Kosher For Passover 2013 Selections Include Vast Offerings of Gluten Free

Kosher For Passover 2013 Selections Include Vast Offerings of Gluten FreeKosherfest, the most comprehensive kosher food and beverage trade show, solicited its more than 350 exhibitors to find out what’s new in Kosher for Passover products for 2013.  Here is a roundup by category:

Desserts
Elegant Desserts by Metro offers a vast array of scrumptious desserts.  Their individual-portioned desserts include blueberry cobbler, apple cobbler, strawberry shortcake tarts, rosette cookies,  mousse in several flavors,  cream puffs,  and fruit purees that are shaped  like their flavor (watermelon sorbet looks like a watermelon wedge),  as well as cake logs, pound cake, pareve* cheesecake on a brownie chafing dish, and much more.

From Gelato Petrini (Winner, Best in Show, Kosherfest ’12 New Products Competition), offers a full line of authentic Italian sorbets and gelato, some are pareve and the others are Cholev Yisroel**, all gluten free and most are fat free (www.gelatopetrini.com).

Finchi’s by Aunt Rashi Chocolate brownie torte, low fat brownie torte, decadent chocolate mousse, low fat chocolate mousse and sugar free low fat chocolate mousse.  This is a new product that is gluten free (www.finchis.com).

From Urban Nosh comes Matzel Toff!, a scrumptious toffee-chocolate-matzo treat available in pareve dark chocolate and milk chocolate too.  Matzel Bits! is a bite size version of MatzelToff! that makes for the perfect on-the-go snack. Holy Macaroon! is gluten free coconut covered in chocolate and topped with coconut flakes and almonds (www.matzeltoff.com).

Foodman’s Matzolah is a Kosherfest ’12 New Products Competition Award winner. Matzolah, The Trail Mix of the Exodus! is a matzo based granola made with Vermont maple syrup, California raisins, and almonds, walnuts and pecans. Enjoy for breakfast, as a snack, or as a dessert.

Flowers for Passover! Don’t put these in water, since they are edible flowers made from premium chocolate. Choose from assorted chocolate flowers in an elegant matzo tin, or a tall vase filled with 44 chocolate flowers in a variety of colors.  From ZerMatok Ltd, an Israeli company that employs special needs and the blind. www.zermatok.co.il <http://www.zermatok.co.il> Chef Y. Bainier offers frozen soufflés in ready-to-bake ramekins that go from freezer to oven. Sweet soufflé flavors include chocolate, chocolate peanut butter and dulche de leche. Savory soufflés are available too (www.chefybainier.com/

Elyon Natural Vanilla marshmallows from Glatech Productions are new from www.koshergelatin.com <http://www.koshergelatin.com> . Eat them alone or use in a favorite recipe.

Zelda’s Sweet Shoppe offers gluten-free desserts for Passover including Chocolate marshmallow-filled frogs and locusts, Chocolate-dipped marshmallows, Vanilla meringues, Chocolate-dipped meringues, cranberry walnut bark, S’mores Bark, and Raspberry Almond Macaroon slices. Available in gift boxes (www.zeldas.net <http://www.zeldas.net> ).

Oil & Vinegar
Oxygen Imports offers new for Passover Avocado Oil, Extra Virgin Oil with Pomegranate, Extra Virgin Oil with Omega-3, Extra Virgin Oil with Oregano.  De La Rosa Real Foods offer OU-P Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Grape Seed Oil,  Aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Organic Red Wine Vinegar and Organic White Wine Vinegar (www.delarosarealfoods.com <http://www.delarosarealfoods.com> ).   From Turkey comes Palermo brand Extra Virgin Olive Oil in several flavors including red pepper, garlic, lemon and basil, as well as Casa de Oliva Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Fish & Meat
Benz’s Food Products offers gefilte fish, jarred fish and a full line of canned tuna (www.benzsFish.com <http://www.benzsFish.com> ); Seafood Imports offers Java brand of frozen seafood, tuna and hamachi.  Loins, steaks, minced, cubed and fillets are available, great for use as sashimi or sushi.  Acme Smoked Fish Corporation features Whitefish salad, Atlantic rich hand-cut smoked salmon, and pickled herring in several flavors and styles including dill, mustard, wine, rollmops and home style (acmesmokedfish.com).

