Chanukah is around the corner. One of the Chanukah customs is to eat foods fried in oil to remind us of the miracle of oil. Jelly doughnuts rate high on the Chanukah menu along with potato latkes. In Israel most of us already had a sneak preview tasting of the jelly doughnuts (which could be filled with caramel, custard or other fillings other than jelly).Rabbi Pinchas Adiria, Supervisor of the Kashrut Division of the Israel Rabbinate, want people to know what to look in Kashrut for when buying these doughnuts. This first part is general advice but more applicable to Kashrut supervisors or those making the doughnuts at home.
1) Make sure the deep fryers were kashered making sure they are not meaty and have not absorbed non-kosher substances.
2) A Jew must turn on or light up the deep fryers.
3) If the dough is large, 2 kg. or more of flour, Challah must be separated before using dough.
4) Make sure flour was properly sifted to remove small bugs common in flour.
5) When using a dairy filling like caramel some filling should be obviously visible on top so people will know it is dairy and not accidently eat it with a meaty meal. A merchant must place a “dairy” sign next to these doughnuts.
6) Merchants must have separate areas for dairy doughnuts and parave doughnuts. They should also refrain from making dairy dough so as not to get confused and make a parave doughnut with this dough.
7) Packaged doughnuts should be appropriately labeled “Parave” or “Dairy”.
For doughnut buyers:
Make sure the bakery has proper kashrut supervision from the local Rabbinical Council. This prevents kashrut fraud. Because of all the aforementioned requirements proper Rabbinical supervision is imperative.
Enjoy your kosher jelly doughnuts and have a great Chanukah!