# Bad Passover News
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 9, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539 "2008-04-09T00:05:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/1 "2008-04-09T00:05:12Z")
Or, I Didn’t Even Know They Were Matzoh…
No [Tam Tams](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89457823) for Passover!
I thought they were just fancy, tho Kosher crackers.
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### Author:  [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/2 "2008-04-09T04:04:36Z")
The regular, non-Passover Tam Tams are crackers. The Passover Tam-Tams are unrelated, being essentially matza in a tam-tam shape, and (IMHO) are unworthy of the name.
The kosher-keeping world is currently in a tizzy over the apparent incredible shortage of Kosher for Passover stick margarine (necessary for most baked goods, as we’re usually serving non-dairy homemade cakes and cookies after meat meals). Tub margarine is available, but has a different water content and doesn’t bake up the same, sp it seems like we’re all going to be eating sponge cake the whole holiday long.
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/3 "2008-04-09T04:09:53Z")
Passover Tam-Tams are NASTY. They taste stale right when the box is opened.
FWIW, even though I converted to Judaism, I don’t eat a chometz-free diet through Passover. It’s actually feasible this year, since I got new cabinets in the kitchen, but still … too much for one guy.
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/4 "2008-04-09T04:10:03Z")
But I’m looking forward to all the soda with SUGAR!
It’s the only time I drink soda- no HFCS!!!
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### Author:  [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/5 "2008-04-09T05:35:31Z")
I coulda lived without Tam-tams but not without Macaroons…
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/6 "2008-04-09T12:55:02Z")
The matzohs I’ve had at work since 1888…er, 2004, sorry, read the wrong label, are finally stale!
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/7 "2008-04-09T14:15:25Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood]
Passover Tam-Tams are NASTY. They taste stale right when the box is opened.
[/quote]
That’s generally true of most matzah, in my experience.
> [@](#):
>
> FWIW, even though I converted to Judaism, I don’t eat a chometz-free diet through Passover. It’s actually feasible this year, since I got new cabinets in the kitchen, but still … too much for one guy.
I converted too, and I found the “kosher-for-Passover” rules to be one of the hardest things to understand about Jewish practice.
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> The matzohs I’ve had at work since 1888…er, 2004, sorry, read the wrong label
😃
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/8 "2008-04-09T14:39:40Z")
So – could you just eat [Tim Tams](http://www.arnotts.com.au/products/TimTam.aspx) for Passover? Or is chocolate coating right out?
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/9 "2008-04-09T14:55:40Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville]
That’s generally true of most matzah, in my experience.
[/QUOTE]
I found that Manischewitz matzos, both KFP and regular, will go stale fast; within a couple of days of opening the box. Yehuda and Streit’s seem to have better staying power, even for their Passover matzot. (Wow … “matzot” passed the Firefox spell checker!)
There’s a kosher supermarket not far from my house, where about 15 to 20 different brands of matzo are stocked for the Passover season, including some obscure Israeli and NYC brands, and a few brands of really expensive matza shmurah. (No, I do not live in NYC; it’s suburban Cleveland.) I’ve always wanted to do a comparison taste test, but they’re still KFP matzos, which in general are barely half as edible as non-KFP matzos. Outside of Pesach, they still carry six or seven brands; not too shabby.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/10 "2008-04-09T15:05:02Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville]
the “kosher-for-Passover” rules to be one of the hardest things to understand about Jewish practice.
[/QUOTE]
Don’t they just make super certain there isn’t any chometz in there, or that it hasn’t been wet and become leavened?
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### Author:  [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/11 "2008-04-09T16:49:00Z")
Yes, but you’d be surprised by how super the super certainty becomes. The rules around Passover are much stricter than the rules for year-round kashrut (the noun form of ‘kosher’). To take one example, there are many Orthodox people who won’t eat any produce they can’t peel, in case there’s something leavened in a coating, although thankfully this is not my family’s custom.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/12 "2008-04-09T17:01:59Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant]
Don’t they just make super certain there isn’t any chometz in there, or that it hasn’t been wet and become leavened?
[/QUOTE]
It’s not just chametz, though. There’s also [kitniyot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitniyot), which is a much broader category of things.
And then there’s a rule that treats things you buy before Passover differently than things you buy during it- sometimes things don’t have to be marked “kosher for Passover” if you buy them before Passover, but do if you buy them during Passover.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/13 "2008-04-09T17:14:10Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville]
There’s also [kitniyot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitniyot),
[/QUOTE]
The corn beans and rice argument. I simply go by whatever Mrs. Plant decides that year. Shalom biyet. 🙂
My thought us that it is a concern that these things could become leavened, but surely that would mean only dried peas were out, and fresh ones permissible.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/14 "2008-04-09T17:43:50Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant]
The corn beans and rice argument. I simply go by whatever Mrs. Plant decides that year. Shalom biyet. 🙂
[/quote]
Yeah, I go by whatever Mr. Neville wants. He gets a list from somewhere (thanks for reminding me to remind him to do it, btw).
> [@](#):
>
> My thought us that it is a concern that these things could become leavened, but surely that would mean only dried peas were out, and fresh ones permissible.
It’s not really clear _why_ kitniyot are forbidden. There are a few theories, and that’s one of them. There’s also a theory that it has to do with crop rotation- these crops might be grown in fields that recently grew chametz, so they might pick up some bits of chametz.
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### Author:  [@jay-c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jay-c)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/15 "2008-04-09T21:56:50Z")
The title of this thread, immediately followed by the thread title [We Had a Visitor Last Night](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463089) has been making me :eek: 😛 all afternoon.
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### Author:  [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/16 "2008-04-09T23:03:25Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville]
I converted too, and I found the “kosher-for-Passover” rules to be one of the hardest things to understand about Jewish practice.
[/QUOTE]
Oh, the rule is simple: If it tastes good and you crave it year-round, ditch it.
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### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/17 "2008-04-10T00:21:22Z")
In other bad news, little Christopher moved away. He was perfect! Where will I find another unbaptized Christian child whose blood I can use to make my matzoh? All the good goyem are already staked out by the Learned Elders.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/18 "2008-04-10T00:35:48Z")
[QUOTE=DocCathode]
In other bad news, little Christopher moved away. .
[/QUOTE]
We always use [UBCCAU.COM](http://UBCCAU.COM).
UnBaptised Christian Children Are Us
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### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-passover-news/444539/19 "2008-04-10T02:04:02Z")
I read this thread title then my eye skipped to the thread titled, “bacon bra!” after it.
I love Tam Tams. They taste like childhood to me.