Throughout my years of culinary adventures, I have found it very hard to find specialty ingredients. This is especially true in small town America, where the biggest grocery store many folks come in contact with is Wal-Mart. Things like vanilla bean pods, crystallized ginger, and many more of our special cooking friends elude the big chains due to cost and turn over.
The Internet has made it a lot easier to access these ingredients, but there is still uncertainty when ordering from unfamiliar sites. I’ve come to your rescue everybody, so just sit back and enjoy some of my favorite culinary sites to shop. And if there is one thing I know how to do, it would be shop.

www.Williams-Sonoma.com and www.surlatable.com
These are big names in specialty and gourmet products. Both stores are reliable and fast processing. They host a multitude of products ranging from cookware to rubs and sauces.

www.penzeys.com
This is the Holy Grail of spice shops. It is a Houston-based company that offers almost any spice you can imagine and most incarnations of said spices. I could spend hours roaming their selection and still find new items time and time again. Their website is simple to use and breaks down everything into subcategories for ease of shopping. Their double strength vanilla is amazing for baking those items that simply need extract. Don’t fret because they also have at least three varieties of whole bean vanilla for those with a more sophisticated palate.

www.nuts.com
This site has everything in bulk from dried fruit to gluten-free items. If you plan on doing a lot of baking, this is your place. They have been a family owned business since 1929. That just goes to show you, they are doing something right!

www.lepicerie.com
I learned of this site while in culinary school, and it is kind of the bee’s knees. If other sites don’t have it, l’epicerie most definitely will .  Freeze dried fruit powders, molecular gastronomy items, etc. they host everything a chef or pastry chef could want. Even for those who aren’t too terribly serious in the kitchen, it is worth a look.

I hope these sites make your shopping list a bit easier to finish. They will definitely aid anyone in wowing their dinner guests.