Kitniyot Confusion

As we all likely know, Pesach (Passover) is upon us, and we've been busy shopping for unleavened products. Back in America, knowing what is kosher for Passover is pretty straightforward - either your product says OUP or it doesn't. Here, things can get a little complicated, as the majority of the population eat kitniyot, which we Ashkenazim are not (yet) allowed. Kitniyot is generally translated as legumes, like beans and peas, but every year the Jewish definition seems to spread out to include more and more products. I remember that as a kid we used peanut oil on Pesach, but now peanuts have become accepted as kitniyot, and not at all allowed. Quinoa, a recently popular (and quite yummy) seed, is totally unrelated to legumes, but is still looked upon with suspicion (it just seems too good to be true, I guess), and so some still don't eat it on Pesach.

Anyway, shopping here in Israel is usually fine, but finding non-kitniyot products isn't always easy. I once came upon some cookies that said in big letters "Kosher For Passover" - only after we brought them to our friends did we notice the small note on the other side of the box that "for kitniyot-eaters only." Although I haven't seen anything since then that was quite so misleading, getting the hang of what's what can be tricky.

Here's a box I really appreciated - with a huge, clear marking on the front:


Most packages aren't quite so forthcoming. A lot of products keep the same year-round label, but add some information to the timestamp. This one says "kashlap," which is the abbreviation for "Kosher Le(For) Pesach."


Sometimes a year is included on the label, which seems a bit strange.


I mean, it may be unwise to eat a product from a previous year, but does it make it less kosher for Pesach? It seems to me that people can rely on the kosher label for the kosher information, and the date stamp for the date information. Of course, I don't get consulted on this very much...

I've never understood this one - maybe someone out there can enlighten me.


It says "Kasher Le Pesach Erev Pesach, which I understand to mean that it was made before Pesach. Maybe this is some kind of stringency that I don't know about?

Now, sometimes the organization that supervises the general kashruth of a product is not the same as the one who does the Passover supervision. In that case, each organization can only testify to what they've done, so on the same package, it will say "Kosher during the year, but not for Pesach" and then, elsewhere, say "Kosher Le Pesach." This to me seems ridiculous - surely there's some less confusing way to put the label together. Here's an example, with the conflicting decrees on the top and bottom of the same can:


This is the same concept, I think, but really bizarre.


Here, the label reads:

"Only during the year"
Kosher Le Pesach

What's with the quotes? Is the can being sarcastic? I guess here it's one organization supervising both situations, but the "only" kind of throws you off - it seems to me that it would be clearer if it used "also" instead.

And now we come to the kitniyot. Here's how the basic kitniyot-only label reads:


It just says "Kosher Le Pesach, for those who eat kitniyot." Pretty easy.

This year, I saw one that I don't remember from previous years. It's not so exciting, but it was new for me. It says "Kosher Le Pesach, from kitniyot."


And here's the one that makes me stop in the aisle and start talking to myself, trying to work out what the heck it means:


It says, Kosher Le Pesach, also for those who don't eat kitniyot. Of course, now that I've written it out in English it looks pretty easy, but in Hebrew, the positives and negatives get me all mixed up, every time, and I have to start thinking it out. "Okay, I'm the one who doesn't eat kitniyot, so it IS okay... for me... yeah, this one is okay." Phew.

Good thing this only lasts for one or two shopping trips. Happy Pesach!