Processed Food without Hechsher: Is It Kosher?
 
If a processed food does not have supervision/hashgacha, here are some issues to consider:

• Ingredients;
• Utensils/processing equipment;
• Bishul akum/“prestigious” foods that require Jewish involvement in the cooking;
• Heating system (recirculated steam?);
• Heter for milk without being supervised - which conditions and countries can be relied on;
• Non-food ingredients (lubricants, preservatives, emulsifiers...);
• Reliability of the producer;
• Is the non-kosher ingredient batel/nullified?
  • ownership (Is the food's producer or owner Jewish?)
  • intended consumer (Is the food being produced specifically for Jews, or is it for the public and Jews are some of the customers)?
  • Was the non-kosher substance added intentionally?
  • Does the non-kosher substance have flavor?
  • Was the non-kosher substance added for flavor?

A hechsher/kosher supervision is not needed on:

• Beer made in the US (and sometimes in other countries).
• Nuts (dry roasted) without additives.
• Olives--assumed to be kosher unless mixed with ingredients that may be non-kosher, such as:
  • Vinegar (sometimes made from grapes).
  • Non-kosher chemical preservatives (in commercially sold olives).
  Note In open markets in which olives are sold in bulk, you may eat olives after checking the ingredients.
• Olive oil (extra virgin).
• Pure fruit juice NOT made from concentrate (such as orange or pineapple juice) does not normally require a hechsher (except for grape juice, which always requires a hechsher!).
  Note Juices from concentrate might have kashrut problems due to the vats in which they are cooked or pasteurized. If you can verify how the juice was processed and that there are no kashrut problems, you may use the juice without a hechsher. There may also be problems with juice made from fruit or vegetables which were grown in Eretz Yisrael, due to orla, shmitta, teruma and maaser.
• Scotch whiskey--even where it might have been aged in sherry casks.
  Reason Any sherry would be nullified as less than 1/6th. 
  Note Other types of whiskey may not be kosher because:

  • Glycerine may have been added;
  • The whiskey may have been owned by a Jew during Passover in a previous year; or
  • Milk, or alcohol derived from milk, might have been added.
• Sugar (confectioner's) needs kosher supervision only for Passover. Regular sugar never needs kosher supervision (currently).
• Unprocessed foods such as
  • Raw fruits and vegetables (but might need to be checked for insects), and
  • Water, but some unfiltered tap water might have tiny creatures in it which make the water non-kosher.

 

The halachic category of dairy and meat errors, while extremely complicated, has many conditions for which leniency may be applied. Here are the main points a halachic authority (posek) will need to know:

• Was the food or utensil hotter than 120° F (49° C)?
• Had the utensil been used for hot food (over 120° F) within 24 hours?
• How much food was involved?
• What was the relative volume or quantity of the food and utensils? (1/60^th of relevant volumes?)
• How much food is normally cooked in the utensils?
• Of what materials are the utensils made?
• Was the food spicy (hot peppers, garlic, onions, lemon...)?
• Was the food needed for Shabbat meals?
• How much does the food cost?

 

If a microwave oven's walls/floor/door do not become hot (more than 120° F, or 49° C), the microwave oven does not become non-kosher, dairy, meat, or non-Passover/chametz.

A microwave oven that does not normally get hot, may get hotter than 120° F if you cook:

• A liquid or moist food for a long time (even if less than 10 minutes),

• Several liquid or moist items sequentially, or

• Popcorn and similar foods.

If a microwave oven's walls/floor/door get hot, the oven can become dairy, meat, or non-kosher (if they become one gender and then the opposite gender is cooked or if non-kosher food has been cooked in it). If any surface--including walls, door, floor, etc.--that gets hot are plastic or coated metal, it cannot be returned to kosher or pareve. However, if the surfaces are all made of metal, they may be kasherable. Consult a rabbi.

How To Reheat on Hotplate or Blech: Before Shabbat Begins

1. Cover any cooking controls (knobs, switches, etc.) so no one adjusts them during Shabbat.
2. Cover the heat source with a "blech" (sheet of metal). This will help prevent Torah law violations by serving as a reminder not to adjust the heat.                                      Note Some blechs also block the temperature controls, to help with the previous step.                                                                                                                                Note To use a hotplate, remove the control knob before Shabbat.
3. Turn on the source of heat (hotplate, burner under the blech...).
4. Put onto the hotplate or blech at least one utensil containing food or water.

1. Start with food that is fully cooked and solid (no liquids may be heated on Shabbat!). Note"Solid" food includes cooked meat with congealed jelly or cooked fish with jelly.
2. Place the fully cooked dry food on top of the food- or water-containing utensil that had been placed on the heating appliance before Shabbat began. Remember not to put the fully cooked food directly onto the hotplate, blech, or other heat source after Shabbat begins (even if there is a separation between the heat source and food).

Note After sunset on Friday, you may not put any incompletely cooked food (whether hot or cold) onto the heated part of the heating appliance or move it from a cooler part of the blech to a hotter part.
NOteAt some time during Shabbat, someone must eat or drink from the food- or water-containing utensil that had been on the blech since before Shabbat began.

