Where in or near Davis can I buy...

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

...pickling salt and other pickling supplies?

...pastured local chickens? (our awesome Chestnut Farm share gives us some, but we want more)

...battery-powered Christmas lights?

Comments

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

...Tags has a lot of canning supplies, you might try there for pickling.

...My first bet would be Savenor's (http://www.savenorsmarket.com/onlinemarket/index.php?main_page=page&id=27&chapter=0) on Kirkland (right off Beacon St.), but they're not likely to be cheap. You might also ask Dave or Christina at Dave's Fresh Pasta if they could be persuaded to carry same. Whole Foods might also not be a bad place to check.

It can't hurt to drop a line to Kim at Chestnut Farm and see if they have any extras or if she can put extra in your next share, she's pretty accommodating. Also, River Rock (http://www.riverrockfarm.com/) and Stillman's (http://stillmansfarm.com/theturkeyfarm.html) were selling at the Farmers' markets (now finished for the season), it might be worth contacting them to see if/how they'll sell to you.

...Tags??

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

The woman at Tags said that they'd tried to get in pickling salt and failed.

Asking Dave is an intriguing idea, though given their space limitations, I'm skeptical of success. I thought River Rock was only beef.

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

> I thought River Rock was only beef.

Right you are. Stillman's then perhaps...

[kelkyag]

I picked up a wee set of battery-powered LED xmas lights at CVS in Porter.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thanks.

[cfox.livejournal.com]

Penzeys Spices (store in Arlington Heights) has the whole spices you might want; any of the major supermarkets have non-iodized salt; I second the Tags suggestion for jars and equipment.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Pickling salt just means non-iodized (or any other additives) salt. Sea salt is perfect.

Are you fermenting or vinegar-pickling? What other supplies are you looking for?

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

The formulas we use are based on volume and assume a fine grained salt, so most of the additive-free salts we've found--like Kosher salt--are too coarse to substitute one-to-one. We end up fudging the amount and the results have been inconsistent.

"Sea salts" vary tremendously in both purity and grain. Is there a specific one you've found that is relatively pure and fine-grained?

Kitchen scale

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

If you weigh your salt, it doesn't matter how big the grain is...

Re: Kitchen scale

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

If recipe is based on volume, there's still conversion/approximation required.

Re: Kitchen scale

[wallacestreet.livejournal.com]

Weigh the correct volume of small-grained salt (can just be regular iodized table salt or whatever, you're not adding it to the food). Then use that weight of whatever additive-free salt you want. I do this all the time for baking recipes which call for more than a cup of flour; weighing is so much faster than counting cups. You only have to do the volume->weight conversion the first time if you make a note of it in the margin of the recipe.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

As other have noted, weight matters more than volume. Every salt grain will be slightly different, so if you want to be exact, figuring out the weight is necessary. Also, larger-grain salt can be ground finer.

I use additive-free sea salt, but indeed, there are sadly packaged sea salts that have various things added to them that, while they won't mess up the flavor, will cause a white haze on the pickles.

I've had good results with the bulk salt at Cambridge Naturals and other stores as well as the packages at TJs.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Sour cherry leaves, in particular, after some kinda mushy cucumber pickles this summer.

[obie119.livejournal.com]

The pharmacy on Highland Ave (is it a Rite Aid?) has battery-powered Christmas lights in color and white, at least they did last year. They are cheap!

And I second the idea to just ask Kim if you can get more chickens. She's pretty awesome that way; I couldn't be happier with the switch from Stillman's to Chestnut Farms that we made this year. The quality of the product is the same, but the location, easygoingness, organization, payment structure, and personality is a better fit for us.

[ron_newman]

Yes, it's now a Rite Aid, though it used to be a Brooks Pharmacy, and before that, Osco Drug.

[hissilliness.livejournal.com]

Perfect! I'll stop by there on the way to to work today.

[kimmercake.livejournal.com]

Penzey's in Arlington has a brilliant pickling spice mixture. It is my go-to. Completely worth the trip. http://www.penzeys.com/

[genevra-mcneil.livejournal.com]

Pickling salt -- take regular kosher salt and run it through a food processor for a while to get the super-fine grain that allows it to dissolve in cold liquids. That's what I do.

I've bought mason jars (for pickling) at TAGS in Porter, as well as battery-powered LED lights.

I believe that Pete & Jen's Backyard Birds may have some capons in their walk-in self-serve freezer. That's in Concord, which may or may not be close to Davis, depending on your definition.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

For localish chickens your cheapest location will be Blood Farm in Groton. It's a hike, and they're not open Sundays, but you can stock up for cheap and freeze.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's has sea salt in small grains. It's the blue container. About $1.75 for a huge thing of it. I've used it for pickling many times.