If I find a recipe that contains any of those, I just won't make it because I don't know where to find such ingredients but now there's a series of desserts I want to make that use most of them. I don't think you can find most or any of those at the corner grocery store. I can probably get a five-pound bag at the commercial supplier but that's not the quantity I want.
So do you folks order those online or is there a general type of store I can find in a big city? I don't need a specific store recommendation (and that might not be allowed here).
Best Answer
Many of those are available online; that's certainly where my wife and I have obtained most of these sorts of ingredients. That's usually the "quickest" way to get them, in the sense of least effort to find something (not necessarily quickest to actually arrive of course). Citric Acid, Gum Arabic, etc. are easily available in "moderate" quantities (think a pound or so) online.
Some are also available at larger grocers, depending on exactly what you're looking for. If you're in a larger city, there are also often specialty stores that carry some of these ingredients; especially if they're frequently used in a particular culture's cuisine, for example there is a Korean market near my work that has quite a lot of specialty ingredients that I can't find easily elsewhere or even easily find online in moderate quantities. Look in the "bulk" area of the store - next to the bulk nuts and seeds and such; often you'll find other powders, like many of the gums and acids.
I'd also check with the larger spice shops - while what you're describing isn't a spice, sometimes they'll carry them anyway due to the similarities (and, probably, the similar distributors). I've found for example gum arabic at my local (larger) spice store.