Kosher Food

Believe it or not, for the best and most consistent results, use the boxed matzoh ball mixes.

Otherwise, stay away from any recipe that tells you to add water or any liquid other than oil.

(1) Maror and (2) Chazeret - Bitter herbs, symbolizing the bitterness and harshness of the slavery which the Hebrews endured in Egypt. Either horseradish or romaine lettuce may be eaten in fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating bitter herbs during the Seder.

(3) Charoset - A sweet, brown mixture representing the mortar used by the Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet red wine. Sephardi recipes call for dates and honey in addition to chopped nuts, cinnamon, and wine.

(4) Karpas - A vegetable other than bitter herbs, which is dipped into salt water at the beginning of the Seder. Parsley, celery or boiled potato is usually used. The dipping of a simple vegetable into salt water (which represents tears) mirrors the pain felt by the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. Usually in a Shabbat or holiday meal, the first thing to be eaten after the kiddush over wine is bread. At the Seder table, however, the first thing to be eaten after the kiddush is a vegetable. This leads immediately to the recital of the famous question, Ma Nishtana - "Why is this night different from all other nights?" It also symbolizes the spring time, because Jews celebrate Passover in the spring.

(5) Z'roa - Also called Zeroah, it is special as it is the only element of meat on the Seder Plate. A roasted lamb or goat shankbone, chicken wing, or chicken neck; symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Since the destruction of the Temple, the z'roa serves as a visual reminder of the Pesach sacrifice; it is not eaten or handled during the Seder. Vegetarians often substitute a beet, quoting Pesachim 114b as justification.

(6) Beitzah - A hard-boiled egg, symbolizing the korban chagigah (festival sacrifice) that was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night. Although both the Pesach sacrifice and the chagigah were meat offerings, the chagigah is commemorated by an egg, a symbol of mourning (as eggs are the first thing served to mourners after a funeral), evoking the idea of mourning over the destruction of the Temple and our inability to offer any kind of sacrifices in honor of the Pesach holiday. Since the destruction of the Temple, the beitzah serves as a visual reminder of the chagigah; it is not used during the formal part of the seder, but some people eat it with saltwater as the first course of the meal.

An Orthodox rabbi trains people on special cleaning techniques to make a kitchen kosher, along with separate meat and dairy utensils.

There aren't three main food laws in Judaism. There are hundreds of laws that all have equal status.

The key rules are:

1. Animals must have both split hooves and chew their cud.

2. Fish must have scales and fins.

3. Birds must not be hunters/scavengers and must not be one of the forbidden species specified in the Torah.

4. Meat and dairy must be kept completely separate.

5. Animals cannot display any sign of injury and disease.

6. Animals and birds must be slaughtered in a specific manner and drained of all blood.

7. Consumption of blood is forbidden.

Yes, Jews can eat chicken. Religiously observant Jews would require that the chicken be kosher.

Yes, goldfish are kosher! They are part of the carp family which have both fins and scales fulfilling the laws of kashrut.

Yes. Bellagio is a subsidiary of Cafe d'Amore which has all of its food products certified as both kosher and halal.

No.

Any animal that does not meet the requirements of kashrut which state that the animal must have split hooves and chew its cud. Additionally, even if an animal meets the requirements for being a kosher animal, if it isn't slaughtered or handled correctly, it is not kosher.

Separate dishes and utensils for Dairy and Meat.

No cooking from an hour before sunset on Friday Afternoon and until after 3 stars are visible on Saturday evening.

Separate sinks for dairy and meat

Virtually any large supermarket will have it in the Kosher food section, usually close to Passover (from March).

Wow! That's "Cholesterol City!" You need to ask a kosher butcher about that.

Muslims and Jews don't eat pork. Muslims eat shellfish, but Jews don't.

Scrod, also known as cod or haddock is kosher.

I could not find Cadbury Swedish Fish listed on any kashrut certification lists so I'm going to say that no, they aren't kosher.

No, that symbol indicates a registered trade mark.

Yom Kippur is not a day of celebration but is actually the Jewish day of atonement. Rosh Hashana is 10 days beforehand and it is the start of the Jewish new year. On rosh hashana Jews start repenting for their sins of the previous year and they use the 10 days until yom kippur to pray for forgiveness and show god they are sorry. On yom kippur Jews do not eat as a way of almost mourning over their sins. They go to the synogogue all day and pray to god to give them a good year. Jews believe there is a book of life and a book of death and so they are praying to god to be written into the book of life. The books are sealed on yom kippur and therefore the day ends with a neilla service which signifies the 'gates closing' and the books being sealed.

To name all the kosher and non kosher animals every living thing on earth would have to be named. It may be simpler to go to the following website for guidance in this matter.

Your best bet would be to call a kosher butcher in the Chicago area to find out who deals with kosher organic corned beef if there's such a thing available.

Kosher preparation.

The main consideration in kosher food is that all the ingredients must be kosher, and the machinery that the food is processed on should not have been used to make non-kosher foods.

Wine is different than food because of a sensitive historical situation. Because idolators used to offer wine to their idols, kosher wine must be protected under the supervision of a religious Jew or certifying agency.

Today, the way you can be sure that wine or processed foods are kosher is that they have the symbol of a kosher certifying agency.

Sea Salt is natural salt that has been evaporated from the sea to produce salt (sodium chloride crystals) with very small amounts of other trace minerals found in sea water.

Iodized salt is regular table salt that his been adulterated with small amounts of iodine, by mixing in either potassium iodate, potassium iodide, sodium iodate, or sodium iodide in extremely small amounts, for health reasons. Iodized salt is provided for cooking and normal seasoning. Pickling is normally done with Non-iodized salt.

Kosher salt takes its name from its use in the koshering process. All unprocessed salt is considered Kosher to eat. For example, sea salt. Kosher salt generally possess larger, irregular grains than table salt, which allows it to draw moisture out of meats and other foods more effectively than the other salts. It contains no preservatives and can be derived from either seawater or underground sources.

Normally, Coca-Cola (a kosher beverage) is made with corn syrup, however the Coca-Cola which is labeled as kosher for Passover (usually with a yellow cap), which you may see in the supermarket around passover time, is made with sugar instead of corn syrup. This is because Jews do not eat any leavened breads or leavened foods made from grains on the holiday of Passover. Ashkenazic Jews (Jews of German decent) have an additional custom to refrain from eating certain legumes, rice and corn. Hence, you can purchase Coca-Cola made with real sugar around the holiday of Passover.

Remember, there are two parts to Kosher. One is that the fish itself is acceptably under kashrut. The other is that it is prepared under kashrut. The fish is not going to be kosher if the restaurant cuts it up with the same knives used to cut up the shrimp and octopus.

Pacu (not paco) fish seems to be a somewhat uncommon type in the Jewish community from what I've seen. When in doubt, ask a Rabbi! I've never met a Rabbi that didn't like to ask questions about Judaism.