Passover Pays Off

[multipurposegoddess]

I'm allergic to corn, especially in the form of corn starch and corn syrup. I used to be able to find all kinds of nummy corn-free treats around Passover time because kosher-for-Passover used to mean corn-free. Around the time I converted, a bunch of rabbis agreed that corn syrup and corn starch were too far removed from the grainy source to count as a contaminant, and the joy of Pesach as the time when I didn't necessarily have to read every label was just a little bit tarnished for me.

Yesterday, Henry and I stopped off at our local Raley's to pick up some snacks for a little 10th Anniversary Buffy marathon and came upon a nice collection of Passover-prep kosher foods nicely displayed in the middle of the back aisle. So we added a case of Yehuda matzah and a yahrzeit candle to our basket already brimming with smoked oysters and chocolate eggs. Then I noticed the marshmallows. With hardly any hope, I read the ingredients. No corn. Corn-free marshmallows have been a holy grail of mine since before I knew that the reason I couldn't eat marshmallows was corn. Well, no, that's logically ridiculous, but as near as all my life as makes no difference. And I found them!

I haven't opened them yet. I'm a little afraid - what if they just aren't that tasty? What if marshmallows are only delicious when they are taboo? But the day will come, and soon, when I will light up the outdoor fireplace, toast myself some marshmallows and have my first ever s'more.

Also found some corn-free yellow cake mix (which I use to make pie, but that's another story) and a kosher-for-passover Count Chocula knock-off that I just had to try. Sweet cereals are mostly a thing that I just don't understand, and I couldn't pass this one up. It's chocolate, for breakfast! A must to try.

So, thank you manufacturers, for keeping your recipes and standards from a simpler time and making the magic of Passover that much brighter.

Comments

[cindywrites.livejournal.com]

You were just telling us of your yearning for marshmallows the other day, weren't you? It's a holiday miracle!

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

It is!

I need to figure out where I was saying that so I can report the miracle properly.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

My observance level is pretty loose. I just don't eat any actual bread for 8 days. My rule is, "If it's flat, it's not leavened"

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

That's pretty reasonable, for a convenient simplification. I don't think I could talk myself into it, but far be it from me to cast aspersions.

No leavening is the one dietary restriction that I am consistently good about observing. I think it is at least partially the influence of my Reform rabbi who told us a story about riding a train during Pesach, going to an interview, and ordering ham sandwiches for lunch, taking the ham off the bread and putting it on matzah, because that was what was consistent for him.

But the case of matzoh isn't strictly for Passover. That brand isn't always available in these parts, so we are stocking up for the year. We're trying to light candles and say the bread and wine bruchas every Friday, and if I can't bake or buy challah it's convenient to have a supply of matzoh to dip into.

Every year we have the discussion of whether or not we can eat rice - Henry was raised to avoid it, but he's been at least somewhat convinced by the argument that the rice issue is divisive, keeping Ashkenazim and Sephardim from eating together, and that eating rice during Pesach is a small step towards healing that rift.

I'm all full of babble today. Goodness.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Well I was completely non observant of anything until I moved to Cruces and started fasting on Yom Kippur. I'm slowly adding things, but probably have reached the point where I stop. If I'm going to be strict for Pesach and still be a vegetarian, it would be very hard.

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

If you were to do the full no rice, no legumes thing, yes it would. I think the legume ban is crazy, personally. Just avoiding bread upholds the spirit, I think, which is the important thing.

I'm curious, though, do you eat, like, pancakes and tortillas? Pizza crust is out, right? Or just crackers, that kind of flat. Noodles and pasta, I guess, they aren't exactly leavened.

The seder we went to last year included noodles and kugels and it didn't occur to me til after that I haven't seen kosher-for-passover noodles, though maybe they exist. And this was a household that did the cleaning out the chametz ritual. Everybody has to come to their own understanding of what's acceptable observace for them. I think my grammar is messed up in that sentence, but you know what I mean.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Only potato pancakes are allowed. I tried to argue for pizza crust but Mel told me that was cheating. Tortillas are ok if they're corn. Noodles and pasta are allowed.

Seeing how I gravitate towards the reverse Atkins diet, not eating bread is pretty huge.

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

Sounds pretty reasonable. I wouldn't do the tortillas myself, because they puff up when you cook them, but I understand the corn allowance.

It's a nice reminder every year of how important bread is. The one year that I was on Atkins when Passover rolled around it didn't make much impact, but usually it does (and H insisted that I eat matzoh, so I actually ate more "bread" during Pesach than outside of it, which was very weird).

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

I find it amusing that it took my non-Jewish girlfriend to call me on the pizza (but not the crust) exception.

Oh I also have a SafeCo Field exception for years when Opening Day of the baseball season falls during Pesach because I vowed before I thought about Passover implications that if they ever served veggie dogs there, I would get one at every game.

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

Go Mel. I would scold you for pizza crust on account of it is full of yeast and rises and everything, but I don't have to.

A vow is a vow. Baseball is, like , a whole separate thing. I could come up with a long rambling ratioalization of why and under what circumstances your SafeCo Field exception is perfectly okay, but I'm sure you don't need it.

Oh, I meant to say (and think I even typed up but somehow deleted) that matzoh + tomato sauce + cheese under a broiler long enough for the cheese to melt = yum. It's my go to Passover snack and sometimes meal.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

I got lucky this year in that Opening Day is the day of the first night. Since the game starts at 3:05, I'll have plenty of time to eat the dog before sunset.

Mel likes Passover because it's a challenge to her to see if she can do it. I'd like it a bit more if it were 3-4 days instead of 8. By the end, I'm cursing out those stupid slaves for not taking an extra hour or two before leaving ;)

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

Heh. The last couple of days are a lot harder than the first few, that's for sure.

A couple of years ago friends of ours got married and set teh date so that teh rehearsal dinner was the last day of Passover. Once the sun set, I had the best tasting beer and bread ever, I tell you what.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

I don't think Mel ruled out beer last year for herself. I probably should break that to her, but she could always pull out the, "I'm not Jewish" card...

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

It's pretty much liquid bread. Wine's okay, of course. Not being Jewish gives her a LOT of leeway, though.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Well the good news is that beer is made of barley and we decided that the kitten we will be getting next year will be named that to keep our grains theme.

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

Cous 1, Cous 2, and Barley? Cute.

It's not a theme that will put much of a natural limit on your cat acquisition.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Well if we were going for two cats at once, they'd be Chickpea and Garbanzo which would have been a different theme.

There's an off chance we'd name it Cornmeal instead if it's orange, but whenever the word "barley" is said in the house, Mel gets all excited about how much she loves this not yet born cat, so that'll probably be the name.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

So I just woke her up from her pre-night job nap and we had the conversation:

Me: I have bad news, beer isn't kosher for passover at all.

Mel: Not in my world.

Me: It's not even close though. The good news though is that it's made from barley.

Mel: Awwwww Barley!

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

That's adorable! I'm glad you told me the backstory sp I could appreciate it.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

I was just amused because I completely predicted her end of the conversation while she was still asleep.

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

That's a big part of why it's adorable. Y'all are so cute.

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Either that or my girlfriend would have trouble passing a turing test ;)

I wonder if I could make a Melissa simulator... Hmmmmmm....

[tskaredoff.livejournal.com]

Heh. Henry's minions at OCA made an automatic responder to take his place when he was on vacation once - a cardboard cutout of him with interchangeable voice balloons. One of them was "No, it's not the servers", I forget the rest. He had to admit it covered an awful lot of cases.