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How to Prepare and Package Shiva Kosher Foods for Gifting

The gift of food when reaching out to bereaved friends and families is a tradition in most cultures and communities worldwide. You can show your sympathy to a mourning Jewish family by bringing them a hamper with baked goods and other items they can use. Jewish customs dont permit the family to cook or clean during the mourning period. This is why, friends and relatives pitch in by bringing them light, wholesome food that can be easily served around. 


Traditional Shiva baskets may include fresh fruit or dried fruit that can be eaten as a snack. Items like Hamentashens, chocolate rugelachs, rainbow cookies, black and white cookies, and bake cakes are also added. Cooking and packing kosher foods for your friends is a thoughtful gesture. And, if this is something you would like to do, heres some information that can help you.


Understand what Kosher Food is


The Jewish Torah has strict dietary rules about the food that they can safely eat. The dietary law or kashrut outlines the list of permitted foods, along with directions on how the ingredients should be prepped, cooked, stored, and served. If you intend to cook for your friends, youll begin by segregating a section of your kitchen and cleaning the utensils carefully to remove all traces of any food in them. Simply washing the utensils thoroughly is not enough, you must sanitize them. Next, purchase foods that carry Kosher certification, so you can be sure that they conform with the dietary rules.  


Store Each Food Group Separately


Kosher meals are made with three main food groups, such as kosher dairy products or milchig, kosher meat or fleischig, and Kosher pare that includes fresh produce like fruits and vegetables. Fish and eggs are also par eve or neutral foods. The most critical rule to follow is that meat and dairy foods in any form cannot come into contact. 


For this reason, you must carefully separate the utensils used to cook, store, and serve them, and that includes the knives and chopping board. Further, these foods cannot be eaten at a single meal and must not come together in the digestive system. For instance, when putting together a hamper, youll carefully avoid including meat dishes containing cheese or cooked in butter. 


Kosher Meat and Milk are sourced from Specific Animals


The Jewish are only permitted to eat meat sourced from animals like cows, sheep, lambs, deer, and goats. Poultry is permitted but only if they are a part of the approved list. Pig meat is strictly forbidden in any form. The animals should be slaughtered using an extremely sharp knife to ensure that the minimum amount of pain is inflicted. When processing the meat, every trace of blood should be removed even if that means soaking the meat in water before cooking. As for dairy products, they can only be sourced from kosher animals like cows, buffaloes, sheep, and goats that have been raised according to kosher laws. 


Understanding Par eve Foods


Par eve foods include fish, eggs sourced from kosher poultry, and produce sourced from plants such as herbs, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. An important consideration when processing plant foods is to clean them thoroughly to ensure that there are no bugs in them. You can combine par eve foods with dairy or meat. Like, for instance, you can use dairy shortening for baking cookies. But then the cookies cannot be eaten as dessert after a meal where chicken is served. 


Fish is considered par eve and kosher as long as it has scales, but when prepping it, make sure that the blood is cleaned out thoroughly. If youre serving fish, you can combine it with dairy, fruits, and vegetables. Many Jewish families refrain from eating meat until the mourning period is over. You might want to check with them when putting together the hamper.


Packaging the Food into a Hamper


When packing the items into a hamper, it is advisable not to combine dairy and meat items. And, when sending over the hamper, make sure to pack the food separately in Tupperware containers that are sealed and unlikely to mix with non-kosher foods. Or, worse, with food groups that cannot be eaten together. 


Preparing a Kosher meal for your Jewish friends takes effort and dedication. But, they are sure to appreciate the food when mourning a loved one. 

 


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