What Are Permitted Passover Foods And Forbidden Passover Foods ?
Which food is permitted food for Passover and which food is forbidden food for Passover ?
All foods that contain any barley, oats, rye, spelt, or wheat are forbidden to be consumed during the Passover or Pesach festival. This is because if any of these 5 grains come into contact with water, the resulting dough will become chametz ("leaven" in Hebrew) which of course is forbidden to be touched or consumed during the Passover or Pesach festival. These 5 grains are forbidden in order to avoid the potential for accidental contact of any of these 5 grains with water during Passover or Pesach since a Jewish person is not permitted to derive benefit from, consume, or own chametz during Passover or Pesach. The exception to this is the unleavened bread known as Matzo in Hebrew, which must be made with one of the aforementioned ingredients in order to duplicate the ingredient that was used by the Hebrews in combination with water in creating and baking the dough in haste when the Hebrews were fleeing Egypt that was to result in the creation of unleavened bread instead of leavened bread.
In the case of the fermentation of foods and drinks such as wine or beer, yeast created from any one of the 5 forbidden grains - wheat, barley, oats, rye, and spelt - cannot be used for the creation of Passover or Pesach foods and drinks. However, yeast produced from anything other than those 5 forbidden grains can be used, examples being yeast produced from either sugar, grapes, or fruit. In addition, petroleum-derived wine alcohol and alcohol in general can be used for Passover or Pesach. Furthermore, vinegar used for Passover or Pesach is made with apple cider to conform to these dietary rules for Passover or Pesach.
Among Ashkenazi Jews (Jews whose ancestors came from either Central, Northwestern, and/or Eastern Europe), there is a medieval custom instituted by their rabbis to refrain from using flour derived from legumes such as corn and beans, peanuts, as well as rice, because this type of flour might be easily confused with the flour of one of the 5 forbidden grains, wheat. This category of forbidden legumes, which includes rice, is called "Kitniyot" or "Kitniot" (Sephardic pronounciation) or "Kitniyos" or "Kitnios" (Ashkenazic pronounciation) in Hebrew [Kitniyot/Kitniot or Kitniyos/Kitnios means either "bits", "small things", or "little things" in Hebrew as an approximate translation and comes from the root word "small" in Hebrew. Singular form: "Kitneet" or "Kitnit" in Hebrew (Sephardic pronounciation), or "Kitnis" or "Kitnees" (Ashkenazic pronounciation)]. Therefore, for Ashkenazi Jews and for some Sephardi Jews (Jews whose ancestors came from either Spain and/or Portugal), flour and/or yeast that is derived from rice or various legumes are not used for and during Passover or Pesach and so foods and wines for Passover or Pesach are not created using these types of flour.
Finally, in order for wine to be kosher for Passover or Kosher for Pesach, many common preservatives cannot be included in the ingredients. In addition, for Ashkenazi Jews, corn syrup cannot be included in the ingredients due to corn falling into the category of kitniyot/kitniyos. In fact, most preservatives and sweeteners, and all additives or enrichments (for instance, calcium) or lecithin cannot be used for any foods or drinks that will be used during Passover or Pesach. There are some artificial sweeteners which are permitted to be used during Passover or Pesach, and affixed to these products, as well as all foods and drinks that are "Kosher for Passover", will be either a "Kosher for Passover", "Kosher for Pesach", "Kasher l'Pesach", or "Kasher le Pesach" symbol/label that is from either a local, regional, and/or national rabbinical council or assembly in the Orthodox stream of Judaism. In addition, the symbol/label also includes a symbol of that rabbinical organization as well as its name and the words "Kosher for Passover" in Hebrew. If this symbol/label is from a reliable local, regional, and/or national rabbinical council or assembly, then the product can be safely used for Passover or Pesach. The best thing to do is to ask your rabbi which Kosher for Passover symbols/labels to rely upon. A complete list of kosher symbols and agencies worldwide (Note: the following website address contains just kosher symbols, not kosher for Passover symbols, as the label must say either "Kosher For Passover" or "Kasher Le Pesach" or "Kasher l'Pesach" along with the kosher symbol, and so either a "Kosher For Passover" or "Kasher Le Pesach" or "Kasher l'Pesach" label will consist of a kosher symbol of the rabbinical agency, council, or assembly plus the aforementioned words: either "Kosher For Passover" or "Kasher Le Pesach" or "Kasher l'Pesach", indicating that it is not only kosher, but Kosher For Passover) can be found at the following web address: http://www.kashrusmagazine.com/ksg/Old%20and%20deleted/ksg_index.html .
For Passover wines or Pesach wines, the most preferable ones for the Seder are red wines that do not consist of any added sweeteners or water and are not mevushal (There are two types of kosher wines: mevushal and non-mevushal. "Mevushal" means either "boiled" or "cooked" in Hebrew; non-mevushal wines can only be touched and handled by a Sabbath-observing Orthodox-Jewish person; mevushal wines are flash-pasteurized to a rabbinically-supervised and approved temperature and, providing additional Jewish laws for making kosher wine are properly supervised by the rabbi and followed, when created, are still considered kosher whether a Sabbath-observant Jewish person or non-observant person - whether Jewish or not - touches and handles it).
For a more complete and detailed list of accepted and forbidden foods and drinks, one's local, regional, and/or national rabbinical authority in the stream of Judaism one follows - either Orthodox (including Chassidic Judaism and other sub-streams of Orthodox Judaism), Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, or Humanistic Judaism - publishes a list a few weeks prior to the start of Passover or Pesach. Contact them to acquire the list. They usually publish it online, so it is a good idea to locate and check out their official website to download and print the list. The following is a directory list of national Jewish organizations based on the different cultural streams (Sephardi - Spanish and/or Portuguese Jewish rites, Ashkenazi - Central, Northwestern, and/or Eastern Jewish rites, or Mizrahi - the original Jewish communities in the Middle Eastern, North African, Central Asian, and the Caucasus areas and their rites) and religious streams of Judaism in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel, and International Jewish organizations and their official website addresses. Most either provide or can guide you to a list of accepted and forbidden foods and drinks for the Passover or Pesach festival based on the cultural and religious stream of Judaism they follow:
Passover Cleaning Instruction Manuals - A List Of Jewish Organizations
