Do you eat cumin on pesach?

yo'ma

Wed, Mar 29 2017, 5:01 am

klp cumin thread I already found the thread about klp cumin, but I'm wondering if you eat it. Like ramom I also always thought it was kitniot. Where I live the packages of cumin has a klp from the ashkenaz hechsher and it doesn't say only for sefardim. I also saw a recipe from joy of kosher for quinoa chummus which calls for cumin. All so weird to me. So, do you eat cumin on pesach and why or why not?

etky

Wed, Mar 29 2017, 5:25 am

I used to until the rabbanut decided about 15 years ago, that it was kitniyot, and no longer certifies it KLP for Ashkenazim.
AFAIK there is an even greater issue with cumin though - of wheat grains possibly being mixed in among the seeds and thus extra vigilance is required when it is processed for Pesach. People who do it eat are advised to purchase only from a very reputable company.

SixOfWands

Wed, Mar 29 2017, 6:18 am

OOTBubby wrote:

The cRc Pesach guide lists it as Kitniyos.

OU certifies 4 cumin products. 2 are labeled kitniyot, the other 2 aren't.

Ta'am Vareach Spices Cumin Pareve OU-P Symbol required. Kosher for Passover ONLY when bearing special certification.

Pereg Cumin Ground Pareve OU-P Symbol required. Kosher for Passover ONLY when bearing special certification.

Neptune Ground cumin (Kitniyot) Pareve OU Kitnyot Symbol required. Acceptable for Passover Kitniyot users. OU Kitniyot symbol required.

Neptune Whole cumin (Kitniyot) Pareve OU Kitnyot Symbol required. Acceptable for Passover Kitniyot users. OU Kitniyot symbol required

I would use it but frankly, I don't use enough cumin to make it worth my while to buy it for Pesach.

zaq

Wed, Mar 29 2017, 10:01 am

I intend to make shakshuka but without cumin. It's not my favorite seasoning to begin with, my supermarket doesn't have it KLP, and I lived umptiddy-ump years without using it at all. I don't think I even heard of it till thirty years ago. If there's a question as to whether or not it's kitniyos, I can live for a week without it just as I live for a week without mustard, sesame seeds, techina, hummus and peanut butter. Even if it were clearly not kitniyos, considering what my supermarket charges for klp provisions, I'd still do without it. I buy the basic necessities without which I can't cook vezehu. Cumin may be to you what garlic is to me if yours is a sephardic kitchen, but in that case cumin isn't questionable for you, anyway.

SixOfWands

Wed, Mar 29 2017, 10:33 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Cumin is kitniyot. Not only is it kitniyot many people who do eat kitniyot will not use cumin on Pesach because its grain is virtually impossible to differentiate from oats.

From the OU (https://oukosher.org/passover/guidelines/food-items/kitniyot-list/)

Quote:

The following are considered Kitniyot:

Beans
Buckwheat
Caraway
Cardamom
Corn
Edamame
Fennel Seeds
Fenugreek
Green Beans
Hemp Seeds
Lentils
Linseed (Flaxseed)
Millet
Mustard
Peas
Poppy Seeds
Rapeseed
Rice
Sesame Seeds
Soybeans
Sunflower Seeds

The following are not considered Kitniyot, but may require special checking:

Anise
Carob
Chia Seeds
Coriander
Cottonseed
Cumin
Guar Gum
Locust Bean Gum
Safflower
Saffron

The following may be Kitniyot and are therefore not used:

Amaranth
Peanuts

But I'm so glad that you have smicha, and correct those pesky OU rabbis who disagree with you.

If YOU don't want to use cumin, its your right. If YOUR rabbis hold that cumin is kitniyot, don't use it. But there are absolutely conflicting opinions on this (as the OU recognizes), and no one should be offering a blanket yes or no.

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Mar 29 2017, 6:53 pm

chanchy123 wrote:

Cumin is kitniyot. Not only is it kitniyot many people who do eat kitniyot will not use cumin on Pesach because its grain is virtually impossible to differentiate from oats.

Cumin in seed form looks like caraway, not oats!

FranticFrummie

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 6:38 am

OT, but DH is Lubavitch, and won't use cinnamon. It's tree bark, for pete's sake! He said that even if I grated it fresh from a roll of bark (cinnamon stick) he still wouldn't accept it.

He won't eat any form of garlic for Pesach, either. IMHO, that's just weird.

After my divorce, I am SO going back to my Sephardic minhagim!

Iymnok

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 6:59 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

That's really odd. There is an old minhag to davka use cinnamon in the charoses. (And almonds, apples and wine). I think to remind us of the straw. We sometimes try to get a stick or two of cinnamon to have that look.

ariellabella

Thu, Mar 30 2017, 8:01 am

Iymnok wrote:

I completely misread cinnamon as garlic here when I glanced at this thread earlier. I've been walking around wondering how on earth charoset tastes with garlic in it! shock

Hatemywig

Fri, Mar 31 2017, 9:26 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

Regarding the Cinnamon from the store, it's the same concept as all other Chabad Minhagim, you have no way of knowing that it is 100% chometz free, as to grating fresh from a roll of bark Rolling Eyes

Not eating Garlic in Chabad comes from the Third Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, the Tzemach Tzedek, it is quoted in his name that he said not to eat garlic on Pesach, without giving a reason. There are many different interpretations by Lubavitch Rabbonim on this matter, most Lubavitchers do not use garlic due to this, some do.

yo'ma

Sun, Apr 02 2017, 6:47 am

sky wrote:

I would think what is kitniyos is largely up to minhag, not hechsher.

Lubavitch have their own minhagim and I don't know them, but with kitniyot, it is minhag between ashkenaza and sefard for the most part. If cumin is kitniyot, then automatically if you don't eat kitniyot, you don't eat it. Like I said in my op, once everyone considered it kitniyot as far as I know, but now it seems like it's not with a reliable hechsher.

etky

Sun, Apr 02 2017, 7:46 am

yo'ma wrote:

Ashkenazi poskim have always been divided on the topic of cumin, as on a number of other plants and herbs.
As I said in my previous post, the official shita of the rabbanut in Israel re cumin changed about 15 years ago. I don't know why that happened. Previously it was not kitniyot. Now it is- according to the Rabbanut.
Personally,I have no family minhag re cumin. It was not a spice my forefathers used in Poland or the US. So I rely on the rabbanut for this issue. If they do not authorize it for Ashkenazim, I can't just buy a Sephardic hechsher, however reliable, since it might be processed along with other spices or products that are kitniyot.
Apart from this issue, there is the other issue of extra vigilance required for processing cumin on Pesach b/c of the possiblity that chametz might be mixed in. If I were Sephardi I would be extra stringent regarding which cumin I purchased and look for the best hechsher I could find.