by birth) sells wholesale.


http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/prdS ... bled=FALSE

For a gag gift, I need to find a case of hot chocolate (50+ packets). Costco carries a case of Swiss Miss but it's only seasonal.

Any suggestions on retailers or, perhaps, wholesalers in the area? I can also order online as long as the item will arrive by next Thursday.

Thanks.

Close to the Edward Don outlet, there is another fine foods outlet store. My friends call it the "dead food" store, from when we were in college and shopped at the Wonder Bread overstock store, known then as the Dead Bread Store....

anywho, this place has overstock of lots of Chirstmas stuff that didn't sell....you can probably find coco as well.

pd

Thanks. We'll head over there and check it out.

When you say frozen durian, I assume you mean in a freezer. But the only durians I've seen, at Thai Grocery and in Chinatown, are in yellow plastic mesh-like bags. I'm not describing the bags well. But they're not in freezers. What's the deal with these? Are they frozen to kill the stink, and then stored non-frozen with less odious consequences?

All hail great Durian, in whose spiny breast /
A thousand wonderous flavours have their birth /
All hail to thee! We wanderers from the West /
Here crown thee King of all fruits of earth!
- H S Whiteside
from "Gula Melaka"
Christmas, 1914



Both poem and picture are from the Durian Art section of the Durian OnLine web page.

http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~durian/

The ones in the yellow plastic mesh have all been frozen at some point. When I've seen them on the street in San Fran, sometimes they're still frosty from the storage. But, you're right, I haven't seen them in the freezer. The one time I bought one, the smell didn't really manifest itself until we sliced open the armor-shell. Then it began to manifest like crazy!