What does Kosher mean?

Kosher

When a food product is considered Kosher, it must be either an animal deemed kosher in the Bible or be a food product that comes from an animal byproduct deemed kosher in the Bible. Additionally, it must be prepared as outlined by the Rabbis in the Talmud. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America is one organization that have rabbis trained to certify that a particular food has been prepared according to Jewish dietary laws and can be considered kosher. Their copyrighted symbol, a U inside an O can only be placed by them on labels for products that they have certified as kosher. There are a multitude of such organization around the world that each have their on copyrighted symbols. If you only see a K on the label - which cannot be copyrighted as it is a letter of the alphabet - then the company that manufactured the food says it is kosher, but it has not necessarily been checked by a certified organization to determine it kosher status. Kosher food requires, among other things, the separation of meat and milk and specific procedures for slaughtering and preparing meat.

More input from WikiAnswers Contributors:

• Kosher means confrming to dietary laws--ritually pure--selling or serving food prepared in accordance with dietary laws....usually associated with jewish cooking...

• Kosher when talking about salt just means that the salt grains are a certain shape, the shape used to "kosher" meat. These are excellent for using to salt things during cooking because they don't contain iodine, which can have an odd flavour and they are shaped to stick and dissolve rather than table salt which rolls off and doesn't dissolve quickly.

Beyond animals

In addition to the restriction on ingredients originating from specific animals (or types of animals) listed in the bible, or the combination of meat and milk (or their derivatives), there is also a restriction of wine/grape juice products that don't come from kosher wine/grape juice (what makes wine kosher is a longer discussion). The prohibitions on all of the above go beyond the "base" food and beyond its derivatives; it even extends to the utensils and machinery used in its preparation. If they were used with non-kosher ingredients, they have to be "kashered", which involved thorough washing, and then cleaning with intense heat like boiling water or fire.

No agricultural product can be deemed non-kosher, so a vegan is essentially keeping kosher. Many regard eateries in India that comply with strict (Buddhist and Jainist) religious vegetarianism to be acceptable for a kosher-eating individual.

Final note: Contrary to a common misconception, kosher food does not have to be "blessed" by a rabbi. The process is purely a supervisory one. Depending on the type of food processing, a supervisor is sometimes there full-time and sometimes comes in to occasionally review the processes and ingredients to assure that they comply with the agreed-upon rules.

First answer by Carol. Last edit by Jayrusalem. Contributor trust: 574 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 170 [recommend question]

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