Baking Soda!

You should be able to find it in any supermarket.  It's called "bakepulver", and comes in red containers like this:
http://www.norskmat.com/users/leirbu_my … pulver.png

bakepulver is baking powder. I'm looking for "natron, natriumbikarbonat or natriumhydrogenkarbonat" or NaHCO3. I've looked all over ICA and Kiwi.

http://www.morshjemmebakte.no/var/ezflo … ct_223.jpg

This particular brand is widely available, although you may need to extend your search to larger supermarkets.

I think it's quite safe to use baking powder instead of sodium bicarbonate, btw - two teaspoons of baking powder is one teaspoon of bicarbonate.

great thanks! I will look for that.

I have found Natron in most shops. You can also buy it in a tub which looks like the baking powder one. In my experience, Smart Club is one of the best shops for baking supplies. Jacobs and Ultra are also good.

I found exactly what I was looking for at Vikamat Colonial (Klingenberggata 7, 0161 Oslo). Here is the baking soda that I wanted
http://wetheadmedia.com/wp-content/uplo … g-Soda.jpg

Wow, is it that difficult to find simple items that you can find just about anywhere in the States?  That is a bit alarming to someone contemplating moving to Norway.

Does Amazon ship overseas?

If you simply must have your favourite brand of whatever, and are not willing to compromise and use another brand, then yes, you will find it both difficult and expensive to live here.  If, on the other hand, you're quite happy to use the Norwegian equivalent, or do things the Norwegian way , then you'll do fine.

Don't expect, however, to have as much brand-choice in Norway as exists in the US.  Often, there is only one brand for a particular product - take it or leave it.  That said, things have been opening up a bit more.  Recently, another brand of frozen pizza became available, so now there's five different brands you can buy.  Within the last ten years, the number of milk suppliers has double to two, and the number of dairy products has increased quite a bit because of the increased competition (this also contributed to the butter crisis).  I would say the variety of dairy products is much wider than is available in the UK, and probably in the US, too.

FWIW, that kind of baking soda is not a simple, everyday item here.  Such large quantities of baking soda are simply not used by Norwegians.  What are you using it for?  Cleaning?  Baking giant muffins?

The brand of an item is not that critical to me. As far as the need for baking soda, our family has many recipies for baked goods passed down several generations from Norway that call for this very common leavening ingredient.

I'm not sure what you mean by "such large quantities of baking soda." The amount of baking soda used in a typical recipe from Aebleskiver to Kringla, etc. is quite minimal - like 1/2 teaspoon or so.

Again, it's the availability in general, not the specific brand that is critical. Mange takk!

The box posted by jenkras is 1.8kg by weight, which is _a lot_ of baking soda.  The Norwegian equivalents are in considerably smaller quantities.

I just posted a picture so you all could see what I was talking about and for future reference. Baking soda is used for cleaning AND baking giant muffins.

Hi
I had the same problem when I came here. After a bit of hunting, I found it! Its called 'natron' and is in small packets in the baking section.
Happy baking,
             Lisa

The problem I had was self-raising flour, which apparently is not normal most countries. I managed to find one shop selling it though. I also had some problems finding ingredients for my Christmas cake. I suppose we learn to adapt over time.

I get mine from my local, how can I put it.... Ethnic supermarket?! Everybody calls the one in Sandvika the 'Chinese or Asian supermarket' and I go there just for entertainment, I love it! They sell everything, every spice and fresh greens you can think of including many that I can't even identify!

As a real foodie I didn't think I could live with the range of spices available in the local supermarkets, but then I found this fabulous place tucked behind the bus station in Sandvika and now I am in heaven.

I also like Smartclub but don't be fooled as I was when I first saw the spice rack, there are several rows of the SAME spice! lol!

Thankfully a distant memory since I discovered the Asian one :-)

Trying to find the names of baking ingredients drives me nuts in Norway, my fairly technical Norwegian does me no favours either when standing in the middle of Kiwi trying to find cake essentials!

On the subject of baking, anyone know of a good 'food orientated' dictionary English-Norsk? I usually figure it out between my boyfriend, google translate, facebook and the two dictionaries I have but there must be an easier way! I like to think I'm okay at Norwegian but when it comes to ingredients... it's a huge fail! Heeheehee... all good fun though! Usually get there eventually, usually....

I have the blå ordbok app on the mobile which helps a lot while being at supermarket. For the very special ingredients that are not in it, I use wikipedia, searching for the name in French in wiki and then click on the "norsk" link on the left to have the norwegian page for the same ingredient ... it has worked well so far

Wiki sounds like a good idea, thanks for the tip! Got to say I downloaded the blå ordbok app but pretty disappointed with it overall, got a much cheaper app and the translations are far superior... guess itdepends what you're using it for though! I will try wiki next time though!

Hey!

I found some at the local grocery store Rimi. Its in the baking isle near the sugars and flours. Usually on the top shelf in a little tiny packet. The package is similar to those sauce packets that you add water to. The package is pink and purple if I recall correctly.
-Kelcie

one thing I learned is that it's much harder to find American style baking POWDER outside the USA. The stuff sold in Norway and in Germany is single-acting, whereas the American type is double-acting. I haven't ever tried the German/Norwegian replacement since I have cans of double-acting from Iceland and the US, but for sensitive family recipes, the difference might be significant.

fortunately, one can will last several months so I haven't run out yet.

I buy this one at Coop http://a2.mndcdn.com/image/upload/t_nex … rkqrpc.jpg

I also had problems finding Baking Soda but my local Coop has started selling little bags of baking soda. So I think that the demand is increasing

I was just wondering if anyone has found baking soda (the real stuff in the yellow box) in Oslo in the last few weeks? It's December now and I haven't found a box in months. Can anyone help me out and give me a location? I've been told by Mega that they are bringing in less American products. I was just in Sweden this weekend and found Crisco in Charlottenberg if anyone is interested.  However, no baking Soda...Anyway, thanks for any advice in advance.

I am looking for this priceless ingredient too. Looked in REMA EXTRA -- + there area no large pharmacies, like CVS.

I've been searching everywhere, too!

jenkras wrote:

I found exactly what I was looking for at Vikamat Colonial (Klingenberggata 7, 0161 Oslo). Here is the baking soda that I wanted
http://wetheadmedia.com/wp-content/uplo … g-Soda.jpg

Thanks for the tip! I've been searching for the same brand too!

Baking soda for baking is available in larger grocery stores like meny now.  You can find it in baking section.  If you are looking for those orange box baking soda that Americans used for cleaning, I seen it in asian stores (oslo and sweden) but it is not common.

baking powder and baking soda are similar but different