49 Fun Facts About Kosher Food

What does the word 'kosher' literally mean?

Fit: the Hebrew kasher means fit or proper, which is why English slang later borrowed 'kosher' for anything legitimate or above board.

What is the Yiddish-derived word for non-kosher food?

Treif comes from the Hebrew for 'torn': the Torah forbids meat from an animal torn by wild beasts, and the word stretched to cover all non-kosher food.

Which two books of the Torah supply most of the basic laws of kashrut?

Leviticus and Deuteronomy list the permitted animals but give no reasons for most of the rules, so some scholars class the food laws as chukim, decrees kept without explanation.

Which of these animals is kosher because it has split hooves and chews the cud?

Deer pass both tests, but like cattle they must be slaughtered by hand to be kosher, so venison shot in the wild is off the table.

Why specifically is the pig excluded as non-kosher?

It does not chew the cud, though the pig does have split hooves; a midrash pictures it lying down with its hooves stretched out, as if to say 'See, I am pure.'

Which soft drink replaced a beef-fat ingredient in 1935 so that a rabbi could certify it kosher?

Coca-Cola let Rabbi Tobias Geffen read its secret ingredient list on a promise of silence; he found glycerin made from beef tallow, and the company switched to a vegetable version.

Why do Orthodox rabbis rule sturgeon non-kosher?

Its scales are extremely hard to remove without tearing the skin, and kosher scales must come away cleanly; that puts true sturgeon caviar off the Orthodox menu, though Conservative rabbis permit the fish.

What is the only kosher invertebrate?

Certain locusts are permitted by the Torah, but only a few communities, such as Yemen's Jews, kept a tradition of which species it means, so most Jews never eat them.

What is a kosher ritual slaughterer called?

A shochet is no mere butcher: he must be pious and schooled in Jewish law, so in small communities the rabbi often did the slaughtering himself.

What is the ultra-sharp knife used for kosher slaughter called by Ashkenazi Jews?

Chalaf: the blade must be flawlessly smooth, so it is tested along a fingernail before and after each slaughter, and a single nick found afterwards makes the meat non-kosher.

What reason does the Torah give for forbidding the eating of blood?

It carries the animal's life: 'the life of the flesh is in the blood', the Torah says, which is why kosher meat is soaked and salted to draw the last of it out.

Which organ is so rich in blood that kosher law requires it to be broiled over a flame, never just salted?

The liver holds too much blood for salt to draw out, so only fire will do; in fact any kosher meat may skip the salting if it is broiled instead.

Which ingredient in Oreo's creme filling kept the cookie from being kosher until Nabisco dropped it in the 1990s?

Lard, which is pig fat, was taken out mainly for health reasons; only then could Nabisco begin the long, costly job of making its bakeries kosher.

Which biblical patriarch's injury is the reason the sciatic nerve is removed from kosher meat?

Jacob's hip was wrenched as he wrestled a mysterious figure until daybreak, and Genesis says that is why Israelites do not eat the thigh sinew to this day.

Which cut of beef is rarely found at kosher butchers because it comes from the animal's hindquarters?

Sirloin sits in the hindquarters, where the forbidden sciatic nerve and fats are so laborious to cut out that most kosher butchers outside Israel sell the whole rear half to non-kosher dealers.

Which food did the rabbis add to the ban on mixing meat with dairy, beyond the Torah's own wording?

Chicken: the Torah speaks only of a kid in its mother's milk, and birds give no milk, but the rabbis extended the ban to poultry as a safeguard.

According to the Shulchan Aruch, how long should one wait after eating meat before consuming dairy?

Six hours lets the fatty taste fade and frees any meat caught between the teeth; some communities wait only three hours, or just one.

Which Yiddish labels sort a kosher kitchen's two sets of dishes?

Fleishig and milchig, meaty and milky: a pot or plate is held to take up the taste of hot food and pass it on to the next dish, so each kind gets a set of its own.

What is a food that is neither meat nor dairy called?

Pareve food can share a table with either kind, and bread is kept pareve by rabbinic rule, because a loaf baked with milk might be eaten at a meat meal by mistake.

Which ingredient is the reason hard cheese needs kosher supervision?

Rennet curdles milk into cheese, and because it so often came from animal stomachs, the rabbis ruled that cheese needs a Jewish supervisor on hand even when no animal rennet is used.

Which principle of Jewish law, 'saving a life', allows a patient to eat non-kosher food if recovery depends on it?

Pikuach nefesh puts a life above almost every other commandment: the Mishnah says a person seized by ravenous hunger on Yom Kippur may be fed even forbidden food until he recovers.

Which African animal do kosher authorities count as a permitted species, alongside the cow and the goat?

Giraffe: it chews the cud and has split hooves, the two signs of a kosher mammal, so kosher agencies list it among the permitted species even though nobody sells the meat.

Which bird did Jews come to accept as kosher even though no ancient tradition (masorah) could vouch for it?

Turkey was unknown in the Old World, so no tradition could vouch for it; it was accepted because it shows the signs of a kosher bird and so many Jews already ate it, though some families still abstain.

By the Mishnah's rule of thumb, which habit marks a bird as non-kosher?

Hunting other animals: the Torah names 24 forbidden birds without saying why, and the rabbis noticed they are nearly all raptors and scavengers, so any bird that seizes prey is ruled out.

What is a hechsher?

A kosher certification mark involves no blessing: an inspector checks the ingredients and the production line, and Muslims, vegans and people with dairy allergies read the labels too.

