The Ingredient Field Guide

A tiny gluten-free pseudo-grain that cooks into a silky porridge — one of the few plants with complete protein.

🛒 Bulk bins or the specialty grain shelf.

Tiny jet-black lentils that hold their shape when cooked — named for their caviar look. The firmest, most elegant lentil.

🛒 Bulk bins or the dried-bean shelf.

A sulfurous Himalayan salt that tastes uncannily like egg yolk — a pinch makes tofu scrambles taste 'eggy'. Despite the name, the ground salt is pink.

🛒 Indian/international aisle or spice shops; also sold online.

Crushed roasted cocoa beans — pure chocolate crunch with zero sugar. Bitter alone, perfect scattered where you'd use chocolate chips.

🛒 Baking aisle or bulk bins, near the chocolate.

Tiny seeds that absorb ten times their weight in liquid and turn it into pudding — the engine of overnight oats, chia jam, and egg-free binding.

🛒 Bulk bins or the baking aisle.

Finely ground dried chickpeas (also sold as besan or garbanzo flour) — makes egg-free omelettes, crepes, and our soy-free shan tofu.

🛒 Baking aisle, gluten-free section, or any Indian grocery (as besan).

Wide ribbons of dried coconut — toast them and they turn golden and crisp (with smoke and maple, they become our 'coconut bacon'). Buy unsweetened.

🛒 Baking aisle or bulk bins — flakes or 'chips', not fine shred, for bacon-style toasting.

Young green soybeans — buttery, sweet, and roughly as much protein as chicken per cup. We use them shelled.

🛒 Freezer aisle — buy them shelled to skip the podding.

An ancient wheat with a satisfying chew and nutty flavor — cooks like pasta (boil, drain) in about 25 minutes.

🛒 Grain aisle near the rice, or bulk bins.

Berries with all their water removed — intensely flavored, crisp, and sugar-free. They soften back to jammy the moment they touch batter.

🛒 Snack or dried-fruit aisle; check the label is fruit-only.

Korean fermented chile paste — sweet, spicy, and deeply savory at once. Traditional versions contain rice syrup; the sugar-free panel on those recipes covers the swap.

🛒 International aisle, usually in a red tub.

A North African chile paste with garlic and warm spices — hot, smoky, and a little goes a long way.

🛒 International aisle in small jars or tubes.

Soft, tiny seeds with a mild pine-nut flavor and a complete protein — sprinkle them on anything; no cooking needed.

🛒 Bulk bins, or bagged near the nuts and seeds.

Thick-stemmed mushrooms whose dense stems slice into 'scallops' or shred into pulled-meat textures — the meatiest mushroom in the case.

🛒 Produce section mushroom case, or any Asian grocery.

The dark, bumpy-leaved kale (also called dinosaur or Tuscan kale) — sweeter and more tender than curly kale, and it wilts silkier into soups.

🛒 Produce section, next to the curly kale — long flat blue-green leaves.

Real wood smoke captured in water — a few drops give tempeh bacon its campfire depth. Use drops, not spoonfuls.

🛒 Condiment aisle near the BBQ sauces, in a small bottle.

Large, soft, caramel-sweet dates — nature's candy and the binder in classic energy bars. Always pit them before blending.

🛒 Produce section (often refrigerated) or the dried-fruit aisle.

Golden flakes of deactivated yeast with a savory, cheesy flavor — the secret behind most dairy-free 'cheesy' anything. Often fortified with B12.

🛒 Bulk bins or the baking/supplement aisle; sometimes labeled 'nooch'.

Toasted pasta beads the size of peppercorns (also called Israeli couscous) — chewy, quick, and great at soaking up sauces.

🛒 Grain or pasta aisle; sometimes the international aisle.

Shelled green pumpkin seeds — buttery when toasted, and a serious protein source. Not the same as the white seeds from a carving pumpkin.

🛒 Bulk bins or the snack/nut aisle; 'raw pepitas' for our recipes.

Umami-rich mushrooms with tan caps — sear the sliced caps hard and they crisp like bacon. Stems are too woody to eat; save them for broth.

🛒 Produce section, fresh or dried (dried want a 20-minute soak).

Salmon-orange lentils that cook in 15 minutes and melt into creamy dals and soups — no soaking needed for cooking (our lentil tofu soaks them for blending).

🛒 Bulk bins or the dried-bean shelf.

A plant-leaf sweetener hundreds of times sweeter than sugar with zero calories — our house sugar-free option. Buy pure powder or liquid drops, not blends bulked with dextrose.

🛒 Baking aisle with the sweeteners — check the label says pure stevia extract.

Pure ground sesame seeds — pourable, nutty, and the backbone of every hummus. Stir it before using; the oil separates like natural peanut butter.

🛒 Condiment aisle near the nut butters, or the international aisle.

Japanese soy sauce that's richer and usually wheat-free (gluten-free). We always use low-sodium tamari to stay under the 500mg cap.

🛒 International aisle, next to the soy sauce.

A firm cake of whole soybeans bound together by fermentation — nuttier and denser than tofu, with more protein per bite. Steaming it briefly before cooking removes any bitterness.

🛒 Refrigerated, next to the tofu — usually a flat vacuum-sealed block.

Pressed soybean curd. Extra-firm holds its shape for searing and crisping; silken is custard-soft and melts into sauces. The recipe always names which one it needs — they don't substitute for each other.

🛒 Refrigerated case near produce; silken is sometimes shelf-stable in the international aisle.

The pure protein of wheat, sold as a flour — knead it with broth and it becomes seitan, the highest-protein 'meat' in the plant kingdom.

🛒 Baking aisle near specialty flours, or bulk bins.

A mellow, sweet-salty fermented soybean paste — a spoonful adds instant savory depth to broths, oats, and glazes. White (shiro) is the mildest kind.

🛒 Refrigerated, near the tofu or in the international cooler.

The unripe fruit of a giant tropical tree — nearly flavorless with a stringy texture that shreds exactly like pulled pork. Buy it canned in water or brine, never syrup.

🛒 Canned, in the international aisle — look for 'young' or 'green' jackfruit in brine.

A Middle Eastern herb blend — dried thyme and oregano with sesame seeds and tangy sumac. Wonderful on roasted vegetables and hummus.

🛒 Spice aisle or international aisle.