Kosher-for-Passover Coke Confusion

cokeDear loyal reader and fellow Southerner Pelinke has requested if I might could hook him up with some Pesach-friendly Coca-cola, to which I say, “dude, whaddya think this is, Yenta-Eleven?” (Heheheheh. Please forgive me, I am not well.)

Many of you halachically-minded folks already know that most soda isn’t kosher for Passover, as it contains high fructose corn syrup, which in addition to possibly being one of the greatest dietary evils in history, is manufactured from corn, a no-no for observant Askenazim during Pesach.

Now, being the clueless, winging-it-as-I-go Jew that I am, I started wondering, corn isn’t chametz (defined in Exodus as any of the five particular grains wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye,) so why is HFCS a Jewish problem? (It’s certainly an American problem, since it may be making us all fat.)

It turns out corn is included in a whole other food category called kitniyot, deemed unkosher for Pesach by 13th-century sage Rabbi Moshe of Kouchi (also known as “The Smak,” a nickname that conjures up a professional wrestler with a tallis cape and flying peyos capable of shredding any opponent, but I digress.) Kitniyot includes rice, corn, soy beans, string beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, mustard, sesame seeds and poppy seeds, some of which can be made into flour and therefore confused with a food made from the five forbidden grains. So Polish rabbi Moshe Isserlis (known as the “The Ramah,” which sounds like a perfect pet name for a rabbi) banned it all in the 16th century to protect anyone from any possibility of consuming the actual verboten shtuff. As this only applies to the Ashkenazic branch of the family tree, Sephardic Jews have no such blanket ban. (Read more about the differences between Askenazic and Sephardic Pesach rituals here.)

Because I didn’t grow up observing such strict laws (when Passover came, we threw out the bagels for a week, ’nuff said) it’s unlikely that I would incorporate the kitniyot avoidance into my Passover plans anytime soon (I make a mean green bean casserole for seder, yo.) It just seems subjective to me that my kid can’t eat peas because a long time ago a rabbi didn’t trust his flock to figure it out for themselves; I’ve never been so good at accepting “because I said so” as a reason for anything. I struggle with the kosher laws frequently — I recently questioned why chicken is considered fleishig and shouldn’t be consumed with dairy, since I’m quite certain that chickens don’t lactate. The answer I got was because the rabbis thought it might be mistaken for meat, so it was lumped into the meat category to protect us from making a bad decision. Rather than inspiring me to become more kosher (I don’t eat piggies and separate milk and meat at home) it made me wonder how much of the observances I feel guilty about not keeping are interpretations (wise be they may) rather than actually handed down directly from Up High. With all due respect to those who do keep kosher (you know I admire you) and the rabbis who wrote the laws, it’s not happening for me on the soul level. Not givin’ up the peanut butter n’ jelly matzah sammiches. Whoever heard of peanut flour anyway? I have a headache.

The point I’m attempting to make is that Kosher-for-Passover Coca-cola is made with actual sugar, not HCFS, and is therefore fine for those on the kitniyot train, but it’s wicked hard to find if you’re not in New York or Israel. But here’s a tip Pelinke: Try shopping at a Mexican market or restaurant for Coke bottled south of the border, where they don’t use the evil corn sweetener. The writing may be Spanish instead of Hebrew, but it’s the real thing.

Me, I don’t drink so much of the Coca, anyway. Unless it’s got a splash or two of rum. Which, being made from sugar cane, appears to be perfectly kosher for Pesach.

17 thoughts on “Kosher-for-Passover Coke Confusion

  1. Plenty available in Houston, too. Just watch out at Belden’s. A couple of years ago they put regular Coke in their “Kosher for Passover” display.
    By the way, you’re right on about the evil HFCS. It’s much more difficult to avoid than you might think. It’s in everything. Forget the International Zionist Conspiracy, the real money is The International Corn Syrup Conspiracy.

  2. BTW: As Coke originally was made with sugar from the cane, some purists believe the Passover edition to be closer to the “real thing” (but without the cocaine aspect in the original pause that refreshes.) Corn syrup is cheaper than cane sugar, which is why the ingredient was changed. But you can –as some do — stock up on the real sugar real thing to enjoy even after the matzah is gone.

