While COVID-19 is likely to again prevent families from gathering in person to commemorate the Jewish holiday of Passover, they can still have seders virtually using Facetime and Zoom.
This year, Passover begins the evening of Saturday, March 27 and ends the evening of Sunday, April 4. It's a time when many more gluten-free products are available at supermarkets. This grew out of the observance of certain segments of the Jewish population refraining from eating any wheat products during Passover. The packaging of many gluten-free products is expressly labeled as such, while others have a "non-gebrokts" notation. (As always, read the ingredient label before buying and consuming a particular item.)
I've been chronicling new gluten-free Passover items for many years (you can read prior posts
here), and this year there additions to the Seder table, though the pandemic has curtailed the roll-out of many more. Locally, many Passover products can be found at ShopRite markets, particularly the one on Route 70 in Cherry Hill (Garden State Pavilions) and Wegmans stores.
Kosher food manufacturer
Kayco, which owns the Manischewitz brand, will be introducing new gluten-free products under various brand names (you can find all of Kayco's gluten-free products
here.) The best-selling gluten-free matzo brand, Yehuda, returns with Original, Everything, Egg and other varieties. Yehuda also has gluten-free matzo meal, cake meal and crackers.
This year, there are several new products under the Manischewitz label, including mini macaroons in coconut, chocolate and birthday cake flavors.
This year, also look for new Gefen-branded coconut S'mores, made with coconut, dark chocolate and tiny marshmallows.
Paskesz has two new gluten-free breakfast cereals for the holiday: Choco Fillos are crunchy cereal pillows that come in hazelnut and chocolate flavors.
Also check the frozen-food section of your local market for even more varieties of gluten-free Passover pizzas and pizza bagels, blintzes, knishes and other items.
About a week or two before the start of Passover, supermarkets receive their shipments of fresh gluten-free cakes and cookies from New York bakeries such as
Oberlander's,
Lilly's Bake Shoppe and
Schick's. Look for sandwich, black-and-white and rainbow cookies, cake rolls, decorative and layer cakes.
If you want to try "Mexican Coke" (made with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup), Passover Coca-Cola will be available in the Philadelphia area and other regions. Look for bottles with distinctive yellow caps.
Prices of some Passover foods tend to be higher than their non-holiday counterparts, so I suggest buying one of a particular item to see if you like it before stocking up. Keep an eye on Passover sections after the second night of the holiday, when markets tend to cut prices on whatever products are left.
