Newsgroups: dc.dining
Subject: Re: PASSOVER WINES
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1992 19:15:18 -0500

 JC> Rabbi, if I may ask a question about Kosher.  I have noticed in years past
 JC> that Giant sells "Kosher Coca-Cola".  Forgive my ignorance, but what makes
 JC> Coke Kosher/Non-Kosher?  I thought Kosher had to do with not mixing
 JC> milk/cheese with meat and also how an animal was slaughtered.    

Joe, I see you haven't gotten a reply yet, and I think I can offer a fairly
accurate answer on this one...

Risen products are forbidden during Passover (yeast or salted bread, for
example).  Because liquids were perceived to be quite distinct from dough when
all this was getting set up, wine is exempt -- I imagine beer is also, but am
not sure.  With me so far?

Okay... in order to produce a highly profitable soft drink, Coke cut their
costs when they went to New Coke some years back, and stopped using sugar
o sweeten their product.  Instead, the reformulated the syrup AND switched
to HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, which Pepsi had already been using.
This was one reason that New Coke was supposed to gain favor with the Pepsi
Generation.  When they figured out which way the wind was blowing, public
relationwise, a year later, the dropped back to the old syrup formula for
their "Classic Coke" product, BUT they retained the HFCS as the sweetener.
So most of the year, Classic Coke (like New Coke, now just called "Coke")
is sweetened with HFCS.  SO far, so good?

Okay.  Here's where modern profits butt heads with the ancient ones.  HFCS is
a sweetening agent that's produced from CORN, and in the old days, the treat-
ment of corn (or maize) was related to the production of breads, and thus fell
under the specific limitations of the Passover restrictions.  I'll bet this is
all starting to make sense, right?

Well, where it comes apart at the seams is... HFCS is /not/ related to bread
making, and HFCS is /not/ a fermented product.  But because, historically, it
could have been related to bread, and because of the production techniques it's
/possible/ that wild yeast might sneak a snack of the corn... HFCS is
prohibited during Passover.

For anybody who's observant, this means that during Passover, you can only
drink the Kosher Coke, at special displays in some stores, in some parts of
this country.  Be careful, because some of the Coke employees could care less,
and I've seen non-Kosher Coke stacked at the Kosher Coke display placard.
(When I pointed this out to Giant management, they immediately corrected the
situation in the market I was in, by the way.  Thank you, Izzie Cohen!)

For those of us who are not observant, there's even better news.  If you can
find Kosher Coke (and supplies ARE limited), what you're buying is REAL,
ORIGINAL Coca Cola JUST LIKE IN THE OLD DAYS.  Sweetened with sugar, and made
with the "original" (as of 1960, anyway) formula.  For Coke gourmets, Passover
is indeed a very special occasion.

In past years, the black printing on the red plastic that contained each
6-bottle unit of Kosher Coke began with the letters "KP" and the digit of the
current year.  Thus, two years ago the serialization started off with "KP0"
and last year, the serialization began with "KP1".  This year, either they're
using a different serialization method, or the Kosher Coke display at /my/
market isn't Kosher Coke.  (I've put a call in to the local Coca Cola bottler,
to find out for sure -- I'll post the correct info when they get it to me.)