Baking Ingredients

Fresh from the oven sweets heighten a sense of nostalgia and bring guaranteed appreciation from your culinary audience. A complete pantry of specialized, high quality ingredients is available for all your baking hits. These include vanillin, grape syrup, pitted sour cherries, dried coconut, sugar cubes and wafer sheets, among others. Another essential, the leavening agent, ammonia - a mainstay for generations - is still used faithfully by many bakers in place of baking soda and powder. Finally, mastiha gum tears, exclusively from the Greek island of Chios, were once the sole domain of limited populations familiar with this ingredient. Mastic sap is sun-dried into pieces of brittle, resin or ground into a powder. With a flavor compared to fennel, mint and pine, it is now being discovered by chefs, bakers and mixologists for its unique profile. This versatile ingredient shines in salad dressings, marinades, desserts, candies and cocktails. A common chewing gum flavor, mastic is coveted for its breath-freshening applications. Health-wise, it is celebrated for its immune support, antibacterial, digestive and anti-inflammatory properties.