Which Foods Are Chametz?
One of the last jobs of cleaning the house for Pesach is to get all chametz out of the kitchen. Of course, the first things to be removed are those that are obviously chametz – bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, pretzels etc. Other foods can be identified by simply reading the ingredient panel, which shows that breakfast cereal, soy sauce, fish sticks, licorice, candy and many other foods often have wheat or flour (chametz) listed prominently. But only the most astute readers realize that the vinegar in their ketchup, the vitamins in the rice or milk, and the flavor in their favorite snack may in fact contain chametz. The goal of this article is to educate the reader of the many foods which potentially contain chametz, beginning with the more obvious and progressing to the more obscure. Flour, oats and barley If one of the five grains – wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt – sits in water for more than 18 minutes it becomes chametz, and one may not eat, derive benefit from or own it on Pes
