ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020009
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ELAINE TAIT KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Shopping for ethnic ingredients is easy, occasionally even fun, when you live in a large and ethnically diverse city.
But where does an ambitious cook go when the recipe calls for Chinese fermented black beans, Japanese wakame (seaweed), Indian basmati rice or genuine Greek oregano, and the nearest ethnic neighborhood food market is 80 miles away?
To the CMC Co.'s entertaining little mail-order catalog, crammed with hard-to-find ingredients and food specialties for both gourmet and gourmand.
The catalog is the fifth and most ambitious list of mail-order foods produced by Jim Blair, a passionate cook who found himself cut off from convenient sources of authentic ingredients when he and his family moved to Avalon, N.J., eight years ago.
Blair, who had been employed in plastic and export sales, reasoned that he wasn't the only cook frustrated by the lack of access to ethnic ingredients. The paucity of such provisions gave the food-savvy Blair the idea for a business that not only reflected his interest in cooking but also could be run from his home.
Three years later, he has a list of small retailers and importers willing to sell to him at a discount and a 33-page catalog crammed with essentials for Mexican, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and Japanese cooking.
The catalog is also a source for a few Greek, Jamaican and French ingredients, a variety of ethnic cookbooks and even tools like the metal press for tortillas or the stone mortar and pestle for making guacamole.
Among the truly exotic offerings are ``epazoate para comer,'' a dried herb with potent flavor that Blair grows himself and dries in the microwave, and ``asafetida,'' an even more aromatic combination of dried plant resins that Indian cooks wisely use in minuscule amounts.
CMC has been discovered by the national food press, and mentions of the catalog in magazines and newspapers have brought the company customers from coast to coast.
There seems to be no resistance to price, which Blair admits is higher than what you might find at an ethnic grocery store. Examples include the basmati rice, which sells for $5.50 for a 2.2-pound package; a 7-ounce bottle of murasaki (Japanese soy sauce mixture for sushi) at $7; and an 8-ounce pouch of fermented black beans for $1.75. Delivery charges add from $4.43 to $15.75 to orders up to $150.99.
The business is growing fast, says Blair. ``I wouldn't be surprised to see us double the number of people on our mailing list in 18 months. We're lucky to make a 6 to 7 percent profit. But it's fun. I really enjoy this.''
To request a free catalog, CMC can be reached by mail at Box 322, Avalon, N.J. 08202; or call (800) 262-2780.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB