The ‘Kosher’ of Kosher Pickles refers more to the specific flavoring made popular in the kosher delis of New York City: garlic. A dill pickle recipe is made “kosher” by the addition of plenty of garlic cloves in the pickling, not because they’re Kosher. They get an exemption to the Kosher rule, not only because it’s pretty damn difficult to make non-Kosher pickles, but because the name came to exemplify the taste so much that “dill pickles” and “Kosher dill pickles” are completely different creatures.
Sadly, despite the complete lack of difficulty in creating homemade Kosher kosher dills, food manufacturers love adding polysorbates, an animal by-product and thus a non-kosher ingredient (Clausen Kosher Dill pickles is just one brand).
You’re not a dunce. The same was true back in 1978 when the article was written. Kosher in “Kosher Pickles” refers to the garlic and not the kashrut.
There were a couple of fine points missed by the article in the reference to kashrut. For example, it is possible for something to become kosher once it is no longer eatable. Sephardic Jews will use Cream of Tartar and products containing gelatin, and you can have kosher cheese made with animal rennet (although the vast majority of kosher cheeses are made with vegetable rennet).
Also the previous article What do K, R, and U mean on food and other packages? never quite explained why if kashrut has to do with food, why do storage bags and dish sponges have to be certified kosher. (Answer: Because anything that touches the food or the utensils that are used to prepare and serve the food have to be kosher. Otherwise, those implements will be rendered non-kosher and the food that touches those implements will be rendered non-kosher).
I’m just thankful he didn’t say that kosher means that “A rabbi blessed it”.
I remember reading or hearing somewhere that some rabbis have declared that certain animal products when reduced down into a form that is chemically identical to a product that can be made from kosher sources can be considered kosher. Gelatin can be made from (among other things) either pigs or cattle, and once reduced down to pure gelatin it does not matter which it came from, it is kosher since it could have come from a kosher source.
I suppose that the idea behind this (and I’m totally making this up, but it makes sense) is that whatever makes swine non-kosher is not present in gelatin, since it is identical to something found in (if slaughtered in compliance with the laws) kosher animals, cows. If the chemical were non-kosher, then its presence in cattle would mean that G-d would have prohibited them as well.
Rabbis are free to take whatever stance they like, they’re human, but I don’t think that that position is theologically sound. (How can you tell when two substances are “chemically identical”? You’d still have to check each batch, wouldn’t you?) Of course, you’re free to create your own symbol and charge people money to put it on their boxes of gelatin.
There’s an idea that if a food becomes unfit to eat, it can become kosher even if it wasn’t originally considered kosher. The Rabbis talk about it becoming unfit even for a dog to eat. If you own a dog, you know that’s a very, very high bar to pass.
As I mentioned earlier, Sephardic Jews (Jews from the Spanish, Turkish, and Middle Eastern tradition) still follow this idea. For example, if you go to Israel, you’ll find kosher certified gum, but it is certified by Sephardic authorities who use this permissibility. The gum contains cream of tartar which comes from non-kosher wine. Since Ashkenazi Rabbis don’t recognize this particular leniency, Ashkenazi Jews are not suppose to chew this gum. Note that Ashkenazi rabbis will not say this gum “not kosher”. Otherwise, they’ll be accusing their Sephardic brethren of a sin. All they’ll say is it isn’t permissible for you if you’re an Ashkenaz Jew.
Ashkenazi Jews (Jews from Germany, France, and Eastern Europe) no longer allow this leniency (except possibly for rennet in cheese, and like their Sephardic brethren, only from kosherly slaughtered cattle). There’s two things going on here. One is that it is fairly easy to obtain non-animal sources for products like gelatin and rennet, so why bother with a rather confusing point of the law.
Another is that even typical religious Ashkenazi Jews aren’t necessarily schooled in these leniencies and thus would refuse to buy the products anyway. For example, peanuts are forbidden for Ashkenazi Jews on Passover, but peanut oil is actually permitted. When I was growing up, you could buy kosher for Passover peanut oil under Ashkenazi certification. However, the great majority of Ashkenazi Jews refused to buy it because “peanuts aren’t permitted on Passover”. Today, you can no longer buy peanut oil certified by an Ashkenazi Rabbi as kosher for Passover. Then again, since canola oil (which is usually better for cooking) can be kosher for Passover, why bother anyway?
The only place where Ashkenazi Rabbis still allow this leniency is for products used for Passover that aren’t food products. The use of leaven is strictly forbidden. You cannot even have a crumb in your procession. However, products like shampoo usually contain products that aren’t normally considered kosher for Passover. Since these products are inedible, they’re no longer considered leaven, and thus can be used.
But which Guss’ Pickles? There is some dispute about it since the Great Pickle War of 2007. My understanding is that Ms. Fairhurst has closed the Lower East Side location, moved to Brooklyn, and can no longer use the name Guss’ Pickles.
Many people have moved on to The Pickle Guys who have a store near the old Guss’ location.
I don’t think this holds up. By the same token, meat from a humanely-slaughtered animal is indistinguishable with meat from an inhumanely-slaughtered animal, but the latter is not kosher.
