Cheapest Bulk Costs for Modernist Cuisine Ingredients?

[bigchef]

Hi everyone! With all the sites online offering different product lines for Molecular Ingridients the prices and quanitites seem to vary soooo much. Can anyone answer these question?

1). Why would someone pay more for the same quanitity of the same product based solely on the manufacturer? Does it make any difference in real life?

2). I am in the UK currently. Does anyone have any thoughts on the cheapest bulk order suppliers of MG ingridients?

Thanx again everyone! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts

[TheTInCook]

From some searches online, I think that some health/supplement stores might be a good source for some stuff. I'm planning on checking it out in person, sooner or later.

[bigchef]

They might have some products but I dont think they would have all the gells and hydrocolloids needed. Besides...I hopeing for bulk. What about the issue of brand name VS price?

[TheTInCook]

Sometimes you gotta do with what you got.

Most of the stuff is fairly generic. Personally, I don't think there is much of a difference in quality. Most of the branded stuff you're getting from molecular gastronomy outfits is just repacked from an industrial source. There a few, like TIC Gums that retails their own, but that's it.

There are a few items, like enzymes where proprietary products are an issue, e.g. Pectinex. There are also some designer hydrocolloids and stablizer blends too. I think most stuff can be done with the basics.

[bigchef]

Thanks for the info. Thats kinda what I thought. The price differences are amazingly different from one site to another for the same stuff just rebranded. I guess thats where it pays to shop around huh?

[EnriqueB]

Sure it pays. In Madrid there's a chemical products shop that sells to the public small quantities of many modernist ingredients for prices about TEN times less than the branded ones, and I am convinced that they are pretty much the same.