Passover Product Watch 2009: Return to ShopRite

Yesterday I stopped by the ShopRite at Morton Village in Plainview, Long Island, and saw that a good number of gluten-free products had arrived! Near the customer service counter are boxes of gluten-free baked goods from the likes of Shabtai, Mendy's, and Oberlander's. Many of the contents overlap—lots of rainbow cookies—but there are some unusual items such as Oberlander's sugar-free kichel, which is something like a very plain-tasting, airy breadstick (that certainly might not be to everyone's taste, especially without some sort of tasty embellishment).

In one of the central aisles you can find an assortment of gluten-free Passover groceries including Lieber's Knaidel Mix (suitable for making faux matzoh balls) as well as Geffen's Kneidel Mix (which I imagine is also suitable for making faux matzoh balls).
















Attractions in a frozen foods aisle include gluten-free blintzes from Frankel's...


















...and the Hoo-Lachmu flatbreads as well as two types of pizza. (The Hoo-Lachmu pizza seems to be a repackaging of last year's Manischewitz appetizer-sized mini-pizzas, as one might see from the reference to Manischewitz that remains on the back of the box.)


















The company Klein's Real Kosher, which has a hand in the marketing of the Hoo-Lachmu brand, also has its label on Italian ices that look very similar to the Manischewitz product from last year. You can see them in the group shot below, along with a jar of Kedem's Passover Gefilte Fish (at a very reasonable price and definitely worth a taste) and Osem's bagged cakes.
















This is just a sampling of the gluten-free Passover foods available at the Morton Village ShopRite. There were more last year—and there's still time for additional items to show up at this supermarket. Just keep in mind that not all Passover food is gluten-free: Matzoh is wheat, so anything with matzoh should be avoided in favor of food marked gluten-free or non-gebrokts. And if you're in the vicinity of Plainview, remember that you're also close to much gluten-free grocery shopping at Dr. B. Well Naturally, Eat Healthy America, Fairway, and Trader Joe's.

If the Plainview ShopRite isn't convenient to you, look for products online at places like kosher.com, and also look out for Passover Stores as well as kosher grocers in your area. (The more grocers understand that there's a demand for good gluten-free food year-round, the more likely it is that they'll build the market for those foods.) A visit to the Jewish community of Monsey, New York, might also be productive.

Photos: David Marc Fischer