WERE BOTH FOODS LESS THAN 120° F?
YES

ARE BOTH FOODS SOLID?
YES
Status If you can separate them (there are no cracks in the meat), both foods are kosher.  Consult a rabbi.
What to Do

• If one or both of the foods were already cooked, separate them and wash with soap and water (if possible).
• If it is not possible to separate them, just cut off the thinnest slice possible from each surface of each food which had been in contact with the opposite gender food and you may use the food.

NO
SOLID FOOD FALLS INTO LIQUID FOOD OR LIQUID FOOD FALLS ONTO SOLID FOOD
Status If both foods are cold and you can separate them (there are no cracks in the meat), they MAY be kosher.  Consult a rabbi.
 

• Both foods are non-kosher if they cannot be separated.
• If you can separate them enough that one becomes less than 1/60th the volume of the other:
  • The larger food is kosher.
  • The lesser one is non-kosher. 

What To Do

• Once the two foods are separated, wash or otherwise remove the smaller food from the larger one.
• If not possible, cut off the thinnest slice possible and you may eat the remaining food.

Note If there are cracks in raw or cooked meat, and if you can clean off enough of the dairy spill so that the remainder is less than 1/60th, it may be kosher--ask a rabbi.
 
LIQUID FOOD FALLS INTO LIQUID FOOD
Status Both liquid foods are non-kosher.
Exception If one liquid food is less than 1/60th the volume of the other one, the mixture is kosher.
Note If non-kosher wine is involved, see below.
 
SOLID FOODS, ONE OR BOTH ARE HOT
Status If one (or both) of the foods is hotter than 120° F, both foods are non-kosher.
Exception If one food is less than 1/60th of the volume of the other:

• The larger-volume food may be kosher (consult a rabbi).
• The smaller-volume food remains not kosher.

Possible Exception  If the food on the bottom is cold and thick, consult a rabbi.

If either food is spicy, see above.
If any combination (solid and liquid; solid and solid which are in any liquid; or liquid and liquid) of dairy and meat were soaked together for 24 hours or more, even if cold, they are all not kosher.
Exception In any of these three cases, in which one is less than 1/60th the volume of the other:

• The larger food is kosher.
• The lesser one is non-kosher.

Note You must remove the smaller food from the larger one and wash off the larger one, if possible. If you don't know how long the foods soaked together but it may have been less than 24 hours, you may use the foods.
 

BAKING IN NON-KOSHER OVEN

An oven that has not been used for at least 24 hours is considered, d'oraita, to be neutral/pareve, but only if it is clean. D'rabanan, it is still not kosher, but this may be useful for when you can be lenient; e.g., if there is a safek.

Note Even when baking in a non-kosher oven, you must cook the food in a kosher utensil.

INTRODUCTION TO BAKING IN NON-KOSHER OVEN

Baking in a Non-Kosher Oven

How To Tell if Oven Is Clean

To determine whether a non-kosher oven with black or brown spots is clean, scratch them:

• If the substance crumbles, the spots are OK and you may bake non-liquid food in that oven without covering the food.
• If the spots do not crumble or they remain immovable or come off in flakes rather than crumbles, consider the oven not clean.

Uncovered Food; Clean (Non-Kosher) Oven

You may cook food uncovered in a non-kosher oven if:

• The oven rack and walls are clean, and
• The food is not “liquid.”
  
  Note Non-liquid is defined as not being liquid before cooking OR not being liquid after cooking, but the food does not need to be non-liquid at both times.  Examples of “non-liquid” foods:

  • Apple cobbler
  • Lasagna
  • Meat (that will create gravy at the end)
  • Pudding
  • Raw fish.

What To DoPlace two layers of foil under the baking utensil.

Double Wrapping

When To Double Wrap

Double-wrap food before baking in a non-kosher radiant-heat oven if:

• The rack and/or oven are not clean;
• The food that you are baking is liquid at any time during the cooking process; OR
• Some of the food you are baking spills onto the rack or oven surfaces.

How To Double Wrap

When wrapping food for cooking in a non-kosher oven, the wrapping material does not need to seal completely, but the:

• Food must be completely covered with two layers of foil or plastic;
• Layers must keep water vapor out from between the layers; and
• Surfaces of the utensil must all be covered.

Gender/Kashrut Status Transfer
Foods and kitchenware (pots, pans, dishes, utensils, and containers) can absorb taste from each other and so adopt a new gender or kosher status. They can change from:

• Kosher to non-kosher,
• Kosher pareve (neutral) to kosher dairy or kosher meat, or
• Kosher Passover to kosher (or non-kosher) non-Passover.

 
Note You can sometimes change a utensil/container to kosher-pareve (see Kashering, below), but you cannot change a

• Gendered food to neutral-pareve, or
• Non-kosher food to kosher.

 
Taste Absorption
Taste gets absorbed in three ways: Heat, pressure, and soaking. 
 
Heat
To absorb taste, and therefore gender or kashrut status, through heat, a food or utensil must be heated to 120° F or more while:

• Steamed with a halachically “liquid” food, or
• In wet physical contact with the food or utensil.

Examples

• Two hot pans, which are clean on their outsides, only transfer taste from one to the other if they are wet on the outside and are touching each other.
• A hot utensil placed onto a counter only transfers gender to the countertop if there is liquid or food at the point of contact.

Note  All liquids plays a major role in facilitating taste transfer.
NOTE Taste, gender, or non-kosher status do not travel upstream into the utensil that food is being poured from. Even if you pour hot liquid (pareve or of one gender) from a pot onto a non-kosher or opposite gender food, the genders are not transferred back through the stream of liquid to the pot, even if any or all of the elements are more than 120 degrees.
Situation You pour hot liquid from some pareve vegetables into a non-kosher sink that had hot in it within 24 hours. There are dishes or utensils in the sink.
Status The dishes do not change gender unless the hot liquid fills up from the sink onto them. If so, the dishes or utensils become non-kosher. But no gender change occurs through the stream of liquid back to the pot of vegetables.
 
Note If the non-kosher sink had not had anything hot (120 degrees or above) in it for at least 24 hours, no change of gender or kosher status happens at all.
 
Note On Passover, gender and chametz status DO get transferred through a stream of hot liquid.
 
Pressure
To absorb taste, and therefore gender or kashrut status, through pressure or short-term soaking, one of the items must be spicy/charif.
 
Soaking
To absorb taste, and therefore gender or kashrut status, through long-term soaking, the food must soak for specific amounts of time.
 
Note If the food or utensil is not hot (120° F or more), is not spicy/charif, and is not soaking for a long time, there is no gender or kashrut-status transfer.
Examples
You may use a non-kosher utensil for any cold food of the opposite gender, so you may:

• Eat cold (kosher) cereal out of a meat or non-kosher bowl, or
• Use a meat or non-kosher spoon to eat kosher ice cream.

Note Even though these are permissible, they may not be done regularly but only on an ad hoc basis.
 
Food and Kitchenware: Which Influences What
Hot or Spicy/Charif Foods
With hot (more than 120° F) or spicy/charif foods:
Foods and utensils/containers transfer taste to each other.
 
Cold or Non-Spicy Foods that Soak
With cold (less than 120° F) or non-spicy/charif foods that soak:

• Foods do not transfer taste to utensils/containers;
• Utensils/containers do NOT transfer taste to foods.

NOTE No substances (not salt, or any food...) absorb gender from the open air.
 
 
The 24-Hour Rule: Eino ben Yomo
Torah Law: Reverts to Kosher-Pareve
By Torah law, a utensil/container always reverts to kosher-pareve after 24 hours (since the taste of any absorbed food becomes ruined with time). 
 
Rabbinic Law: Must Be Kashered
However, by rabbinic law, the utensil/container must be kashered before using.
 
NOTE Even by Torah law, a hot or spicy/charif food can revive the milk-meat or non-kosher status of another utensil/container (see below) even after 24 hours.
 
Accidentally or Intentionally
Food Hot and Accidentally Placed; Utensil Not Hot for 24 Hours
Kosher food hotter than 120° F (49° C) remains kosher if accidentally placed into a non-kosher, clean utensil that has not been heated to 120° F or more for at least 24 hours.
REASON After 24 hours, b'di'avad, the utensil has reverted to being kosher-pareve.
NOTE If the utensil had been “used” (heated to 120° F or more) within the preceding 24 hours, the hot food that accidentally entered the utensil would be non-kosher. Ask a rabbi for possible exceptions.
 
Food Hot and Intentionally Placed
If the hot food had been put into the utensil intentionally, the food would not be kosher.
REASON Chazal made a rule (takana) that if you intentionally place food of one gender into a utensil of the opposite gender and heat it to 120° F or more, the food is not kosher.

Before eating bread (at any time, not just on Shabbat or Jewish festivals), the bread should be dipped in some salt. This makes it taste better and makes it like a sacrifice (which had salt added to it).

Before eating bread (at any time, not just on Shabbat or Jewish festivals), dip the bread in some salt.

If you have equally good red wine and white wine, the red is preferred for the four cups at the seder. If your white wine is better or if you prefer white wine, use that.
 

Generally, you may not go into a business if an existing business owner will go out of business or cannot survive on what income he/she will have remaining.

Exception If a better Torah teacher is available than the current one, the better one may be hired.

Jews thank God for His blessings by giving Him the “first” (reishit) of various products (as well as a tenth/ma'aser of agricultural and other wealth). 
“First” applies to:

• First-Born/Petter Rechem
  • First-born male children/petter rechem (redeemed with money; see Introduction to Pidyon HaBein).
  • First-born male kosher domestic animals (calf, lamb, kid)/petter rechem (in Temple times: sacrificed on altar; now, permanent holy status--see Selling Mother Animal before Birth of Petter Rechem.
  • First-born male donkeys/petter rechem chamor (redeemed with sheep/goat; holiness of both the donkey and the sheep or goat then disappears).
• Dough/Challa

• First Fruits/Bikurim

• First Shearing/Reishit HaGeiz

You may not move from where you began saying the amida until you finish the amida.
Example
You may not get on or off a bus in the middle of saying the amida.