Shopping for kosher food, wine and spirits

by: Dr. Elinor Garely – special to eTN and editor in chief, wines.travel | copyright: eTurboNews – Travel Industry News – World Travel News

Around the world there are increasingly large numbers of people who are “going kosher,” and by 2025, the market for kosher food is likely to exceed $25.6 billion. The rush for kosher food and beverages is good for you and good for your soul as the products wearing the kosher symbol abide by rules and regulations as found in the Jewish Dietary Law.

Before being certified kosher, all the ingredients in the food and beverages as well as the machinery used to produce the products are carefully screened. Whether you are kosher, non-kosher, vegan, vegetarian and/or are challenged by allergies, the kosher section of supermarkets00000 and wine shops are likely to be the safest place to find ingredients for brunch, lunch and dinner. The transparency in food and beverage preparation and ingredients and the ease in identifying the kosher information on the label brings back the joy of cooking.

At the end of the day, what a hungry consumer is looking for is good food, a delicious glass of wine and a smooth scotch (or vodka, gin, etc.). The Torah addresses food by creating the laws of kashrut within the parashah (weekly Torah portion) of holiness, links food to relationships with G-d.

Nachmanides (a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Sephardic rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator), noted that the traits of cruel unkosher animals transfers to the one who is eating them. The rules even advise that a woman who must eat non-kosher for medical reasons should NOT nurse her baby at the same time, but rather, find another woman to nurse (or use infant formula).

Kosher food was a serious focus at the recent Kosher Food and Wine event in New York. Many of the innovative food purveyors represented meet the demands of the gourmet and the gourmand:

•         Wall Street Grill. Crispy rice, Spicy tuna and salmon, Guacamole with soy sauce, spicy mayo and jalapeno

•         Marble & Grain. Beef Nigiri with Wasabi cream; Beef Carpaccio with Silan Molasses, Pistachio Dust and Pink Salt

•         Pizza Biza. Chicken Aioli, Brisket and Pastrami

•         Miele Gelato & Sorbet. 12 flavors of gelato, sorbet and alcohol-flavored sorbet

Knowing that a product is certified kosher enables the consumer to trust that the food on the plate is clean and healthy and does not include allergens such as shellfish. It also offers certainty for vegans as in the case of Oreo cookies, which, prior to their switch to kosher (late 1990s) contained lard (pork fat).

Kosher Wine

Not all wines are created equal.

There are many guidelines for wine producers who want to be included in the kosher section of the wine shop:

1.       Vintners producing kosher wine cannot hire employees who are non-Jewish.

2.       When serving kosher wine at a meal only observant Jews are permitted to serve the wine.

3.        However,  once wine has been cooked (mevushai in Hebrew), flash pasteurized or flash détente, and the grape must (destemmed and crushed product) is heated for a short period of time to a high temperature it is OK for non-Jews to produce, serve and enjoy the wine.

4.       The mevushal process has become fashionable for wines that are not seeking a kosher designation as it is useful in removing flaws of under-ripe grapes.

5.       The mevushal process permits the wine to be handled by anyone and the wine maker is not restricted to hiring only Sabbath observant Jews.

6.       Most premium wines are made non-mevushal as many winemakers want total control of their wines and as little outside influence as possible on their product.

To be kosher, the yeasts and fining agents plus cleaning products must be kosher. The fining agents are used by some winemakers to remove colloids or unwanted aspects of a wine including clarification for color, aroma or bitterness and stabilization.

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