We've brought back some entries from a past photo series—"Where Alhambra Shops"—that spotlights grocery stores around Alhambra.

From 9.15.2011

Alhambra Market appears dominated by convenience foods. But a closer look reveals the true gems of this market: items for making traditional dishes that require more than a microwave. Many items are geared toward Mexican cuisines. In the refrigerated section are blocks of manteca, traditionally used in everything from refried beans to pie crust.

The Alhambra Market also stocks items from other countries; a wide selection of wines from Argentina and packages of yerba mate come in pounds instead of ounces. Packages of bacalao (salted cod) from Spain, useful for making the Spanish-Basque dish bacalao al pil-pil. And it features numerous hot pepper sauce flavors from Peru, such as panca and rocoto. Mini-cobs of purple corn for making a Peruvian drink, chicha morada, sit next to dried morro seeds for a Salvadoran version of horchata. There's even Peruvian soy sauce for making arroz chaufa (a Peruvian-Chinese version of fried rice).