  3. Denver checking in and its available here in our big chain grocery stores.

    I’m with you on the kitnyos stuff. How on earth could I EVER get confused between spicy brown mustard and flour? Certainly our ancestors weren’t morons. Why do we have to be?

  4. Thanks to all. I cooking for the community Seder in Baton Rouge. But with the latest story, I may just ask the powers to be not to use Coca-Cola products.
    Unfortunately I’m in the Belt Buckle of the Bible Belt. I know I’ll take some flack for this; my co-religionist here are like 1 step away from being Baptist.
    I don’t know if Yenta did a story on about Rabbi Weinstein, the shelter, Hurricane Katrina and BR . Ending this on a Sad note. Eva Friedmann 83 Holocaust Survivor(I believe the last in BR) passed away on 5 March.

  5. Chicago has Kosher For Passover Coke and Diet Coke – but who would want it when you can down a nice Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda? Or better yet, get some of the Gefen “chocolate” syrup and mix it up with soda water and ice for a true phosphate. (Or get a few different KFP syrup flavors and let the kids and everyone try to mix up the best new combo! Great way to break the seder ice when everyone’s standing around waiting to begin. Paper cups help keep the mess to a minimum.)

  6. Actually there was at least some real sugar in Coca Cola up until 1985 when Old Coke was withdrawn for New Coke. When Old (Classic) Coke returned, it had only HFCS.

    I think the mix was about half real sugar in 1985; the sugar content (versus HFCS) had been declining steadily over the years to save money.

    HFCS is now getting expensive (because corn is used for ethanol) and Coke is looking at alternatives, maybe even putting some sugar back in.

    The Passover (sugar) version tastes much better!

  7. I am neither a historian nor a halachic scholar. However, I have developed a theory about kitnyot that I have not seen explored anywhere. I would like some feedback on this.

    Briefly, kitnyot are foods that can NOT become chometz, but which certain Rabbis (beginning in Provence, France) did not want people to use during Pesach. This category of food was called KITNYOT- probably from the Hebrew word “katan”, meaning small (i.e.: legumes and other seed-like things that could be mistaken for the five prohibited species of grain). Most explanations for the prohibition revolve around the following reasons:

    (1) The Rabbis were afraid that legumes and other foods would become contaminated by chometz in various ways. Thus, for example, if sacks of legume were situated next to sacks of grain, the beans could become contaminated. Anyone who has bought bulk food at the supermarket can attest to this occurrence. Even some items not commonly stored with grains were prohibited. Mustard, for example, was prohibited because apparently in some places, the same sacks that were used to transport mustard to market were re-used to transport grains back. With a little research, you can find numerous other examples of potential contamination.
    (2) The Rabbis were afraid that people would confuse prohibited chometz (such as grain) with permitted foods (such as beans) and accidentally use the wrong one, so they prohibited the use of legumes.
    (3) The Rabbis were concerned that people would miss-out on the experience of Pesach by making bread and pastry out of legume-based flour. (So how come Matzoh-meal cakes, donuts, pancakes, et al. are OK?).

    This raises some obvious questions. Didn’t the same concerns exist for the previous 1000+ years? What happened in the early 1300’s? And why did only the Ashkenazim adopt the prohibition of kitnyot, and not the Sephardim?

    Well, I happened to recently see a PBS program about something called the “Little Ice Age”. It seems that beginning in the early 1300’s (about the same time that the kitnyot prohibition started), Europe experienced a severe weather change (colder) that lasted for four or five centuries. This climate change disrupted agriculture, making it impossible to grow grains in places where it had been grown for centuries. There were severe food shortages and famines.

    The Church saw this phenomenon as the work of the devil, and there is even an account of the Church holding an exorcism to remove the devil from an advancing glacier. (The glacier did finally recede—about 50 years later). Anyway, much of Europe was forced to switch from a grain-based food supply to a legume-based food supply. There were food riots. Legumes were demonized as the devil’s food. (Remember too that fortunes were made and lost on the agricultural shifts, and no-one ever accused the Church of being bad businessmen).

    In this chaotic environment, it is possible that all kinds of confusion existed about the handling of grains, legumes, and other kitnot. This may have +caused the Rabbis to prohibit kitnyot.

