What is kosher?

What is kosher?

Kosher is a Hebrew word meaning ‘proper’ or’ fit’ and is most often (but not exclusively) used in connection with food. It describes which foods are fit for consumption by religious Jewish people.

Although kosher food does not need to be blessed by a Rabbi it must adhere to the religious laws of kashrut.

The Torah — Hebrew Bible — sets out many of the rules around which foods are allowed and how they must be prepared. This includes which animals and fish are permitted, how the animals may be slaughtered and then how they may be prepared to eat.

Not all Jewish people keep kosher and kosher food is not restricted to Jewish people — you’ll find plenty of kosher foods in the supermarket, and not only in the kosher section.

Kosher food categories

There are three types of food groups:

• Meat (aka fleishig/meaty) — which includes all foods containing meat and/or poultry in any form – including animal or poultry fat.
• Milk (aka milchig/milky) — butter, cream, cheese, yoghurt and any foods containing them.
• Parev (or pareve or parve) — all the neutral foods that are neither milk nor meat. This group includes fish, eggs and all plant-based foods – ie: bread, pasta, grains, rice, pulses, fruit and vegetables etc.

Rules of kosher

There are many complex rules that govern kashrut (a set of Jewish dietary laws that govern what foods are allowed, how to prepare them, and how to slaughter animals):

Milk and meat

Milk and meat must never be cooked together nor eaten at the same meal. So a slow-cooked beef dish would be made with oil, vegetables and spices, like this pomegranate brisket but never with butter or a creamy sauce. Similarly you would never roast your chicken — a popular Friday night / Shabbat (Sabbath) staple — with butter but instead with oil (like this pot roast chicken). For this reason, Jewish classic bread, challah is enriched by oil, eggs and sugar but no butter as it’s generally served with Friday night dinner which invariably includes a meat main course.

Kosher kitchen rules

The rules around milk and meat extend to food preparation. In a strictly kosher kitchen, you would need a set of utensils, pots, pans, cutlery and tableware for your dairy food and a second set for eating meat dishes. You would also need separate sinks (or washing up bowls) and washing up utensils to clean them in plus a third set for Passover when an additional set of dietary rules applies.

Mind the gap

To avoid mixing the two, if you have eaten any foods containing meat you must leave a minimum of six hours before eating anything with dairy in it and vice versa. So, there are plenty of Jewish dairy-free (parev) dessert recipes. You might try a vegan apple crumble or vegan brownies made with plant-based margarine (which would need to be kosher) or coconut oil instead of butter. The same goes after your cheesy snack or cream cake when you must wait six hours before tucking into a burger. And a cheeseburger is definitely not on the menu.

Meat rules

There are further rules dictating which meats are kosher:

• Only herbivorous mammals with cloven (split) hooves which also chew the cud are permitted. The most common of these are cows, sheep and goats. Pork is not kosher.
• The animal must be slaughtered following specific rules (the laws of shechita) by a qualified slaughterer known as a shochet. The animal must have been healthy when it was slaughtered with no broken bones or disease — the shochet will check the animal again afterwards. As the rules surrounding animal slaughter are fairly complex, meat should only be considered kosher if it bears a reliable kosher certificate. (See below for kosher certification.)
• Only the front half of an animal is considered kosher — cuts like sirloin, flank and hind quarter are not permitted. All traces of blood must be removed from the meat by a process of brining, which uses kosher salt — a large-grained salt specifically for this process.
• It is also not permitted to cook fish and meat together, so using anchovies with lamb, for example, would not be allowed.

Seafood

The only swimming species considered kosher are fish with scales and fins. They can be sea or fresh water fish and include salmon, cod, carp and sea bass but exclude flat fish, like monkfish and turbot. Only the roe from kosher fish is acceptable, so caviar from sturgeon is off limits but salmon roe is fine. Shellfish and crustaceans are not kosher.

Neutral foods

Parev foods, which are neither milky nor meaty, maybe be eaten freely with either meat or milk. They are also fine on their own. They include oils, grains, fruits and vegetables and foods like bread, pasta, rice and even tea and coffee. If they are processed — like a bag of crisps, refined oils or even a loaf of bread — they will need kosher certification to be approved, to ensure that they do not come into contact with non-kosher ingredients while being processed nor with machinery that has come into contact with non-kosher foods.

