By Karen McBride
What is the main ingredient in any entree? Is it beef or poultry or a perfectly garnished side dish? No, it is a flavorful spice! Without spices, meals can be bland and unappealing.
You do not need to add a lot of unhealthy salt to a dish to make it tasty. Instead, add specially prepared seasonings made fresh at The Main Ingredient. It was her desire to eat healthier that led Christina Sweet to open the specialty food store.
With her childhood spent on her family’s 16-acre farm in upstate New York, she knew about growing produce. Her father owned three nurseries and taught her the intricacies of growing organic produce.
Having changed how she ate and introduced healthier choices into her meals, she found that stores only offered the herbs and spices in bulk, and most are processed. There were no stores that offered smaller quantities for recipes. She saw the need in the community and decided to open her first store on Collier Parkway six years ago.
The store has over six hundred items including her specially blended spices and teas and food from co-ops in the area where produce is grown on clean land. On Mondays, Nichole Dube of Dube’s Mobile Market delivers fresh produce, chicken, beef, and eggs from local or small farms. There are no preservatives or additives in any of the items in the store.
She has found many of her customers come into the store with health problems, often caused by an overabundance of processed food in their diet. After a few weeks drinking herbal teas and eating organically grown food, her customers begin to feel the positive effects.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV)
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Therefore, honor God with your bodies.”
She receives referrals from Moffitt and Advent Health Care. She sells Spirulina, mushroom powder and other products to lower sugar levels. Processed sugar can cause inflammation, harming cancer patients further. She is always quick to point out to her customers on special medications that they should contact their pharmacist to ensure that the ingredients will not interfere with the medication.
“We find products that contain good sugar, not bad sugar, so that customers don’t feel deprived of sweets.”
Her specialty teas are popular items. One tea she developed has helped reduce the effects of flu and viruses in people, which was in high demand when COVID was at its peak. Now she is brewing ninety gallons a week of the Golden Flower Power (also known as “magic juice”!)
Another popular tea is brewed for respiratory illnesses, simply called “cough and congestion”. In addition, she has teas to wake you up, help you sleep, burn fat, help with indigestion, and more.
The second location, with the Alice in Wonderland theme, holds tea parties (for all ages) and kid’s programs. The whimsical shop has tea parties throughout the month. In April, Brunch in Wonderland is sold out for April 7, but tickets are still available for April 14 and 28 (as of this printing). The menu varies for the 5-course meal, but may include delectable items such as sliced cucumber sandwiches, Mad Hatter Teach sandwiches (pesto, mozzarella, tomato, arugula flower sandwich drizzled with raspberry balsamic), White Rabbit Chicken Salad (with cranberries, pecans and grapes served with butterfly crackers), a selection of teas, a scrumptious dessert, and more.
Mad Hatter Kids Camps (for kids and teens ages 7-14) are offered during school breaks and the summer months (2 weeks in June, 2 weeks in July and 1 week in August). Kids are taught crafts such as making bird feeders or wind chimes and are treated to an assortment of healthy foods.
Rooms can be rented for private parties, too. To make your reservation and to check the dates for upcoming events, go to https://www.themainingredient.org/upcoming-events.
Custom gift sets are available for purchase and make great teacher, holiday, and realtor gifts!
The Main Ingredient has two locations in our community:
1903 Collier Parkway, Lutz, 813-388-6472
7016 Land O Lakes Boulevard, Land O’ Lakes, 813-428-6893.
For more information, visit https://www.themainingredient.org/shop