THE KITCHEN

General Dry Goods

Sun-dried tomatoes
Brought either dried or in jars soaked in oil. The dried ones are more economical to use, and as with dried mushrooms when you re-hydrate them, the liquid used is full of flavour and should always be used.

Tinned tomatoes and paste
Other essentials to have at hand, tined tomatoes usually form the base for a tomato sauce, and from it come so many possibilities. Adding tomato paste gives a much richer sauce; it will also help to thicken a soup or casserole.
See Basic recipes and ideas, Tomato sauce

Dried mushrooms
Dried mushrooms are what create a wild mushroom flavour in a sauce. Porcini are perhaps the best buy, they are quite expensive but as they have a very strong flavour you only require a small amount. It is in fact the juice from soaking, reduced down into the sauce that gives the real flavour not the amount of mushrooms you use.
See Baked red peppers wild mushroom and sun-dried tomato filling

Cream of coconut
Brought mostly, either in tins or more effectively in blocks of creamed coconut, which you can scrape or cut chunks off and put straight into a sauce or dish you are making. Half a block of coconut cream, when blended with some rice/soya milk and shelled hemp seed, produces a fantastic cream that can be used in both savoury and sweet dishes.

Chocolate and cocoa
With one or the other in the cupboard a dessert or interesting topping can be made in minutes.

Dates
Nutritionally they are a healthier option for sweetening, the sugars they contain are good for us.
When you soak them they melt, so can be used to help thicken a nut cream or pudding. It is simplest to buy the pitted ones.
See Desserts

Yeast
Dried yeast is very easy to activate and is not as difficult to use as you might think. See Hemp bread and baking tips

Flour
See Hemp bread and baking tips

Sugar
There is no place for white sugar in my store cupboard, only use brown. White sugar is nasty stuff bleached and refined. It is now easy to spot the healthier version on the shelf; it says, 'unrefined' on the packets!

Tahini
Is ground up sesame seeds, one of the wonders on the journey to find alternative thickening and emulsifying agents, i.e. eggs and cream. Some years ago while in one of the first Shaman's field kitchen's, asked Rainbow Lizzy an amazing vegetarian cook and passionate foodie, what she used for her vegan mayonnaise, tahini darling tahini was her enthusiastic reply.
Try adding a dessertspoon to classic vinaigrette dressing and see how it thickens, it goes mayonnaise like already. See Mayonnaise and dressings

Honey
Honey as with dates and maple syrup, offer healthier ways to sweeten than sugar. For example, if cooking rhubarb a drizzle of honey sweetens very nicely. See Desserts, Rhubarb and hemp milk fool