[Chodosh] Update from the Guide to Chodosh

[Y Herman]

We hope to release the final Guide to Chodosh very soon. Meanwhile to
following may be of interest.

*THE ONGOING WINTER WHEAT-SPRING WHEAT PROBLEM *

*MATZOS, GEFILTE FISH, PRETZELS, CAKES AND CRACKERS*

Two years ago, we became aware of a new problem. Namely, since the
inception of the Guide more than 40 years ago, people in the milling and
baking industry had a rule of thumb that all soft and crumbly baked
products including crackers, matzos and pretzels are always made from
winter wheat which is Yoshon. We now learned that over the last few years
the winter wheat crops have been so low in protein, that many of these
products now have spring wheat flour mixed in, making them possibly
Chodosh. Even ingredients labeled “winter wheat” may, by law, have even
more than 50% spring wheat content! This has required us to reexamine all
products that have in the past been labeled Yoshon following the old rules.
This reexamination is an ongoing process. This issue of the Guide lists
those crackers, matzos, items using matzo meal (such as gefilte fish) and
pretzels that have at the time of this printing been confirmed as being
Yoshon.

MATZOS From our investigations it appears that chametz matzos and matzo
meal, sold all year around is from winter wheat and is Yoshon. However,
Pesach matzos are different. A few hand matzo bakeries have been using
flour that may be Chodosh. Therefore, we suggest that you confirm with the
mashgichim of pesach matzos that their bakery only produces Yoshon.

GEFILTE FISH Since, as noted above, chametz matzos are Yoshon, all chametz
gefilte fish where the only potential problem is matzo meal are also
Yoshon. However, those gefilte fish that list bread crumbs in the
ingredients or are made for Pesach need to be individually investigated to
be sure that they are Yoshon.

PRETZELS, CAKES AND CRACKERS We have found that the situation for pretzels
is far more complex. There are many different pretzel flours in use. We
cannot recommend any pretzels as Yoshon unless specifically certified as
such by the mashgiach. The same caution is recommended for crackers and
cookies.
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