Real Kosher presents franks: reduced fat, reduced sodium, classic knockwurst, family pack and cocktail franks, and, sliced corned beef and beef fry, hot and spicy beef salami,  spicy Mexican chorizo, Hot Italian beef sausage, Cajun beef sausage, Greek style beef sausage, beef kielbasa, semi dry beef salami and chopped beef liver spread.  Jack’s Gourmet Kosher introduces Facon, a smoky and salty dry-cured beef that cooks up like the real thing, as well as Spicy Southwestern Style sausage (www.jacksgourmetkosher.com <http://www.jacksgourmetkosher.com> )
Matzo, Panko, Quinoa
Kedem Food Products features more than 50 brands of kosher food products, many Kosher for Passover.  This year’s new items include Gluten free Yehuda crackers, Yehuda Gluten-free Matzo style Meal and Farfel, Blanchard and Blanchard Whole Wheat Matzo Sticks, two varieties of Blanchard and Blanchard Granola Cereal, Chef Jeff Nathan’s Panko, and a wide variety of Holyland Shmura (handmade) Matzo.  Star-K of Baltimore, a large kosher certifying agency, has given Kosher for Passover certification to Setton Farms quinoa, Ancient Harvest brand quinoa and Natural Earth Products quinoa. They also offer a new certification for the Sephardic community, Star-SP, which certifies kosher for Passover items for Sephardim, who, unlike Ashkenazim, eat rice and legumes on Passover.

L’Chaim – Wines & Spirits
Backsberg Estate Cellars Kosher For Passover includes Brut, Merlot and Chardonnay; Royal Wine Corporation introduces Pacifica Evan’s Collection, from the first ever exclusively kosher winery in the Pacific Northwest.  Choose from among Washington Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon.

Odds and Ends
California Delight Sucralis is a new sugar-free sugar replacement;  Marinate and infuse flavor into your  Passover meals with a new line of Kosher For Passover gluten and fat free sauces from MIKEE including Teriyaki sauce, brisket sauce, candied chicken sauce with apricot and Mango Duck sauce.
Silicone molds featuring frog shapes from the Kosher Cook can be used for making jello, chocolate and ice cubes (www.thekoshercook.com

Rite Lite of Brooklyn, NY offers a vast array of whimsical non-food items for Passover that make great gifts. Choose from among Passover “matzo ball” salt and pepper shakers, laminated Seder plates, Passover cake servers, and for kids, reusable drinking straws accented with frogs, baby bibs with Passover theme embroidery, and laminated Passover vinyl placements (www.ritelite.com <http://www.ritelite.com> ).

Last but not least, “OU Kosher” offers an updated version of its free app that now includes Kosher For Passover FAQ’s as well as a guide to all products that are OU For Passover and year-round — http://itunes.apple.com/ke/ou-kohser/id491138771?mt=8. The OU Facebook and Twitter accounts also offer updates on Kosher for Passover products, recipes and educational information.

According to Menachem Lubinsky, co-producer and founder of Kosherfest, “Each year kosher manufacturers astound with new and innovative products to make celebrating Passover even more festive. This year they are taking the health conscious, the gourmet lover, and the traditionalist into consideration in what is an incredible array of new products. New items have demonstrated in past years that they drive sales and can increase profits.  Forty percent of kosher food sales revolves around the Passover holiday.”

This information is provided by Kosherfest, the largest kosher food and beverage trade show, now entering its 25th year.  Kosherfest 2013 is scheduled to take place at the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, NJ, October 29 – 30, 2013.  Follow us on FB and Twitter @kosherfest.  Passover starts Monday, March 25, 2013 at sundown.