Is it Thai Kitchen? I get mine at Trader Joe's. 100% coconut milk. You might be able to order on the internet (from other sources). Probably a health food grocery store is the best choice. Otherwise, you can make your own. But it is pretty pretty labor intensive. I think it is covered in the book. Another source would be asian markets. I tend to be a little less trusting of ingredient lists from sources outside the US.

I just made a batch of coconut pineapple yogurt. I didn't let it ferment 24 hours so that a little of the sweetness of the pineapple would be left. I'll taste it tonight.

The brand name is Chaokoh, it's made in Thailand but has preservatives in it. I guess I have to make a trip to Trader Joe's tomorrow... it's pretty far, but if I can stock up on a few things, I won't have to go back for a while. Do you know if they have dry curd cottage cheese? I guess it also depends on the location. What else is useful from TJ: Almond flour, nut butters, coconut milk...

I never looked for dry curd at TJ's. You might try looking for Farmer's cheese in there cheese section. I have found it at Whole Foods and Henry's (Wild Oats).

If you're ready to eat nuts TJ's has lots. Lots of dried fruits too. I get figs and dates and apricots. They have unsulphered and sulphered too. They also have 100% cranberry juice (no sugar). Its impossible to drink straight, but you can mix it with water or club soda. I like their canned pineapple too. No added sugar and it is very good.

Although I know the West TJ's are a little different than the East ones. You should go to their web page and see what they have. They have an extensive gluten free list, you could browse that and find possibilities on that.

If you're going to try making goat milk yogurt, they might have goat milk. Mine does. I tried the DCCC and goat milk yogurt and my GI tract said "NO WAY!".

I'm going to get off eggs for the next couple of weeks and see if that helps things at all. I hope not, I love eggs.

it's not really anything about honesty, it's all about the way that the labelling laws are written. There's an organization called the feingold association that does a lot of research into foods and additives. they make foodlists of 'safe' foods without hidden additives. if you know the right questions to ask, you can email companies directly and find out exactly what is in their products, including the hidden ingredients. manufacturers dont have to list the ingredients of the ingredients they're using, so, for example if the tomato sauce the manufacuturer is using on their sardines contains a preservative, you're not going to find it on the label.

anyways, it's entirely possible to email/phone the manufacturer, and get the customer service reps to disclose information about all the hidden ingredients. i do it all the time.

Walnut, this looks like a service. Does it give any examples anywhere of food products that contain things not on the label? I looked around some and I didn't really find anything. Not the easiest site to navigate.

Here's a pretty good overview of the labeling laws, I haven't fully read it yet: http://www.kashrut.com/articles/LabelingLaw/

tunkany, thankyou so much for the muffin recipe, that was nice of you....as soon as I can get to a store to find that item I will make them and let you know.......how are you doing? You should start a journal......take care, Gina

Ok, finished digesting that. According to that article there maybe "incidental" ingredients within certain categories, like "natural spices". Or if you're using margarine in your food you don't have to include the beta-carotine (that might have changed with the new labeling laws).

I don't see anything that indicates that plain canned vegetables, without added spices, would have that issue. Or even something like coconut milk. They'd have to state "spices" then you could worry about incidentals.

hm, well, with something like coconut milk, there's the processing of the coconut. what was the coconut treated with before it was processed, and during processing? if the coconut was treated with something before the manufacturer who actually made it into milk received it, then it wouldnt be indicated on the packaging.

another example that i comes to mind immediately would be butter. it's often coloured with annatto, which is natural. however, the annatto can be preserved with a chemical called bht. for someone like my son, the results of eating hidden bht can be devastating, so about a year ago we paid for the feingold materials because it would just take tooo much time to research everything ourselves. now that we're on a really limited diet for him (also avoid gluten, casein and soy), it's a lot more cost effective to contact manufacturers directly to find out if there have been any chemicals sprayed on packaging, if there are any hidden ingredients that he'll react to, etc. it's amazing how many places things can hide...that's why if there's less than 5% of any ingredient in a product, it doesnt have to be shown on the label.

Coconut milk is pretty simple, its just the meat of the coconut that is pressed with water. Any chemical used to create it should be reported on the label. Actually there is one chemical: water.

What you report with the butter is probably one of those incidental ingredient. An ingredient of an ingredient. If there's only water and coconut listed, it isn't possible to include any incidental ingredient in it.

I have trouble with the 5% thing. I don't believe that is part of the labeling law. I could be wrong, but I sure didn't see it in my research today. They are allowed to hide details in words like "spices", in that they don't have to tell you ALL the spices they use. But now, with the new labeling law, they are supposed to tell you if they contain any of the major allergens.

BHA and BHT are supposed to be listed. Now it might be excepted if it was used on the paper around the butter, that's a possibility.

All the butter I've seen recently is just cream, water and salt. Must be the food coloring was a fad.

Well I clicked on that feingold website and read only the section on sugars and sweeteners.
On SCD we are allowed only saccharin and stevia is illegal. This website says stay away from saccharin and it encourages the use of stevia. They both refer to the same rat study for saccharin; as for stevia, Elaine Gottchall says the chemical structure is similar to steroids; this website doesn't mention that, only the extensive use by other countries without any side effect. I don't know what to think now. I use saccharin for tea... and have been reluctant to use stevia, what now?

Well, if you're following SCD, go with her advice. Saccarin should be safe. It just doesn't taste very good. Be sure to get the liquid sort so you don't get dextrose.

I went to Trader Joe's. I had to drive quite long and drag my two babies. They didn't have almond flour, not to mention dccc. I'm so disappointed. I have to order online and pay for shipping... I was hoping to get a good price, somewhere I read under 3 bucks for a pound at TJ's. Well not this one.
So I just got some almonds, I have to grind them myself...
I don't taste the aftertaste of saccharin... it's just sweet enough to make my coffe and tea yummy. I trust E. G., She was a biochemist after all. it's important for me to know what's safe as I'm breastfeeding.

Rats! Sorry to heard TJ's let you down. You could always call ahead of time I suppose.

oops, sorry, i didnt mention the feingold site bc it's scd legal (it's not!), i mentioned it because they're 'experts' on hidden ingredients in processed foods. defintitely go with waht gottsfield says. my fam isnt on scd, yet, but we're looking at going that direction in the near future (on top of everything else that we're already doing. ::sigh:: )

re almond flour~try calling your local health food store and ask them what their prices are for it. often small businesses will go the extra mile for customers. even the big box stores will sometimes order in special bulk items for people~they already have suppliers and already put in big orders. if there's a demand, they'll try to meet it. doesnt hurt to give a quick call to ask, anyways. good luck!

ps, how are you grinding your almonds? in the blender?

I use the coffee grinder, it comes out a little coarse or too creamy if do it too long, and you can't make much at a time. I get about 1 cup or less with one fill.
I'll keep looking for the flour...
As for the cottage cheese, I guess I don't need it too bad. I found this chevre goat cheese, I'm pretty sure it's legal, it only has milk, bacterial culture and enzymes. I seem to recall chevre is legal. It's nice and soft and creamy. I would just need the DCCC for dishes like zucchini lasagna. Peopod. com has it, so I might order it from them. The shipping is $10 though... unless you spend more than a 100.
Why is it so hard to find healthy stuff around here??? (DC area)
We dont' have a decent healthfood store, or farmer's market here. How come everybody eats grocery store junk and don't get sick?