did you know that in every Supermarket you will find kosher food and most probably you are eating
kosher food every week without knowing it and this is why today I'm so excited because I will
bring you along to show you what to look for to find kosher food in your local non-Jewish
grocery store and at the same time I will be debunking myths and clarifying misconceptions
about kosher food with me a real Orthodox Jew and if you're new here hi my name is Sara Malka and on
my channel I share all facets of my Orthodox Sephardic Jewish Life as a full-time working
mom with small kiddos so please don't forget to leave this video a big Thumbs
Up And subscribe to our Channel let me put on a pretty tichel (Headscarf) and let's jump into it
while we are driving to the grocery store let me share with you really quickly the
seven general laws we follow as Orthodox Jews for a food to be considered kosher
and as a reference all the laws are found in the Torah and I will leave a link in
the description box below with the exact passages and books where you can find them
and here are seven laws we do not mix meat and milk together we do not mix Meat and
Fish together seafood and shellfish are no-go as well as reptiles we do not eat bugs we only eat
fish with removable scales and fins so no eels or sharks for us we only eat meat from kosher
animals which means an animal that chew its cud and have complete split hooves and also
that meat has to be processed in a Kosher Way by a SHOCHET a person who specializes in handling
the animal to produce Kosher meat we do not eat predatory and scavenger birds as well as a bonus
for many of our Sephardic Orthodox Jews we have another rule we do not mix milk and fish together
now that we reviewed the basics about what is defined as a kosher food let's go in the store
we only visit once every few weeks because it is about a 30 minutes drive from our home but
we still love going there because the prices are so amazing and most of their produce are
locally grown which is always a big plus for us I also chose this store today because there
is no Jewish Community around here so this grocery store is quite representative of
every and any Supermarket found around the world the first item you will buy for sure every week
that is kosher are fruits and vegetables as all fruits and veggies are potentially kosher I say
potentially because not all fruits and veggies can be eaten as is the issue with certain food like
raspberries blackberries broccoli and Brussels sprouts just to name a few examples is that the
leaves or outer layers are easily accessed by the insects and they can easily hide in them
or between them and therefore these fruits and veggies are often infested with insects let me
show you with the broccoli florets I have washed and soaked this broccoli and there is still some
insect left inside as you can see the insects are often very small and can hide very easily
especially worms that dig themselves into the branches of the broccoli for example this is why
we avoid eating fruits and veggies like the one previously mentioned as there is a high chance
we will eat an insect even after soaking and cleaning them so as a general rule we do not
eat these problematic fruits and veggies raw unless they were cultivated in very special
conditions meaning in a bug-free environment with special care Brands like Bodek B'gan and Pardes
will have fresh and frozen problematic fruits and veggies available for us like broccoli berries
and other fruits and veggies and all of them will be bug free on a side note you would be surprised
how many insects we find in Everyday Food I made a complete video about it and I will leave the link
in the description box below and the link above for you to be able to watch after this video
before we continue our visit I have to explain to you these funny symbols found on many food in
your grocery store these are called HERSHERS or HECHSHERS or kosher certifications the HECHSHER
is a symbol that certifies that the food does not break any of the seven major kosher laws and also
that the mashgiach or supervisor was actually in the food plant and made sure the ingredients used
are Kosher and also that the surfaces where the food was produced were cleaned and devoided of any
non-kosher products or substances so the mashgiach will clean the services with special soaps
before any kosher food will be produced the most reputable and frequent kosher symbols in the USA
and Canada are OU OK MK COR CRC KUF-K and Star-K but not all kosher symbols are reputable and
believe it or not there is a big counterfeiting of kosher symbols especially on products from
China Thailand and India some companies created their own certification like this one
and of course none of them are a valid kosher certification other companies will go as far
as to add real kosher certification on their non- kosher product like for example this ham
and cheese roll that has a tablet-K certification and this ham steak that has an OU certification
which of course is a counterfeit to know what are the most reliable kosher certifications we go on
kosherquest.org this amazing site gives us a list of all the kosher certifications we can rely on
from around the world whether from the USA Canada Europe and Beyond it also gives out kosher alerts
informing us of all the products that bear an unauthorized culture symbol or has any issue I
will have the link to this site in the description box below so in a nutshell for any processed food
a kosher symbol is necessary to assure that it is kosher now that we know what makes a food kosher
and what is a kosher certification let's see how many kosher food we can find in this non-kosher
grocery for bread because a lot of time there will be margarine and other highly processed ingredient
found in the ingredient list the bread need to be certified kosher and you would be surprised how
many breads are Kosher and your local supermarket here almost all of the bread were kosher
as a super bonus even some of the cakes and donuts were kosher too but they were almost all Dairy and
therefore could not be part of a meat meal another food you are most probably buying and unknowingly
to you is kosher is fresh fish any fresh fish that is sold complete or whole in a store where you can
see the scales and fins and you recognize the fish as being part of the kosher fish like salmon tuna
can be bought from a non-kosher store if it is bought once again whole or uncut with scales and
fins usually as Orthodox Jews we do have Kosher fish stores this way we can have the fish already
prepared in steaks minced so on and so forth which offers us more options but any fish that is
processed like frozen fish canned tuna or prepared fish will need to have a kosher certification as
a lot of time the Kosher fish will be processed in or on the same production line as non-kosher
fish and also like in this case will be mixed with milk derivatives or simply non-kosher food
as per the meat unless there is a kosher section in the supermarket no meat will be kosher even