    Also, the kitnyot prohibition may have been more of a survival strategy than a halachically-based one. Who needed to provoke the “goyim” by making a point to eat the “devils food” during Pesach? We had enough trouble getting blood for our Matzoh!

    And why didn’t the Sephardim adopt the kitnyot prohibition? Simple…. The Little Ice Age didn’t extend down as far as North Africa. Also, they had always been more of a legume-based society than Europe, so it wasn’t such a big deal to them. And thirdly, the Sephardim generally did not have to deal with the Church.

    Now, I realize that this theory of mine leaves a lot of open questions, like how did corn and peanuts (which were unknown in Europe at the time) make the kitnyot list? Why are some things permitted one year, and then suddenly prohibited? With the advent of Israel and an inter-mixed Jewish population, isn’t it time to re-visit the subject of kitnyot?

    There are hundreds of sites to explain. Have fun researching.

  8. I can follow the idea about some Rabbis not liking legumes. It is a perfectly good reason deem somthing treyf – I guess that is why I included rocket salad in the non-kosher list of my shul…

  9. The weird part to me is KFP diet coke. Diet coke already contains no corn syrup! Admittedly, I don’t worry about kitnyot at all, because the Torah is rather specific about what is forbidden, but for those who do, why would they object to diet coke? I’ve heard it has to do with the possibility of homeopathic levels of contamination, but I have difficulty believing people would be that ridiculous. Although, considering how few cheeses get the kosher label, maybe they are. . .

    • I agree with the Diet Coke thing – my brother brought back a bottle (not that he keeps kosher; it was just the only one available) and we had a long rabbinical-ish discussion on whether aspartame is kosher…

  10. I never understood why some people believe that corn is kitniyos. Rabbi Yaakov Emdin, one of the great rabbinic authorities of the 17th century was asked whether coffee is permissible on Passover since it is made from a bean, and so should be considered kitniyos.
    He replied that only those kinds of legumes that were present in Europe at the time that the tradition of not eating kitniyos was adapted are included in the prohibition (13th century.
    Therefore, he said, since coffee arrived in Europe in the 16th century it is not included in the prohibition of kitniyos.
    Corn is no different than coffee in that it too arrived in Europe from the new world in the 16th century.
    So anyone that drinks coffee on Passover, and everyone does, should also eat corn on Passover.
    In addition according to the Shlchan Aruch (the Code of Jewish Law)if kitniyos fall into a pot on Pasover even if its more than 1/60th of the contents of the pot (which would normally prohibit the contents of the pot were it pork for example)the contents of the pot are permissible. The reason that they give is that the tradition was only not to eat legumes straight out, but if the legumes are simply part of a mixture then that food is considered to be legumes.
    So, the above is another reason why there is no problem drinking drinks which contain corn syrup since its only a mixture and not corn itself.

  11. I never understood why some people believe that corn is kitniyos. Rabbi Yaakov Emdin, one of the great rabbinic authorities of the 17th century was asked whether coffee is permissible on Passover since it is made from a bean, and so should be considered kitniyos.
    He replied that only those kinds of legumes that were present in Europe at the time that the tradition of not eating kitniyos was adapted are included in the prohibition (13th century).
    Therefore, he said, since coffee arrived in Europe in the 16th century it is not included in the prohibition of kitniyos.
    Corn is no different than coffee in that it too arrived in Europe from the new world in the 16th century.
    So anyone that drinks coffee on Passover, and everyone does, should also eat corn on Passover.
    In addition according to the Shlchan Aruch (the Code of Jewish Law)if kitniyos fall into a pot on Pasover even if its more than 1/60th of the contents of the pot (which would normally prohibit the contents of the pot were it pork for example)the contents of the pot are permissible. The reason that they give is that the tradition was only not to eat legumes straight out, but if the legumes are simply part of a mixture then that food is not considered to be legumes.
    So, the above is another reason why there is no problem drinking drinks which contain corn syrup since its only a mixture and not corn itself.

  12. @michael: Coffee isn’t really a legume. It’s a berry. Corn is a grain, so I can certainly see that corn is more questionable than coffee.

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