Special rules apply to wine, which must be made under supervision of a religious Jew and within strict rules. Religious Jews will not drink wine unless approved as kosher by a kosher licensing authority. Bread and cheese must also be made under supervision to be classed as kosher. Kosher cheese must not be made with animal rennet — which comes from the stomach of cows. A vegetarian rennet alternative must be used.

Foods to avoid

All foods that are not permitted fall within the category of treife (or traife/trayfe – prounounced tray-f). Included in this category are pork, shellfish, the rear half of any otherwise kosher animal and most insects. Birds of prey are also not kosher, and neither is meat that not slaughtered in accordance with kashrut. Even if not classed as treife, religious Jewish people will not eat any processed foods that do not have a hechsher. (See: Kosher food certification below).

Kosher food certification

Kosher certification agencies oversee food production. They examine production processes and supply chains to ensure that no kosher rules have been broken.

If the agency is happy the manufacturer is then entitled to display a logo (called a hechsher) on that food, so consumers know it is kosher. Not all kosher foods display that label, but the licensing authority will have records of which foods have been declared as safe to eat.

These rules do not apply to simple foods like most vegetables and fruits which are kosher if bought fresh or frozen and with no additives. However, as it is not permitted to eat an insect, some fruits and vegetables must be checked properly before consumption. Raspberries and broccoli for example are prone to infestation by tiny bugs and should be thoroughly checked and washed and if purchased frozen, will generally need a hechsher.

Passover

During the eight-day long Jewish festival of Passover (or Pesach) religious Jews abstain from eating leavened foods, which are also known as chometz.

The festival celebrates the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt when they left in such a hurry there wasn’t time for their bread to rise. The foods that are not eaten include pasta, bread, cake and biscuits. For Ashkenazi Jews — whose ancestors came from Eastern Europe — rice, legumes, pulses and certain spices (which are termed kitniyot) are also not allowed. Sephardi Jews — whose families are from the Mediterranean and southern European countries — do eat those foods.

During the festival processed foods must be certified as being Kosher for Passover, which confirms that they did not encounter any chometz during their manufacture. There is more information about Passover here.

FAQ's

What makes food kosher?

The rules of kashrut dictate which foods are permitted to be eaten by religious Jews. Many unprocessed foods, like most fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen or tinned in water or brine) as well as honey and some oils are kosher in their natural state. Fruits and vegetables must be thoroughly washed to make sure any tiny bugs have been removed. Meat and poultry must be certified kosher as must any foods that have undergone any processing.

Where can I buy kosher foods?

Kosher foods are available from special kosher shops and supermarkets and online kosher supermarkets. Many larger supermarkets, especially in areas with large Jewish populations, will have a kosher section stocking some of the staples.

What is kosher salt?

Kosher salt is a coarse-grained salt. The large grain size made it ideal for the koshering process of removing blood from meat. It’s easy to pick up and sprinkle over food and the large flake size and clean flavour made it popular to cook with. It’s often used in American recipes.

Jewish recipes

Challah

An enriched (parev) bread that’s a staple for the Jewish sabbath (Shabbat) every Friday night.

Jewish chicken soup

Another Friday night favourite often eaten with matzo balls — which are a must for the Jewish festival of Passover. These matzo balls are spiced up with horseradish for a bit of a kick.

Jewish honey cake

A dairy-free, spiced cake that’s a must for celebrating the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

Cholent

This rib-sticking, warming winter slow-cooked stew made from meat, pulses and vegetables is another traditional treat for the sabbath. It’s often cooked overnight and served for lunch after attending synagogue.

Lokshen pudding

This is a popular Friday night dessert. If you are making it after a meat main course the butter would be replaced with a (kosher) plant-based spread.

Read more about Jewish food

What is Rosh Hashanah?
What is Chanukah and how is it celebrated?
Plan a perfect Passover
Passover recipes
What is Passover and how is it celebrated?