Shopping Guide

Dairy Products

Labaneh: Whole Foods stores carry labaneh under brand names including Karoun and Arz. They tend to be quite thick, so thin with a little milk to achieve your desired consistency.

G’vina Levana: The Israeli Tnuva brand of this quark-like cheese is available at some kosher stores and at some branches of Costco. German-style quark, made by Vermont Creamery, can be found at gourmet markets and Whole Foods.

Kashkaval: The kashkaval I use and love in Israel is actually a kasar cheese from Thrace, Turkey. Similar cheeses go under the name Kashar and Kasseri, depending on where they’re from. Tnuva kosher kashkaval can be purchased at koshercentral.com.

Condiments

Harissa, Schug, Preserved Lemons, and Preserved Lemon Paste: These can be purchased from NYshuk.com and can be found at many kosher stores and Middle Eastern markets. Trader Joe’s stores now sell all of these products.

Amba: Galil brand amba is available in some kosher and Middle Eastern markets and on Amazon. Trader Joe’s recently began selling amba under the name Amba Mango Sauce.

Herbs and Spices

Spices: All the spices and spice blends called for in this book can be ordered from Kalustyans.com and Pereg.com, a kosher spice company based in Israel. Many spice blends, such as hawaiij and za’atar, can be bought from premium spice blender Lior Lev Sercarz at laboiteny.com and from NYshuk.com.

Dried Lemon Verbena: Abundant and easy to buy in Israel, my favorite tea ingredient is harder to source abroad. Luckily, Klio dried lemon verbena leaves are good quality and available at kliotea.com.

Pantry Staples

Freekeh: Freekeh comes both whole and cracked (cracked is easier to find). Bob’s Red Mill and FireGrain cracked freekeh are widely available at supermarkets and online. You’ll have to look a little closer for whole freekeh.

Olive Oil: Sindyanna fair trade olive oils, made by a cooperative of Arab producers, and Honey Land, a good-quality extra-virgin olive oil—both produced in Northern Israel—can be bought on Amazon.com.

Tahini: Soom (soomfoods.com), a company run by my friends Amy, Jackie, and Shelby Zitelman, makes its tahini in Israel from Ethiopian sesame seeds imported by Omri Horvitz, Amy’s husband. Seed + Mill, which primarily makes halvah, makes a limited amount of tahini as well. Whole Foods 365 brand tahini is also a great choice. Recently one of Israel’s best tahinis, Har Bracha, made by Samaritans in the West Bank, can be found at some kosher stores and at makoletonline.com. El Karawan, made by Palestinians in Nablus, can be bought on Amazon. Al Arz, a wonderful tahini made near Nazareth, is also easily found online.

Silan (Date Syrup): Soom Foods (soomfoods.com) recently began importing pure organic silan from Israel. You can also find good-quality silan, made from California dates, from kosher and Middle Eastern shops, and online from thedatelady.com and dvash.com.

Pomegranate Molasses: The most commonly available brands, Cortas and Al Wadi, both Lebanese, can be found at many supermarkets and specialty markets. For a special (and pricier) treat, Mymouné brand pomegranate syrup, made from pomegranates also harvested in Lebanon, has a true, clarion-clear pomegranate flavor without additives or sweeteners. It can be purchased at oliveharvest.com.

Dates: Deglet Noor dates, from California, have been available in supermarkets for decades, but many better supermarkets now sell Medjools; look for ones that are dark brown, plump, and moist; dates with a lot of sugar crystallization may be old or fermented, a result of high sugar content and excessive heat. Good ones, grown in California, can also be found at thedatelady.com.

Barberries: These tiny, tart dried berries can be purchased at Middle Eastern markets and online at persianbasket.com, kalustyans.com, and sadaf.com.

Halvah: The best domestic halvah comes from Hebel & Co. (hebelco.com), and is made in Los Angeles. Seed + Mill (see Tahini) works with a private-label Israeli manufacturer to make theirs, which is also excellent.

Kadaif Pastry: This finely shredded filo dough used in knafeh, also called kataifi, can sometimes be found, frozen, at Middle Eastern markets and bakeries. You can buy The Fillo Factory brand kadaif at some Whole Foods markets and online at thefillofactory.com.

Beverages

Arak: The licorice-flavored spirit can be found at some better liquor stores, as well as at liquorstore-online.com.

Orgeat: If you don’t have time to make my Roasted Almond Rosetta Syrup, store-bought orgeat is a great swap-in. Monin, Torani, and Giffard (from France) are the best-known, most widely available brands at stores and online. If you’re into small-batch, artisan products, try BG Reynolds, which contains lime and ginger (available at barproducts.com).

Kitchen Equipment

Nut Milk Bag: Porous drawstring bags like these make straining my Date-Sweetened Almond Milk and Cardamom-Cinnamon Cold Brew coffee a breeze. Find them at health food stores and all over the Internet.

Couscous Sifter (Kish Kash): For making my Easy Homemade Couscous on this page, you need a tambourine-shaped sifter with extra-wide holes. It can be purchased on Amazon for $25 (search “couscous sifter”). I also discovered a soil- and rock-sifting pan that works like a charm ($15; search for “SE GP2-112 Patented Stackable 13¼" Sifting Pan, Mesh Size l⁄₁₂"”).

Microplane Grater: For finely grating a drift of Parmigiano-Reggiano or lemon zest, search online for the wand-style “Microplane Classic Zester/Grater” or “Premium Zester Grater.”

The Pal Ed Falafel Mold: A set of three sizes of this falafel molding tool (this page) is available on Amazon.

Fermentation Weights: These glass weights, easily found online, are useful for keeping vegetables underneath liquid during pickling.