A Visit to Supersol

Kosher Outpost on the Upper West Side (and Elsewhere)

















Having already ventured into Brooklyn to find gluten-free Passover products at Pomegranate, I followed up on another lead from the New York City Celiac Disease Meetup Group (NYCCDMG) and paid a visit to the Supersol supermarket on the Upper West Side. (There are also Supersols in Flushing, Lawrence, and Scarsdale.)

It was a madhouse on Sunday afternoon, but I made my way up and down the narrow aisles and found a number of familiar products (including Frankel's frozen foods and baked goodies from Oberlander's and Shabtai) as well as some items that were new to me. From Noam Gourmet there were potato-y Passover Bagels as well as Passover Pizza Bagels, which I'd also seen at Pomegranate.

And I found yet another faux matzoh ball mix—this time under the Haddar label.
























Photo: David Marc Fischer

A Very Pomegranate Passover

A Seasonal Visit to a Kosher Supermarket in Brooklyn
























I learned about Pomegranate, a kosher supermarket in Brooklyn, thanks to a tip on a message board at the New York City Celiac Disease Meetup Group (NYCCDMG). When I read about the many gluten-free Passover (a.k.a. Pesach) foods available in its aisles, I just had to check it out for myself.

I took the Q train to Avenue M and then proceeded northwest to Pomegranate, which is at 1507 Coney Island Avenue just north of Avenue L. Sure enough, I found many gluten-free items as I prowled the Pesach aisles established at this time of year.

If you're accustomed to shopping in the same places and seeing the same products over and over again, there's something surreal about going into a supermarket that's well stocked with gluten-free Passover products. It's almost like being in a Bizarro universe where the shelves of gluten-free cereals look strangely familiar...yet different.


















I recognized many products and brands from my visits to the Shoprite at Morton Village in Plainview on Long Island: Klein's Hoo-Lachmu Passover Flats, Kedem's Passover Style Gefilte Fish, Frankel's blintzes and knishes, Shabtai Gourmet baked goods (including Chocolaty Coated Coconut Macaroons), and Oberlander's baked goods (including cupcakes), just to reel off a bunch of examples.

I happened upon three types of faux matzoh ball mixes—not just Lieber's Knaidel Mix and Gefen's Kneidel Mix but also the boldly named Paskesz Matzo Ball Mix (above). I call it "boldly named" because it doesn't contain matzo, which traditionally contains gluten—although Pomegranate does carry at least one brand of newfangled (and expensive) gluten-free oat matzo. (See Gluten-Free Bay about shopping for oat matzo; see I Am Gluten Free for some cooking ideas.

But there were also some foods that were new to me, including chow mein noodles from Paskesz (right) and many types of break crumbs and coatings. Paskaez also makes Ultra Crispy Potato Thins (that, oddly enough, remind me of shrimp chips but with potato instead of shrimp—so they might go well with fish such as salmon) as well as junk foods called Nibblers and Diddles (shown on display below).














If that isn't enough chazarai (junk food) for you, there's also gluten-free cotton candy-in-a-bag from Smunchies Inc. of Spring Valley.

For many people a visit to Pomegranate may offer an unusual glimpse of Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish and Chasidic cultures. It is open until at least 9pm most evenings, but don't even think of going on Friday evenings and Saturdays, when it is closed for Sabbath. (Call 718-951-7112 to confirm that the supermarket will be open when you want to go there.)

Passover 2009 starts on the evening of Wednesday, April 8, so go before then to see the most goods for sale. Discounts might or might not be available after the holiday.

Shelf photos by David Marc Fischer

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

Passover Product Watch 2009: Knaidel Mix

Perhaps you've noticed the reappearance in Passover foods in area supermarkets.

Matzoh remains forbidden on a gluten-free diet, as it is still (unleavened) wheat, but there are many Passover products that are also wheat-free, or non-gebrokts. Among those products are some real finds, which I hope to cover in the days ahead. Even though supermarkets pre-ordered Passover foods as early as last autumn, there's little harm in asking your grocer about any of the products that might interest you. Perhaps one day more food purveyors will realize that their finer gluten-free Passover products can be marketed year-round.

One Passover product that actually seems to be increasing in availability is Lieber's Knaidel Mix, which I've covered previously in this blog. Basically made with potatoes, these dumplings can be used as alternatives to matzoh balls. Need I say more?

If you're interested, ask for it!

PASSOVER TIPS

With Passover 2008 starting on the evening of April 19, I thought I'd share some tips.

As my longtime readers might remember, for a "matzoh ball" mix I'm a fan of Lieber's Knaidel Mix (right), which is made from potatoes.

Among the gluten-free products that are suitable for Passover are treats from Shabtai Gourmet, which include old-fashioned bakery sweets such as rainbow cookies. Shabtai, which markets its products at supermarkets and health food stores as well as Amazon and FreshDirect, has been reaching out for years to gluten-free people in the greater metropolitan area and beyond, including this blogger and Mike Eberhart of Gluten Free Blog. So far I've found that, with Shabtai, preferences are surprisingly varied (for instance, Mike and I both like the Meltaway Crumbs, but he and my mom seem to like the layer cakes more than I do, and I once had a very decadent almond pasty marble cakey treat that I'm having trouble identifying at this point), so I think you could do worse than sampling various Shabtai products and judging for yourself. (It's great to have choices, isn't it?)

For the DIY crowd, Gluten-Free Bay offers many Passover recipes. And Ellen Allard at I Am Gluten Free offers her own recipes including one for a matzo substitute using a mix from Breads from Anna. Here is Ellen's accompanying video.



Source (10:15)

GF MATZO

With the help of her husband Peter, Ellen Allard of I Am Gluten Free has come up with an online video and a set of instructions for making a "quick" gluten-free matzo using a mix from Breads from Anna. (It's a dairy, Sephardic matzo, in case that's a concern.)

In her post, Ellen also offers recipes for macaroons and other traditional Passover foods. Charoset is a sweet fruit-and-nut mix that can function like a jam or a cranberry jelly. Just beware of the horseradish--it's hot and actually used at a Passover meal to draw tears of pain. I kid you not--the hottest horseradish I ever had practically made steam come out of my ears!

Come to think of it, maybe someone put horseradish in this cow's feed.



Source (00:09)

KNAIDEL SIGHTING!




















Yes, that's right: The ShopRite of Plainview, Long Island (Woodbury Road near South Oyster Bay Road; 516-938-0329), is carrying Lieber's Knaidel Mix for Passover. [UPDATE MARCH 26, 2007 I've also seen them at the Morton Village ShopRite, on Old Country Road in Plainview.] (As previously mentioned, Lieber's Knaidel Mix makes kosher, gluten-free potato dumplings that make very good substitutes for matzoh balls.) If going to Plainview means a big trip for you, call in advance to make sure the mix is still on the shelves.

Also in the area (along Manetto Hill Road): Fairway, Get Healthy America, and Dr. B. Well Naturally (8 Washington Avenue; 516-932-9355). Each has an well-curated stock of gluten-free foods.

Here's another kind of gf matzoh ball--the very hard kind.



Source (00:17)