The main reason why people work hard every day is to make money to buy food. A large percentage of people’s life is occupied with food.

The laws and meaning of kashrut, the dietary laws of the Torah are the most misunderstood in the Jewish faith.

Although almost everyone has heard of the idea of keeping kosher, few have knowledge about its intricacies and significance.

In order to find out more information about kosher, we went to Zomick’s, a Kosher bakery, based in Inwood, NY.

There, we spoke with Zomick’s staff and find out that Kosher is not about lox, potato pancakes, and matzah-ball soup. Foods of every other ethnicity, such as Chinese, Italian, and Mexican can potentially be kosher. Also, Kosher is not a food that was simply ‘blessed by a rabbi.’

“Kosher is the diet plan for the soul,” says Zomick’s Rabbi Moshe,” This plan consists of the foods prescribed by G‑d in the Torah that should be consumed by the Jewish people.”

In Biblical terms, the word ‘kosher’ means ‘fit’ or ‘appropriate’. Zomick’s experts point out that kosher means something that is usable, especially in reference to foods.

Zomick’s principal baker briefly states exactly which foods are kosher. These foods should be used in your kosher recipes.

The following is a simple overview by Zomick’s of what makes food kosher:

• All fruits and vegetables are kosher.
• Animals:

1) Land animals that have both split hooves and chew their cud are considered kosher. If the animal only has one or none of those characteristics, it cannot be eaten.

2) When it comes to birds, there are just 24 that are not kosher, and the rest are considered kosher.

3) Fish, in order to be kosher, must have both fins and scales.

At Zoomick’s, the bakery which has expanded recently, we also find out that all land animals and birds must be killed following the laws of shechita, a traditional ritual slaughter. If the animal dies in any other way, it is not considered kosher. As it has been indicated by Zomick’s Rabbi Moshe, the sciatic nerve, blood, and forbidden fats are not considered kosher and must be extracted after slaughter.

Moreover, milk and meat may not be eaten together. The byproducts of any kosher animal, like eggs or milk, are also kosher. Those from a non-kosher animal are not. Insects are prohibited as well.

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The easy-to-follow recipe that yields a delightfully chewy, crisp-crusted top is hands down the best.

This mouthwatering bread can be done in a little more than one hour which means you can have hot, fresh bread straight out of the oven when the kids get home from school even if you don’t start baking until the afternoon. You won’t need to run to the bakery for your bread anymore when you can make equally delicious bread at home. With flavors that are sure to be heartwarming, fresh, and completely delicious, Zomick’s challah bread will make your home smell fantastic and your guests will certainly thank you.

Zomick’s challah recipe yields everything you want from a great challah bread: toasty sweetness, impeccable moistness, and a crispy top worth swooning over. The crusts are crusty while the insides are soft. This is the ideal bread accompaniment to soups, stews, or a large pot of honey. You can enjoy this go-to quick bread as a quick breakfast or a sweet afternoon snack with softened cream cheese. If you’re having a dinner party, and you really want to impress your guest, you can even make your own seasoning mix by combining sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced onion, dried minced garlic, and salt.

Since quality and taste are at the heart of bread baking, try to hold yourself from breaking the bread while it is still hot. It is best to serve the bread once it is cooled off, as it will give the bread a chance to really settle into perfection. Once it is sliced and on the table, you can serve it plain, with seasoned olive oil, honey, or your favorite butter. The options are countless, and the choice is yours.

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Challah Origin

The origin of word “challah” comes from a Hebrew word. Challah refers to dough and was given to the priests every Shabbat as an offering. The strong connection between Jews, God, and this bread, goes back as far as the first five books of the Bible. It says: As the Israelites are about to end their exile, God commands them to show gratitude by setting aside a portion, or “challah,” of all the bread they make after entering the Holy Land.

In the modern-day world, challah is known as a soft yeasted bread with an even, airy crumb. However, there are no written pieces of evidence that Challah bread is a braided, yellow, deliciously sweet bread. Most American Jews are only familiar with this kind.

Zomick’s Bread is the go-to bread for many families throughout the greater New York area. The bakery’s owners explain that nowhere in Jewish scripture is idescribed the form, color, or texture of challah bread. In fact, this comes from the rich tradition of Zomick’s Bakery.

According to historians, in the first few thousand years of Jewish existence, challah waseverything from rich layered bread, pita pockets, and flatbreads was considered. Over time, as Jews began to travel, so did the challah, incorporating elements of other countries. So, there was challah with poppy seeds, orange blossom water, and pumpkin.