if it comes from kosher animals because for meat to be kosher it has to be processed in
a specific kosher way you would be surprised how many times groceries will try to sell Kosher meat
products like in this store in the USA where they wrote on some ham/pork packages that they
were kosher bet Yosef which is the highest level of Kashrut or kosher certification in meat for
prepared meat products the rule stays the same no meat product can be considered kosher unless they
have a kosher certification on it as often even if the front label of the product does not say they
could be an issue with mixing meat and another problematic ingredient when you look closely at
the ingredient list we often found milk hidden in the ingredient list like in this meat pocket
or this tempura chicken which of course would render the items non-kosher
another frequent misconception about kosher food is that Halal and kosher certifications are
the same and interchangeable but they are not we have different dietary laws for food to be kosher
once again it really needs to have a kosher certification for any food that is processed
this will bring us to another myth surrounding kosher food that I often hear of course Sara
I hear "I keep kosher I simply read the ingredient list and if I do not see any
non-kosher ingredients for me it is kosher" and of course that is absolutely untrue and I will show
you many examples throughout our visit here but here is our first one if I take this box of jello
when you read the ingredients you see that there is sugar gelatin adopic acid sodium citrate sodium
phosphate flavor and colors so technically you do not see any animal products or any ingredients
breaking one of the seven main Jewish food laws but when we take a closer look at the ingredients
individually and look up on the jello website and type in gelatin in the frequently Asked question
we will see that the origin of the gelatin is mostly from pork and more specifically from pork
skin so that is a big no no for sure as Orthodox Jews making this Jello not Kosher and therefore
as a general rule when you see gelatin in the ingredient list chances are it is coming from
an animal source and mostly pork like you can see on this pack of marshmallows maybe
you're asking yourself how can Orthodox Jews eat desserts made with gelatin if gelatin is usually
made from animal products and we can eat gelatin based dessert because kosher gelatin is usually
made from fish or non-animal products like here where the gelatin has been replaced by carrageenan
another item you most probably use that is kosher is pure coffee or pure tea because when they are
in their purest form so no added sugar or ingredients then it's kosher even without
a kosher certification but as soon as you find additive in them then we need a kosher
certification if you're curious and you're wondering what does the p mean next to the
kosher certification it means that that product can be used on Passover so not only does it
respect the seven general laws of kosher but it also follows the laws that are necessary to make
it kosher for Passover so it does not contain any of the five forbidden grains that we cannot
use on Passover for the cheese many soft cheeses found in non-kosher stores are certified kosher
like these cream cheese that are MK or Montreal kosher and the reason that not all cheeses are
kosher is that to make the cheese set or firm up they need to use an enzyme called rennet
and this rennet is often sourced from animal products and a fun fact is this cream cheese
even though it is certified kosher would be okay to be eaten by our Ashkenazi Brothers
but for many of us Sephardic Jews we could not eat it as it contains milk and fish together
for the eggs which is another item you eat that is kosher as long as the eggs are from
a kosher animal it is considered as being kosher but for any processed egg products
like these egg whites or like this full egg mix this would need a kosher certification
for milk because nowadays there are vitamins added to the milk it needs
to Bear a kosher certification most milks found in supermarkets are Kosher and obviously Dairy
on a side note I'm sure many of you are going to be very surprised to learn that many plant-based
milk creamers and whipped toppings have a dairy status not because they are considered as coming
from a cow and being purely Dairy but because many plant-based products are produced in machines
that handle milk too so they are categorized as dairy due to the cross-contamination and
therefore for us orthodox Jews we could not use these creamers during a meat meal for the pasta
or partly boiled or parboiled rice they need a kosher certification as they have been processed
but plain non-cokked rice technically does not need a kosher certification the same holds true
for dried legumes with no additives they can technically be used as is but to be honest most
Orthodox Jews will buy all their products with a kosher certification just to be on the safe side
for the oils most of the oils will need a kosher certification because they are
heavily processed especially canola oil corn oil vegetable oil but here is a fun
fact any cold press pure virgin olive oil or kosher even without the kosher certification
next let's talk drinks and that will be another item you most probably consume frequently that
is kosher without you knowing it and these are bottled spring water like Evian Sparkling
Waters and also soft drinks produced by very big companies like Coca-Cola all of them are
generally kosher on a side note more local or artisanal products often will not have a kosher
certification as they use more elaborate ingredients which are often non-kosher
for the treats whether chips nuts popcorn and chocolate usually they will be kosher but
unfortunately most of the candies and especially soft candies will not be kosher because most of
the soft candies are made with gelatin and as we saw before if there's gelatin in it we have to
assume it is sourced from a non-kosher animal and more and more products will show the source of the
gelatin like in these jujube where they clearly state that the gelatin is sourced from pork
in the Frozen aisle for the Frozen fruits many of them will be kosher but for the vegetables
many of them will not be kosher because part of the preparation for the freezing process for the
vegetables is to blanch them in starchy water and many times the pots and pans will not be kosher
therefore making the final product non-kosher even if it is like here only peas and carrots
I would love to know what was something new that you've learned about kosher laws
or kosher food let me know in the comments below
thank you so much for being here it means the world to me and know that in
my book you are my favorite kosher treat being able to spend some time with you
and if you're here until the end please write in the comments I LOVE TO LEARN so I know I was not
alone and as a gentle reminder if nobody told you today know that YOU ARE LOVED and YOU ARE
ENOUGH Just the Way You Are until next time stay safe stay blessed and don't forget to FRUM IT UP