What Makes a Food or Drink Kosher for Passover?

• Every food that is labeled "Kosher for Passover" has been through a specific process. The organization that produces the product (whether the product is as basic as poultry or as processed as pasta) applies to a rabbinic coordinator. A rabbinic field representative comes to visit the plant and observe the processing to ensure that it is kosher for Passover. The field representative will then fill out a report to certify that the plant complies with all of the rules of Kashrut, and is free of all chometz (see Section 3).
  
  

What Wine Should I Buy for Passover?

• Wine is an integral part of the Passover seder. Four glasses are consumed during the meal, and it is also used as a marker of the 10 plagues cast on the Jewish people. Because of this, it is important to purchase wine that is kosher for Passover, which differs from ordinary kosher wine. To ensure that the wine you are purchasing is kosher for Passover, check the label on the bottle or ask your wine merchant for assistance. The kosher for Passover label is most commonly a U with a circle around it.
  
  

What Foods to Avoid on Passover

• The primary foods to avoid on Passover are known as "chometz," and they are the following grains: rye, spelt, barley, wheat and oats. A house that is kosher for Passover will be emptied of all these grains and foods containing these grains. While this is the primary rule, there is also an additional dietary restriction for Ashkenazi Jews (those deriving from Eastern Europe and Russia). Ashkenazi Jews avoid "kitniyot" as well: rice, beans, lentils and seeds.
  
  

Matzoh

• Matzoh is the food most ubiquitous with Passover. It is an unleavened bread, similar to the type of bread baked by the Jewish people when they were escaping from slavery in Egypt. Matzoh is consumed for the full eight days of the Passover holiday, and it also plays a central role in the Passover seder.
  
  

Other Kosher Foods for Passover

• In addition to matzoh, there are a variety of foods that are commonly eaten over the Passover holiday. Charoset, a mixture of apples, nuts, wine and cinnamon, is a sweet Passover chutney that's a requisite part of the meal. The seder plate, which features foods that symbolize the exodus from Egypt, are also indicators of what is kosher for Passover. Some seder plate items are: lamb shanks, eggs, parsley (or another bitter herb), salt water and horseradish. In Jewish American households, egg noodle puddings are also popular kosher for Passover food items.