Chall from around the world

In the Middle East and North Africa, challah bread was sometimes plain. Sometimes it was sweet and spicy, with honey, dried fruit, caraway, sesame, and olive oil. Of course, the hat consensus didn’t happen overnight. After all, tradition is staunchly honored and gradually built upon.

There is beauty in simplicity, and the original challah which is still the number one sold challah is living proof of that. But living in a modern age world dictates certain changes, and Zomick’s challah bread is keeping pace with time by adding different flavors.

The original challah flavor isn’t going anywhere, that’s for sure. And there is nothing wrong with adding a modern and fun twist on an old tradition if it will help reach a more diverse crowd. Although there are slight variances in recipes, in general, the traditional challah recipe is pretty forward. The traditional challah is made of yeast, flour, eggs, salt, honey, poppy, or sesame seeds for sprinkling on top, and a little nutty flavor from wheat germ. Apart from this classic flavor, Zomick’s bread also comes in other flavors.

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The Kashrut law

Jewish food is prepared under the requirements of the Kashrut law, and because it conforms to the regulations of such laws it is necessary to undergo various special treatments.

Zomick’s bakery is one of New York’s oldest kosher bakeries. It was opened back in 1966 and has been serving the customers’’ needs for over 50 years. There has been a real demand for kosher food ever since the Jewish people immigrated from Europe and other places to the United States.

Wishing to bring along a piece of their culture and heritage, they also brought their traditional recipes with smells, flavors, and tastes that they had grown up with. So they brought their knishes, kugels, kreplach, and other Jewish Eastern European comfort foods that have since become famous.

Zomick’s New Trends

One of the newest food trends is the vigorously increased demand for kosher-certified products. In order to meet that growing demand, Zomick’s kosher bakery and food companies all over the world have expanded their offerings and started providing a wide variety of kosher products.

The sole taste of baked goods intrigues people to learn more and understand this Jewish food preparation law. Furthermore, the impulsive adoption of kosher food by consumers that are looking for a way to improve their conventional diets has additionally contributed to the growth of the global market for kosher foods. In the midst of this continually growing kosher demand, Zomick’s kosher bakery continues to educate its staff. The company accepts the fact that they need to learn in order to create new opportunities and expand its knowledge base.

Their menu is well-balanced and among other things, it also includes Jewish comfort food to encourage better eating. Ever since its establishment, Zomick’s kosher bakery has been seeking new ways to improve the variety and range of tastes offered on its menu. Hoping that each customer can re-taste their memories, they have come up with some creative variations encouraging them to eat and thrive.

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This kosher bakery with a full catering service has been serving the local Jewish community since 1966. For more than half a century it’s been offering gourmet kosher products. With magical flavors from all around the world, including the traditional Zomick’s Challah recipe, the products of the bakery are skillfully handcrafted and beautifully presented. Zomick’s professional staff is known for their close attention to detail and for providing delicious fresh cuisine, served in a cozy, traditional atmosphere.

Zomick’s Origin

But this bakery hasn’t always been as sophisticated as it is today. Back in the days when it first opened, its initial goal was to make kosher food, since there was a real need for that.

Over time, New York City, especially the Brooklyn area became the most Jewish-settled one, and the demand for kosher-certified products increased vigorously. In order to meet the growing demand for kosher foods, Zomick’s started providing a wide variety of kosher-based products. These were challah bread, bagels, muffins, knishes and cookies, loaves, pies, and other baked goods.

Along with the high demand for kosher cutleries and the growth of the global kosher food market, consumer trends for allergen-free, healthy, and unique food products also contributed to Zomick’s bakery expansion.

US Kosher Food Market

The highest growth in the global kosher food market was witnessed in North America. Of course, New York City was the main driving force.

Zomick’s, as well as a few other kosher bakeries, already had a loyal customer base. But as they were experiencing high demand due to increased spending by consumers in this region, they decided to expand their offering and incorporate more kosher products.

Today, Zomick’s is one of the leaders in the kosher bakery business in the New York area, supplying customers with the highest quality artisan baked goods and prepared food products. All the products are made accordingly to the kashruth Jewish dietary laws. Also, the bakery is certified by the New York City Rabbinical Council. Zomick’s authentic, Jewish-style, and European bread, as well as delightful desserts, have been a part of their family for many generations.

