WHY WE CHANGE DISHES ETC. FOR PASSOVER

Preparations for Passover or Pesach actually HAVE to begin early. You have a special set of dishes and glassware and silver unless you use paper and plastic. You have to clean your house thoroughly because you must make sure there are no forbidden grain products in your home for the duration. So this is a major cleaning which means washing out cupboards and drawers to clean out all those crumbs that seem to magically reproduce.

Cooking is another thing all together. All your pots and pans have to be "kashered" or cleaned thoroughly by soaking or boiling in hot water. You will have a set for meat and a set for milk dishes. These cannot be interchanged. This is if you keep a kosher kitchen.

Even if you don’t keep kosher you will be cooking differently for the 8 days of Passover. You cannot use any grains including corn, wheat, rice or barley. We eat a lot of matzah and things made with matzah which is not the most appetizing of cracker type bread. Eggs are very prevalent and potatoes. Most Jewish cooks will make a lot of dishes before hand and freeze them for use during the festival. Interestingly enough…you cannot use vanilla or other alcohol based flavorings because they are made from grain that is forbidden during Passover. Even soft drinks have to be certified "kosher for Passover" because they can contain corn syrup.

All your "hamatez" or forbidden grains and things containing the forbidden grains can be packed up and "sold" to a non-Jew for the duration of Passover so you don’t have to throw away good food but it has to be packed so that you can’t "accidently" use it.

Flourless desserts and cake recipes are always welcome for this time of year because you can only eat so much matzah and cream cheese or butter. Maccaroons are popular at this time of year because they don’t have flour. Some cakes can be made using matzah cake flour or meal. This is made by grinding matzah finely but it still has a very bland taste and an odd consistency.