Foodie Find: modernist cooking supplies at Powder for Texture

The publication of Modernist Cuisine at Home last year inspired a legion of ambitious home cooks to try to their hand at spheres, gels, airs and foams. Most of them ran into the same roadblock: without access to restaurant suppliers, it’s tough to find the various chemicals that such recipes call for. Now John Placko, a chef and tireless promoter of molecular gastronomy in Toronto, has launched Powder for Texture, an online shop stocked with all the new basics. There’s sodium alginate ($6) and calcium chloride ($4), which are both needed for spherification, sodium citrate ($6), which helps chefs make processed slices out of any cheese and even miracle fruit tablets ($16), which rearrange your taste buds so sour foods taste sweet.  Think of them as the building blocks for your foodie chemistry set. Buy it now »