I’ve never had the experience of eating kosher food in my life – being raised Catholic this comes as no surprise. A few weeks ago I was in the grocery store looking for my favorite brand of soup mix (Bear Creek Foods), when I saw a box of Matzo Ball & Soup Mix from Streit’s. The container was marked as kosher for Passover and for all year round. I purchased a box of the soup, and then promptly forgot about it after storing it in my cupboard. Yesterday I saw the box again, and decided to give the mixture a try.

 

Preparation from directions on the box is easy; in fact, the entire process took just over thirty minutes from start to finish. I mixed the package of matzo meal with two eggs and oil, and then let it stand for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, I brought 2½ quarts of water to boil and added the packet of chicken broth. Wetting down my hands as per the package directions, I shaped the matzo meal into walnut-sized balls and dropped them into the hot broth. I covered the pot and lowered the heat to simmer and cooked for thirty minutes. I made chicken sandwiches on the side, and my husband and I enjoyed the meal immensely. I loved the taste of the matzo balls alone, let alone swimming in broth. During the cooking process, the matzo balls expanded to about double their size and were somewhat heavy but tasty all the same.  

 

Streit’s Matzo (Aron Streit, Inc.) also manufactures other kosher food for Passover and year round use. The company has been in business since 1916, when Aron Streit opened his first matzo factory on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Aron and his first partner Rabbi Weinberger made all their matzo by hand. The business now also includes a bakery, which resides in the same four buildings on Rivington Street where Aron and his sons started baking matzos more than seventy years ago. Their web site also contains a recipe page, where there are dishes such as Passover "Breaded" Fish Filets with Horseradish Sauce, Chicken Cutlets with Apricot Wine Sauce, Green Vegetable Kugel, Passover Granola (Farfola), Passover Mandel Bread, Passover Special Meatloaf, and Sweet Potato Tzimmes.

 

But what is matzo? I had no idea until I found the following information at Cooking.Com:

Matzo meal is a fine-textured meal ground from matzo, the Jewish unleavened bread. It is used as the main ingredient in matzo balls as well as in baking, as a breading for fried foods, and as a thickening agent.

And how to make the matzo balls from scratch? The recipe below comes from Bitsy’s Kitchen:

 

Matzo Balls

1/4 cup water

3 TBS margarine, melted

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup unsalted matzo meal

3/4 tsp. salt

2 quarts water

 

Combine the first three ingredients in a bowl. Add matzo meal and salt; stir well. Cover and chill for one hour. With floured hands, shape mixture into 30 (1-inch) balls. Bring two quarts of water to a boil in a Dutch oven; add matzo balls. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for thirty minutes. Remove matzo balls with a slotted spoon; discard cooking liquid. Yield: 30 Matzo Balls (serving size: 3 Matzo Balls). NOTES: To serve, ladle into individual bowls; top with green onions, parsley, and Matzo Balls.