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As of next month, all the gourmands will have an opportunity to buy promotional packs of Zomick’s Bakery Corn flour and get a gift (wooden spoon and grippers) with the package. With this, each of us can awaken our creativity in the kitchen to create delicious and irresistible products prepared with corn flour and cornmeal.

The event “Zomick’s follows Kosher consumers” was completed with positive outcomes, and in addition follows a statement of passers who, after shopping in one of the largest supermarkets in New York, had their bags with some of Zomick’s products. We asked them to answer the question:

“Why Zomick’s?”

Nicholas, pensioner

Age: 71 years

Consumer of: Zomick’s Bread – Integral with sunflower

“It’s a pity there wasn’t something like this when I was your age, twenty, thirty years … Now we seek consolation in everything that says ‘healthy lifestyle’. Me and my wife, for a while now, started consuming integral bread based on sunflower, on the recommendation of our children who told us that these compounds are ideal for people of our age, and now is the time when we do what our children tell us, we changed the roles.

What can I say, this bread is very tasty, there is the flavor of sunflowers, and is very fresh, even after a day, but we’re using those pieces for sop.

Once we read in detail the composition, we realized that the good taste is due to a combination of whole wheat and rye flour with the addition of sunflower seed and wheat germ, and if you test it can recognize all these flavors. From these ingredients, we also receive an amount of vitamin E, thus strengthening our immunity and protecting us against heart diseases. And not only that, once you fill up nicely, for the next few hours we don’t even think of getting some snacks. For now, we feel great with the granny and hope Zomick’s bakery with their kosher products can help us be healthy, so we can look after our grandchildren and give them some advice on how to feed healthy. ” review is taken from Zomick’s Facebook page.

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Any food that is labeled “kosher” must be certified. The facility where food is prepared must be under constant supervision of a rabbi, just like Zomick’s Kosher Bakery explains in the report on the Jewish Culture food festival. The food must be clean and naturally produced. There is a similarity with vegetarian principles of preparing food, but also there is something more than that.

Getting kosher foods

The procedure to obtain such food is very specific; for example, during the process of baking can be used only sugar derived from sugar cane which has been previously filtered through charcoal. This process is required for removing the color (discoloration) of sugar because it is required to be snow white. The coal which is obtained from bovine bone is not considered food, same as the skins of animals are not considered food. Sugar goes through bone charcoal as flour through a sieve and does not enter the coal.

In order for Zomick’s Bakery to meet the very severe regulations, there are special facilities for kosher processing (for example, a slaughterhouse for kosher slaughter). Speaking of slaughterhouses, no industrial production line but each animal is slaughtered in worship on earth, and skinning is also done by hand on the ground, in the presence of a rabbi. This, of course, in modern conditions of production significantly slows down the process.

Gelatin is obtained from bones and skin, but for Zomick’s recipes in a special way (Kosher Gelatin). Because it can be produced from fish bones, gelatin does not belong to the group of meat and meat products even in milk and milk products simply because the fish are considered “pareve”, and are sold as non-meat foods. As gelatin can be obtained from vegetable raw materials, it is among the kosher products.

Cheese can be used with Zomick’s bread if it is obtained under kosher conditions. This means that cheese gets spread milk rennet which was obtained as kosher. However, we must point out that meat and milk (which means meat and dairy products) cannot be mixed.

If to the Zomick’s challah recipe is added milk powder during processing (especially baking), the milk must come from dairy cows with a kosher certificate. The baking company prepares its renowned Zomick’ challah bread only from white flour, water, yeast, and salt. Even yeast that is used for the bread in small quantities must be certified kosher.

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This Zomick’s recipe will guide you on how to make lovely light savory crepes that come in many flavors. The recipe is great for using up leftover meat and mushrooms. Crepes can also be panned and fried ahead, then just fill and grill them up some other day.

This is a traditional Zomick’s challah prepared following the strict rules from Karshut. These savory crepes taste pretty much like Crepes à la Zomick’s Bakery, however, take considerably longer to make than the cheese crepes. But they are definitely worth trying and are good in combination with our Zomick’s bread. That might be the reason why I see more of the meat-stuffed crepes next to the challah at our family and friends’ gatherings.

Zomick’s crepes are always a tasty treat. They are common on the dinner table, both sweet and savory. A simple tip is that crepes can be made ahead and then refrigerated. They can be used as a wonderful way to make use of leftover meat. If you haven’t made your crepes following this Crepe Filing Meat and Mushroom Recipe yet, then try this and you’ll be surprised. Although this Zomick’s recipe may seem a bit long, don’t be scared –  you’ll enjoy it in the end.