Which organisation launched the first independent kosher certification service in 1923?

The Orthodox Union (OU) started the service under the chemist Abraham Goldstein, who walked out twelve years later to found its first rival, the OK.

Which fish do Conservative rabbis accept as kosher although standard Orthodox opinion rejects it?

Swordfish are born with scales but shed them as they grow, so Orthodox authorities rule the adult fish out while the Conservative movement accepts it.

What image is on the 1,500-year-old clay stamp from near Acre that a Jewish bakery pressed into its bread?

A menorah marked the loaves as Jewish in a region that was then mostly Christian, where the far more common bread stamps carried a cross.

What does 'glatt' mean in Yiddish?

Smooth: it first described an animal whose insides passed inspection without a blemish, but in everyday speech 'glatt kosher' has loosened to mean simply kosher beyond question.

Which organ is inspected in every kosher-slaughtered mammal for adhesions, scar tissue that may hide a puncture?

The lungs matter because an animal with an injury that would have killed it within a year is not kosher, however cleanly it was slaughtered.

What is done to mevushal wine so that it stays kosher even when a non-Jewish waiter pours it?

It is heated: cooked wine was never the kind poured out to idols, the rabbis reasoned, so kosher restaurants and caterers stock it and any waiter may serve it.

Kosher wine in the United States long meant sweet wine from which grape?

Concord was what would grow where Jewish immigrants settled around New York, and it made so bitter a wine that it had to be sweetened; kosher wine itself has no need to be sweet.

Which kosher brand began as a Cincinnati matzo bakery in 1888?

Manischewitz made its name baking matzo by machine, square instead of round; the sweet wine came later, from a separate company that licensed the famous name.

How many cups of wine does everyone drink at the Passover Seder?

Four cups, and nobody is excused: the Mishnah rules that even a pauper living on charity must be given enough wine for all of them.

By most rabbinic opinions, wheat dough left for more than 18 minutes before baking becomes what, forbidden throughout Passover?

Chametz may not even be owned during Passover, so households sell or burn whatever is left beforehand, and matzah bakeries rush every batch from mixing bowl to oven in minutes.

By what light is the traditional search for leftover leaven carried out on the night before Passover?

A candle, because a single small flame can be held up to cracks and corners; by custom a few pieces of bread are hidden beforehand so that the search never comes up empty.

Which kitchen material do Sephardic authorities say absorbs nothing, so everyday dishes made of it need only a rinse for Passover?

Glass absorbs nothing, ruled the Shulchan Aruch, so washing is enough; Ashkenazi custom takes the opposite view and holds that everyday glassware cannot be koshered for Passover at all.

Why did American restaurant chefs switch to kosher salt in the 1980s?

It is easier to pinch: chefs who season by hand found fine table salt slips through the fingers, while the coarse flakes can be picked up and scattered evenly, and no rabbi blesses them.

Which bread shares its name with the piece of dough that Jewish law has a baker set aside and burn?

Challah was once the baker's gift to the Temple priests; since the Temple fell the piece is simply burned, yet observant bakers still set it aside from every large batch of dough.

Which hot dog brand launched a 1960s campaign declaring 'we answer to a higher authority'?

Hebrew National's 'higher authority' is God: the ads recast the Jewish dietary laws as a mark of higher quality, a pitch aimed at non-Jewish shoppers as much as Jewish ones.

Which coffee brand has handed out its own Passover Haggadah with purchases since 1932 to win over kosher shoppers?

Maxwell House's adman first had an Orthodox rabbi certify that the coffee bean is really a berry, and so fine for Passover, then gave the booklet away with each tin; over 50 million have been printed.

What is the title of the supervisor who keeps watch over a kosher restaurant or factory kitchen?

A mashgiach need not be a rabbi: the post asks only for an observant Jew trusted to be the certifying agency's eyes in the kitchen, and women hold it too.

Which food is kosher even though it is made by a creature that is forbidden?

Honey breaks the rule that whatever comes from a forbidden creature is forbidden; one reason the Talmud gives is that bees only carry nectar in and out, without producing it from their own bodies.

Which medieval rabbi and physician argued that the foods the Torah forbids are simply unwholesome?

Maimonides argued in The Guide for the Perplexed that pork is banned chiefly because the pig's habits and food are filthy, a medical reading of laws the Torah itself never explains.

Which flavouring in the brine makes a pickle a 'kosher dill', a label that says nothing about kosher law?

Garlic, added generously, is what sets it apart: 'kosher dill' means a pickle made the way New York's Jewish pickle makers did it, and no rabbi need have inspected the jar.

Which mixture is considered a health risk (sakanah) in Jewish law, though neither food is forbidden alone?

Fish and meat may not be cooked together or served on one plate, because the Talmud held that the mix causes disease; unlike meat and dairy, no waiting time is needed between them.

Which pair of vegetables must a kosher cook inspect most carefully for insects before cooking?

Spinach and cauliflower hide tiny insects in their folds and florets, and since eating a bug is forbidden, even a vegetarian restaurant needs a kosher supervisor to vouch that the greens were checked.

A stray trace of forbidden food is usually nullified in a kosher pot if it makes up less than what fraction?

One in sixty is the line, but only for accidents: Jewish law forbids diluting a forbidden ingredient on purpose, however small the dose.

Which popular fish is ruled out of the kosher kitchen because it has no scales?

Catfish have fins but bare, scaleless skin, and the Mishnah observes that every fish with scales also has fins, so in practice scales are the only sign a shopper needs to check.