JustASC

The Wall Street Journal reports on “the second kosher crisis this Passover season” (after our Tam Tam scoop, of course): a shortage of kosher-for-Passover stick margarine.

Longtime factories find the manufacturing process burdensome and expensive, and ethanol production is driving up the price of cottonseed oil, it’s key ingredient (so you can blame Al Gore).  

The only U.S. factory making Passover margarine is Kearny, N.J.-based MidAtlantic Vegetable Shortening Co. And they only turn out tubs and one-pound blocks or bricks, not the sticks that cooks and bakers covet.

One interviewee finds a nice drash in the midst of the shortage:

Charlotte Price in Cleveland panicked when she couldn’t get the margarine for her traditional squash casserole, glazed chicken and cinnamon chocolate cake. She finally found two one-pound blocks, but the experience left her thinking.

“Passover food evolved over the years to some kind of contest to see who can manufacture the most things resembling the other 51 weeks of the year,” she says. But “I think the idea that you can eliminate any Passover sacrifices is a mixed blessing.”

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 11:03 am and is filed under JustASC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.