Ingredients

• 2-3 tablespoonfuls of olive oil
• 2/3 cup diced onions
• 2/3 teaspoonful cumin
• 2 2/3 – 3 pounds Kosher Zomick’s ground beef or turkey
• 3 cups button mushrooms (diced)
• 2 cans of Tomato Juice

Directions

1. For Stuffing: Place the onions in olive oil and cumin in a large frying pan, until translucent.
2. Add the chopped meat to the frying pan, stirring and breaking apart the meat with a spoon.
3. Once the meat is light brown, add the Tomato Juice and cover the frying pan.
4. Let meat blend stand and reduce for about 4-5 minutes.
5. Uncover and add the diced mushrooms.
6. Mix well and cover the cooking pan, let mushrooms cook in meat Juice for another 5 – 6 minutes.
7. Uncover and remove from the oven.
8. Reduce the oven to moderate heat. Lay out the crepe in a well-oiled cooking pan.
9. Fill in the meat, and then fold the crepe.
10. Fry for about 4 – 5 minutes, or until the crepe is slightly golden brown.
11. Remove and serve with extra meat Juice (for garnishing).

Note: If you haven’t tried the meat-filled crepes, you will come to find out why they are the best breakfast food ever. It is truly a wonderful treat! And you will definitely win your family with our bread made following the well-known Zomick’s Challah recipe. They will enjoy these delicious crepes if they are crepes kinda guys.

A tip from Zomick’s kosher bakery suggests you can fry the crepes one day before and the next day just fills and grill them and they are ready to be served.

We have been quite active on our social networks lately, so you can connect with Zomick’s on LinkedIn and share your experiences in the culinary field. We believe that LinkedIn is a great tool for social interaction, so this is why we’ll try to be as active as possible.

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When it comes to making chicken soup, everybody has their own way. This is a recipe from Zomick’s cookbook which will teach you how to make your favorite chicken soup in a different way and surprise your family with a delicious chicken soup. This Chicken Soup à la Zomick’s comes with a rich, flavorful broth that is just right for serving with Zomick’s bread. Just take a look at this video channel and notice all the great videos which people from the bakery uploaded on Zomick’s YouTube channel.

Zomick’s bread or Challah with a steaming bowl of chicken soup is a welcome meal on a cold day, and it brings more to the table than just flavor. The hot liquid will help soothe a sore throat or keep nasal passages moist. And a hearty Zomick’s bakery chicken soup packed with vegetables may also ease such cold and flu symptoms as congestion and coughs. All in all, the good old-fashioned Zomick’s kosher bakery Chicken Soup is a classic American meal.

Ingredients

• 2 Kosher Chicken or Boilers skinned (cut into 9 pieces for easy handling)
• 4 stalks of celery (halved)
• 9 carrots (peeled and cut into pieces)
• 5 sliced turnips
• 3 sliced parsnips
• 2 large onions (halved)
• 2 rinsed good bunch parsley (or 3 tablespoons of dry parsley)
• 2 tablespoons Chicken bouillon powder (for every 600ml water)
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

1. Clean the Chicken under cold running water.
2. Place chicken in a large stockpot and add the vegetables.
3. Pour the cold water. On 600ml water add 2 tablespoons of bouillon powder.
4. Boil this mixture.
5. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and leave it to stay for about 3 – 5 hours.
6. Zomick’s bakery tip: You can try it if the soup’s ready with a fork – the chicken should be so soft that it should practically fall away from the bone and also the soup should be golden brown.
7. Place the soup into a clean pot and put salt and pepper to taste.
8. Keep the soup covered in the fridge, once cooled.
9. Simply remove any excess fat on the surface of the soup with a spoon when you are ready to serve it.
10. You can serve up rolls of the broth plus some of the vegetables. Remove the herbs, just leave the loosened bits.

This Chicken Soup is gluten-free and very healthy. The soup itself is rich in proteins and has healing qualities for a sore throat. It also helps with the sinuses and makes you feel warm and relaxed. In addition to the Chicken Soup, of your free choice, you can add some rice, egg noodles, celery, onions, parsnips, potatoes, or any vegetables that you come across. This Zomick’s recipe comes with an endless set of options.
We suggest you serve the chicken soup with Challah bread made by our Zomick’s Challah recipe.

If you find this recipe interesting visit Zomick’s Bakery profile on RISD and contribute to their projects by uploading a picture of your favorite dish. There you can find many many recipes or important information, that are posted on a regular daily basis.

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