Well, I’m back at it again…this time shopping at a local Asian supermarket.
Getting thrown out of a conventional supermarket wasn’t enough fun for me!
What interesting and traditional foods can we find here?
If you haven’t ever shopped at an Asian grocery before, you must find one in your local area right away. Not only is it an incredibly fun and interesting experience (be sure to take the kids along), but you will find foods here that you cannot find anywhere else.
What foods do you like to buy at an Asian market?
By the way, I need to come clean. The salted duck eggs I bought in the video .. they were terrible! Big strike-out on that purchase. I highly recommend buying the speckled quail eggs instead.
However, the frozen coconut made excellent homemade coconut milk!
How to Shop at an Asian Supermarket
One thing I didn’t show in this video is the packages of very affordable bonito flakes. They are dried fish that make an excellent quick stock for soups!
Sadly, they don’t have Asian food stores where I live (don’t have much for that matter, lol!). They may have one in the city hours and hours away so I’ll have to research before our next trip. They seem pretty awesome!
How fun! We actually have an Asian market not too far away, and they do have a ton of interesting things. Like tanks of live fish, whole ducks (with heads- eek!) and other novel items. I haven’t been in a while, so your video has encouraged me to return sometime soon. We also have a Mexican grocery store and they too have a ton of stuff not at the conventional grocery store. It was so exciting for me to discover the cool stuff they have especially in light of working toward eating more whole/real foods.
By the way, I’m a new reader, and I love your blog! It’s so enlightening! 🙂
Awesome stuff, Sarah. I used to have a great market in my area but it closed.. 🙁 I have to find another. I remember reading once about small, salted, dried fish someone ate as a snack – they might have been anchovies.. or sardines? Again, found at an Asian store.
Quick note about veggies: if you go into an Asian market for the first time, buy veggies sparingly. My mom and I bought a lot one time and it went bad/rotted very quickly. We wound up wasting a lot of money. Once you see the produce is fine, then by all means take advantage!
I found chicken feet and whole chickens (with heads) at my asian market. I was excited to make broth with them. But, they couldn’t tell me where they came from exactly, ‘oh, somewhere north’. So I didn’t buy them. They also have a lot of fish. I’ll have to make a trip back and see what I find this time. I haven’t been in a year or so.
I would love to shop an Asian market, but it is nearly impossible to find things that my peanut/nut allergic child can eat at a place like that.
Hi Linda, if you don’t buy any of the processed foods, then there is plenty of value. What about the coconut products, fermented fish sauce, duck/quail eggs, coconut sugar etc that I cover in the video? None of that would affect someone with a peanut allergy (coconuts are not nuts, by the way, they are a type of fruit).
This was so educational. Thanks. There is an Asian food store about 20 minutes away. Do you think that it is safe to buy chicken feet there? This is the only place in my area that has them.
Hi Julie, if that were the only place I could get chicken feet, then I would buy them.
I have always wondered about Asian markets and the like but have been intimidated by the unknown. Thank you! I may try to find one within reasonable traveling distance and venture in!
Hi Nancy, I did not get kicked out .. probably because most of what I was saying was positive as I showed you what I typically buy there (although there is certainly a lot of junk in an Asian supermarket – don’t be fooled!) as opposed to my trip through a conventional supermarket where I was dissing everything left and right!
Hi Rachel, my understanding is that coconuts are a low to no spray crop. If you are concerned about your source, you can simply soak them in a basin of water with 1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide for about 20 minutes to remove whatever residue might be there before opening them to get the juice out.
my understanding is that the issue with most young green coconuts is not pesticides, it’s formaldehyde that’s been used to preserve them. i guess they go brown really quickly otherwise…the argument is that little to none actually leeches into the water/meat, and i still buy them…but i am just sort of crossing my fingers and hoping. i’d love to know for sure.
That’s exactly the problem with young coconuts. If they’re purchased stateside, they’ve almost always been dipped in formaldehyde to preserve their color. YUCK! I don’t like to chance it.
I have had tons of coconut juice fresh from young coconuts, and it is true, once you cut it it turns brown. I do wonder how they can keep them so white here?!
It made me stop and think twice about running right out to get a “nice, white, diamond-shaped coconut!”
3. What are some of the main differences between your organic Thai coconuts and the standard non organic young coconut.
There are two main differences, one is in the growing and the other is in the processing. First the coco’s I send are grown without chemicals and second they are are processed without any chemical dips.
Note: If the young coconut you are consuming is white it is dipped in chemicals!!! Not just once but many times. I’ve seen the process myself. The workers wear protective clothing when they process the coconuts. They wear heavy aprons and heavy gloves. They use long poles with wire baskets on the end to remove the coconuts from the dips so they do not touch them.
A natural coconut husk turns brown within minutes of husking so when the conventional processing takes place the coconut is immediately dipped in their chemical(s) of choice as soon as the husk is removed, then the coconut is sent to the processing plant where it is polished or trimmed and dipped again in their chemical(s) of choice. The last dip (this makes 3 dips total) is when the coconut is ready for packing, it is dipped again then wrapped for transport. It is a sad process to watch and the workers themselves try to touch the cocos as little as possible, if at all.
I know many believe the young Thai coconuts they eat in Raw food restaurants are good for them but trust me they are not! Also a lot of their food contains the coconut water from treated coconuts. I also know many believe a certain test that was done came back pure, but it did not. I saw the test results myself and there were trace amounts of formaldehyde in that test in the fine print. If you believe trace amounts are not harmful to you that is your choice but believe me it like a girl saying she is a little bit pregnant it just cannot be that way. It is so, or it is not. All white young Thai coconuts are treated with dips of various chemicals before transport and most, if not all are grown with chemical fertilizers with hormones added for good measure. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.
The soft eye of the coconut is very sensitive and very soft. If a coconut is dipped the chemicals they will enter the coconut through the soft eye. No doubt about it. The soft eye is mothers natures way for the coconut to reproduce, it is where the sprout grows out from to make a new tree and it is soft enough for the sprout to exit and grow into a tree.
Sarah,
So thankful for your work on health info. I have always been told not to buy young coconuts unless they are organic because there is a chemical spray that is used on them that is very toxic. Have you heard of this? Thanks, Rachel