I was just reading that some Jews do not eat corn during Passover. Is this prohibition just to obvious stuff like corn or corn flour or to all corn-derived products? Because I’ve learned from Michael Pollan how ubiquitous corn-derived products are in American food.
According to thiscorn is Kitniyot and is one of the forbidden foods for Passover and I would assume it would apply to all corn-derived products.
From Wikipedia… “Kitniyot are grains and legumes such as rice, corn, soy beans, string beans, peas, lentils, mustard, sesame seeds and poppy seeds.”
Sephardic Jews don’t consider corn to be forbidden because it isn’t mentions in the bible. Maybe not all Sephardic Jews, but there is a difference of opinion on this subject.
ETA: You will see that Pepsi, and probably other soft drinks are offered in throwback versions that don’t use corn syrup during the Passover season.
IME serving seders in people’s homes, it’s been no corn during Passover; no corn syrup in anything limits a LOT of stuff (Cool Whip for example). But it’s just for a week, and those folks who didn’t want to keep their Kosher for Passover food fed goyische me very well for a few weeks after.
Yeah, but it also says:
Which to me, begs the question of why potatoes are cool, but not corn? Clearly maize and potatoes are the two greatest New World food crops, and neither was known until sometime after 1492.
Language is part of the problem, at least in English where the word ‘corn’ meant ‘grain’, while potatoes are clearly not a grain. Ask two rabbis about this subject and you’ll get at least three different opinions.
Because ground corn looks a lot more like wheat than mashed potatoes does.
Potatoes don’t swell in water. Under the Ashkenazic view, anything that swells in water is sufficiently grain-like to be forbidden during Passover.
But corn syrup is indeed avoided by many, leading to the much beloved “Passover coke” made with sugar.
But corn products doesn’t just mean corn syrup. Caramel coloring, for example, is an ingredient in Pepsi Throwback and it’s normally made from corn.
Pepsi Throwback and Kosher for Passover Pepsi are not quite the same thing, but they do both contain caramel coloring, as a point of data. That said, there apparently is Kosher for Passover Caramel Color (and here), so I’m guessing that the caramel coloring must also be corn free to get Kosher for Passover certification.
If you had pure caramel coloring, would a dog eat it?
I assume it is by analogy. Corn is a grain and grains are generally forbidden. And you can make a raised corn bread, although it is pretty flat without the gluten. Clearly potatoes are starchy roots (actually tubers, that is buried enlarged stems) analogous to things like beets and parsnips. Tomatoes and peppers are two other important New World crops, but they are analogous to other fruits.
I think there should be a blessing for the soft margarine that goes on the matzoh.
Anecdote: I baked a cake for someone who was allergic to corn. I used kosher confectioner’s sugar, because it isn’t mixed with corn starch.
The Archives are your friend. I wrote a Staff Report on this a few years ago, see: Why can’t you put cornstarch in your Passover cheesecake? - The Straight Dope
So why is matzo OK? Do you mean “non-wheat grains” are generally forbidden?
It’s the leavening that’s the issue. Matzo is prepared in a manner that prevents the flour from rising.
Yes, I know. But wheat is a gain, no?
Depends on the crop yield that season.
Some years it’s a gain, some years it’s a loss.
The “logic” of things absorbing water therefore being categorized as “grains” has always been bizarre to me. But then again, even raised as a Jew, most of the “logic” of those laws seems on par with the logic on display in this historically accurate docu-drama.
A grain, yes. But it’s the only allowed to be used. It’s believed that the proper preparation occurs before the wheat is leavened. I have no idea why other grains are assumed to be possibly leavened. Perhaps it is only because rabbis are approving and inspecting the process of making wheat matzoh and not the processing of other grains. Also, I don’t know if the ancient Israelites knew that it was yeast that leavened bread.