After trying in vain to convince an unnamed large chemistry supply company that I was planning to use some Czapek-Dox agar for making koji for sake (well, for propagating A. oryzae for making koji and M. purpureus for red koji), and after being flagged in Texas for purchasing a Soxhlet extractor (incidentally made and shipped from New York, which as far as I know is not in Texas) to try to concentrate extractable compounds from mint and peppers (maybe catnip for the kitties if they behave), I was wondering if anyone out there has found sources for lab equipment for culinary use where the proprietors do not immediately assume that a shipment of lab equipment to a residence is for a clandestine psychogenic substance laboratory? Yes, I ferment mind-altering wine and sake, in full compliance with 27 CFR 24.75, 27 CFR 25.205, and state law.
I can imagine that for the authors it was much easier to get what they wanted to play with since they were shipping to a business, but for those of us who are playing with food at home it is unfortunately a different story.
Modernist cooking is hard enough when people give you odd looks for using something called "transglutaminase" or "sodium citrate" in their food, but that is nothing compared to the interrogation one gets regarding purchasing a small heating mantle or standard taper round bottom flask.
