Any way you break it (ha!), Passover is a Candy Addict’s worst nightmare. A vast majority of candy these days is simply not kosher for Passover, largely because it is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Most Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews do not allow the consumption of corn or legumes during the holiday, so corn syrup sweetened stuff is a no-go zone. Most Sephardic (North African/Middle Eastern/Spanish) Jews do allow legumes and corn, but even those who don’t mind the corn syrup have to bid adieu to their favorite classic treats – anything with crisp wafers (see ya, Kit Kat), malt (buh-bye Whoppers), crispy rice bits (No Crunch bar for you!)
Traditional Passover candies tend to be those that will not offend anyone in either the legumes or no-legumes camp. They’re mainly a collection of Joyva Ring Jells, those hideous pink jelly rings covered in dark mockolate or those completely horrible cherries floating in cough syrup coated with mockolate. Not all kosher candy is bad, it’s just that Passover candy in particular is mostly a disaster. Over these eight days, my sugar highs tend to be the result of a few too many (handfuls of) home made meringues.
Most years I buy a box or two of chocolate-coated matzah, if for nothing else than to make myself feel a bit more human – and often I am left disappointed. Regularly available in most supermarkets, chocolate-covered matza is not a new concept. This year I tried a box from Yehuda Matzohs. In each box you got the equivalent of two sheets of matza, broken into four pieces. The coating was even and pretty thick, and I have to say this stuff was absolutely delicious! Of some concern was the mention of it being coated in “chocolate flavour” rather than actual chocolate. The box also says these are pareve (contains no dairy) so I wasn’t entirely surprised. The ingredients list pretty much confirms it…the coating is made of cocoa powder and some other random stuff. Still, it was pretty tasty and I’d gladly snarf down an entire box by myself.
The texture of the coating is quite nice; it has a matte finish and the smell is sweet, even if it’s not exactly an olfactory chocolate head rush. You could easily make this stuff yourself, but who the heck wants to go to that much trouble? Depending on your observance, you would probably need to buy some kosher for Passover chocolate and then melt it… and of course you would be silly if you didn’t do a taste-test to see which is the best of those before you starting busting out with your (kosher) double boiler. For my money, buy a box of these and sit back and pretend you’re eating a Kit Kat.
I find the Jewish religion interesting. There are a lot of rules to follow! I can’t say that I’ve ever eaten matzah, but what better way to try it than with a candy? :) I’m curious now… I want to see what I’m missing out on.
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:48 amI think that matzah WITHOUT chocolate is gross. I always avoid it at the Seder. It’s tasteless. bleh.
April 25th, 2008 at 5:50 am