Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Bad news about Chebe products - They are no longer kosher certified
Though I don't usually post about this type of issue on this blog, I am so disappointed about this news that I want to pass the word on to others who may be affected. I just received a response to an e-mail inquiry from Chebe products. All of their products that were manufactured after April 2007 are no longer kosher certified. This means that several of the recipes on my blog, such as my knishes and Jamaican-style spicy turkey patties, are no longer kosher for people who care about their food products being hechshered. This is a real loss for those of us who are gluten-free and keep kosher. I am working on creating a homemade Chebe replacement that will work in these recipes, and perhaps even be an improvement. In the meantime I urge people to encourage Chebe to re-certify their wonderfully versatile gluten-free products by e-mailing, writing, or calling them. You can find their contact information here.
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9 comments:
There are plenty of pão de queijo recipes online. Keep experimenting. :) If you want a mix-type recipe to tweak, I know there are DIY version on the Delphi Celiac forum. Of course, if you wish to reverse engineer without distractions, avoid everything I've mentioned.
Jocelyn - Hehe - I'm a bit set on reverse engineering, being a kitchen geek as I am. But yes, pao de quiejo recipes aren't a bad place to start off. However, they tend to call for cheese, which won't work if you want to make a pareve dough - The ones I've made haven't been nearly as pliable as Chebe when made without cheese. Anyway, I am sure it won't be a problem to create something similar in its flexibility, I have a bunch of ideas already for how to keep the dough together and keep it pliable. I cannot find the Delphi recipe for the life of me - Do you have it bookmarked by any chance?
Thanks for the news - though sorry to hear it. Do you know whether their products are no longer kosher (changed ingredients) or if it's just a money-issue. Certifications do cost money and it's common for businesses (such as coffee) not to get various certifications purely for economical reasons.
Hi Jon - I'd assume it's a money/convenience issue, but I'm not sure. They say they switched from using a kosher 3rd party packaging facility to doing it themselves - And stopped the kosher certification. The difference between coffee and Chebe products is that coffee, if it is unflavored, does not need a hechsher according to many (maybe even most?) rabbis. Processed products such as Chebe definitely do for most people who keep kosher. This is the same reason why whole (uncooked, unflavored) beans and grains don't tend to need hechshers, but flours do.
I e-mailed them and requested that my fiance e-mail them too. In the meantime, I would love to see your reverse engineering into making a pareve version. :)
Hi Isaiah,
Happy New Year, just a wee bit late. Hey, do you think that I could use almond or rice or soy milk liquid instead of the dari-free powder? Your challah looks great! I'll definitely try your recipe - and what a great idea to put balls of dough on the top to get it to resemble braided challah!
Normal - never was, never will be:).
Best, Ellen
Ellen - I don't think using a liquid milk product is a good idea, this challah would be too moist to handle if you added more liquid. If you don't care about making it into balls, you can definitely try doing that, though. If you eat dairy and don't need it to be pareve, just use real milk powder. You can also try omitting the powder, I don't know how it would turn out though.
Hi Bay,
I was wondering whether you knew of any other frozen roll type product that is gf and heckshered (preferably one that tastes decent, :) ). Thanks!
The Chebe mixes aren't available in Canada - we bought a couple in the states and are trying the pizza dough one tonight.
How is your experiment for a Chebe mix going? I've heard such good things about Chebe, but not being about to get the mixes easily, I'm afraid I may like it!
I didn't see where you were provided with the Delphi forum url, so here it is:http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/main.asp?webtag=celiac&nav=message
Good luck and good cooking!
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