Our Foods, in Germany

I originally posted this on another would-be blog, so I'm re-posting it here, along with its original comments from readers. Feel free to comment with any updates you know of =:-)

AMERICAN & MEXICAN FOODS IN GERMANY

Here are a few online stores that can deliver much of what you're craving. There are still some things I'd like to find, like graham crackers and saltines, but these places are a start:

• http://www.gourmondo.de
  

• http://www.foodfromhome.de

• http://www.allamerica.de
  

• http://www.mex-al.de Mexican foods

• http://www.latortilla.de Mexican foods

• http://www.my-asia-shop.de Asian foods (including Indian)

• http://www.hello-food.de

• https://www.american-food.com

And here a few other things that could help if you're new to Germany.

• Baking powder here is single-acting instead of double-acting like in America. My best advice is to buy several containers of baking powder in the States (or have someone send some to you). If you can't, you should use 50% to double the German baking powder in the American recipe (like if it calls for 1 tsp, use 1 1/2 to 2) and make sure you get whatever you're baking into the oven asap, because all of the powder's action will begin as soon as it hits the mix.
• Baking soda is called "Natron" and is usually sold in dinky packages in the baking aisle. The drugstore chain "DM" has larger Arm & Hammer sized boxes of the stuff near the vitamins. Kaufland also has larger packages. Unfortunately, they just seem to be filled with an info packet about how to use the stuff and a bunch of the little envelopes like usual! If you're like most of us here, you probably don't have a dishwasher and so adding a tablespoon of baking soda to your soapy water will really help get dishes cleaner (and glass nice and sparkling if you let it air dry after rinsing.)
• Flour here is also not the same. European wheat has less protein and less moisture-absorbing ability than wheat grown in the Americas. Also, the flour in Germany is not ground as finely as our "all purpose" stuff. To help it fit into American recipes, sift a new package of "405" flour at least 3 times before anything is measured out of it and I read somewhere that decreasing the moisture in your recipe a smidgen can help, too. That's as per the advice of the American Women in Cologne society (sorry, I lost their page link somewhere). According to Wikipedia, though, German flour "550" is actually closer to the protein and ash content of our "all purpose" stuff. Haven't tried this yet.
• Brown sugar is not generally available. The Germans will insist it is, but they're talking about unbleached brown table sugar, not our brown sugar!! What they think is brown sugar we would just called raw or unbleached. Ours is very fine, moist and has a lot of molasses in it. My best advice is to buy some real brown sugar back home or from an online store. Some people have found hard bricks or cones of the stuff in Asian stores, but those aren't too common in some parts of the country and the sugar is much harder to use. You can try instead to use regular sugar with some molasses, but molasses is something else that is not usually found here (except for beat-sugar versions which don't taste right and hard-core black strap style stuff at the Reformhaus.) Advice about molasses is the same as about brown sugar... if you can, pack a bottle of the stuff when you're flying back from home.
• Cranberry juice is mysteriously popping up at Rewe. Ocean Spray, nonetheless! However, it doesn't seem to have its own price sticker, so I'm not confident it will stay. Otherwise, cranberry juice is something that I've only found as super-strong unsweetened stuff at the Reformhaus (dilute about 1:6 with another fruit juice and add sugar and maybe some water) and "nektar" at the grocery store chain Kaufland, which is stronger than American stuff, but not bad at all. They don't stock it very often in Duisburg, though. Argh. Each summer Aldi Süd does an "American Days" thing and they usually sell some. As far as cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, you'll be able to find fresh cranberries in the produce section of most grocery stores in the fall. It's very easy to make your own sauce. Simply boil a cup of water with a cup of sugar, dump in the cranberries and boil for another 8 minutes (14 if you want it more jellied). Tada. Pour into container and cool in the fridge. Yummy!
• Cilantro (which is just the leaves of the coriander plant) is seemingly never in stores here, fresh or dried. Some people have found it in Asian shops or produce stands, though, but we don't have one near us. I grow my own.. or at least try to in the summer. An important ingredient if you like to cook Mexican or Asian stuff at home. They do sell it at My Asia Shop.
