The eight days of Passover comes with a lot of traditions, from special songs and stories to certain food restrictions. Here is a guide to clarify what is and is not kosher for Passover according to Jewish ritual law.
The Torah, which is the central reference of Judaic tradition, states that Jews should not eat leavened bread during the holiday. The most common leavening in Western culture is yeast, but there are many other natural and artificial agents out there. Buttermilk and kefir are dairy liquids that include active leavening cultures, while ginger beer and standard alcoholic beer are non-breads that contain carbon dioxide creators that act as leavening. Today, a lot of chemical leavening agents can be found in packaged products like cookies. People wishing to be extra careful during Passover should avoid these foods.
Most Conservative and Orthodox Jews choose to abstain not just from leavened bread, but from most grains altogether. This includes wheat, barley, rye, spelt and oats.
Jews from Eastern European Ashkenazi origins avoid grains like rice, corn, millet and even legumes like beans and lentils. Sephardic Jews, who come from Portuguese or North African descent, tend to think of those grains as being OK for the holiday.
Another Passover food restriction is to avoid any processed foods that may have come into contact with forbidden grains. This includes decaffeinated coffee or coffee with flavouring, any alcoholic beverage derived from grain and many kinds of vinegar. This is why some foods at the grocery store that don't contain any grain are still labelled "kosher for Passover."
There is no religious obligation during Passover to eat matzo (unleavened bread crackers) except at a ritual Seder dinner. Yet it has become the unleavened bread of choice for most people who observe Passover. These days, it comes in whole wheat, spelt and gluten-free varieties. Other options to replace bread are rolls made from matzo meal, which is matzo ground up into flour. J