• Cheddar Cheese ... Gouda usuallz does the trick for me. It's pretty close in flavor. The older the gouda, the more like sharp cheddar it tastes. However, Kaufland did begin selling Kerry Gold a few months ago. Yay! In slices or shredded. I also found some British cheddar slices at Real.
• Mexican Foods ... Well, it depends on what you want/need.
• You'll find canned refried beans at certain stores hit and miss (possibly Edeka stores inside Karstadt or Galeria Kaufhof and Real), and you can order them online from the Mexican stores listed above and from Food From Home, but you can make them easily. IF you find pinto beans. Pinto beans are "Wachtelbohnen" in German, but that's the same word they use for cranberry beans. Kaufland had been selling dried pinto beans, but suddenly the same packages were filled with cranberry beans as of 2 months ago. You could also make them with black beans. (Let me know if you find dried black beans!) Here's an easy recipe (just remember that if you're using dried beans, they MUST soak overnight or 3 hours on a fast soak… boiled for 2 mins then left to soak… first!)
• Tortillas you can find in many stores. At least the flour kind for fajitas, soft tacos and burritos. Our favorite brand is Cantina Mexicana, sold at Kaufland. Chips are not much of a problem, with unflavored ones popping up more and more often. Taco shells we've found at Kaufland, Real and Edeka in Kaufhof. Corn tortillas for enchiladas are the hard thing to find. They can be ordered online (see La Tortilla and Mex-Al links above), but one store will only let you pick them up in Aachen. The other also sells them deep-frozen, so don't know if they'll ship them. Some American stores in the BIG cities (like Munich) supposedly sell them, but not all of us are near there. You can order masa harina from the online Mex stores and make them yourself, or... again, stock up on your next trip home and keep them in the freezer (if you're lucky enough to have a freezer that's big enough in your dinky Euro-fridge, that is.)
• Chile peppers - I grew a ton of nice, hot little peppers (got seeds at Hornbach or Bauhaus last spring ... just called something like "scharfe Paprika") on my balcony, but you can usually find packages of red and green "Dutch chiles" (enough like jalapenos or serranos) at stores like Rewe and Real in the summer. Kaufland sells packages of "chiles from around the world", including a habanero, scotch bonnet, jalapeno, fresno, etc. Again, not so sure of the constant availability in the winter, though. If you want to make chile rellenos or something, well... look for canned poblanos at the online Mex store links.
• Rice Krispies have been rumored to be at Real. Possibly not all Real stores. Don't have one near to us, so don't know. (Update: Yes, we did find them at Real!)
• Decent mayo. Good luck. Some folks find Hellmann's (which is called by the brand name Best Foods, if you grew up in the Western US) floating around, just like finding the occasional French's mustard. (I actually found Plochman's... better, I say.... at Walmart in Essen, but they no longer exist now and niether does their American foods section.) You can order online at the American food links above.
• Sugar-free options. I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic, so this is a big issue for me. Starbuck's here doesn't even have one sugar-free syrup. Overall there are much less sugar-free, low-sugar and low-carb options here! The only sugar-free pop you can get is Pepsi or Coke Light/Zero, too. I swear I have seen a few more low-sugar things appear on shelves (like some Onken's Diät Jogurt flavors) just in the short time I've lived here, but forget finding Splenda! Most of the sugar substitues here are saccharin or, worse, sorbitol. (Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol that causes gastrointestinal probs AND damages the eyes and kidneys when it accumulates in the blood... a problem diabetics already have anyway!) We did see powdered partially-aspartame sweetener at Real, but the most decent sugar sub I've found here is Canderel, sold in powdered form in glass jars that resemble American "Coffee Mate" packaging.

Well, that's it for now. If you're desperately seeking something, let me know and I'll tell you if I've seen it somewhere. Remember that I live in Duisburg (where I think I must be one of maybe 3 North Americans in the whole 500,00+ city), so if I can find it here, you'll almost certainly find it near you. And feel free to share anything you've run across that isn't listed here, so we'll all know where to look! =:-)