Kitniyot
What Are Kitniyot?
Kitniyot (קִטְנִיּוֹת, also pronounced kitniyos) are a class of foods that many Ashkenazim and some Sefardim do not eat on Passover since they may be conflated with bread or other chametz products, which may not be eaten on the holiday. In addition to legumes, this prohibition includes rice, beans and corn.
Why Are Kitniyot Avoided?
The medieval Jewish sages placed a ban on eating legumes on Passover because they are similar in texture to chametz—even bread can be made out of their flour—so people might assume that if, for example, cornbread can be eaten on Passover, wheat or rye bread can be eaten too.
Who and What Are Included?
This injunction was unanimously accepted by Ashkenazic Jews; many Sephardic Jews, however, continue to eat kitniyot on Passover. If you are Sephardic, speak to your rabbi to determine your family and community tradition.
The prohibition is only with regards to consumption of kitniyot; there is no obligation, however, to destroy or sell kitniyot products before Passover.
Read an In-Depth Article on Kitniyot Kitniyot are a class of foods--including rice, beans, and corn--which Ashkenazim universally avoid eating on Passover.
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Is Popcorn Kosher for Passover? Popcorn is made from corn, which is included in the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Corn Kosher for Passover? Corn is included in the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Rice Kosher for Passover? Rice falls under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Lentils Kosher for Passover? Lentils are included in the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Tofu and Other Soy Products Kosher for Passover? Tofu, soy milk, soy burgers, edamame, miso, tempeh, and soy sauce are all forbidden for Ashkenazim on Pesach.
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Is Tahini Kosher for Passover? The major component of tahini is sesame. Sesame seeds fall
under the general class of kitniyot,
foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Buckwheat Kosher for Passover? Buckwheat is included in the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Beans Kosher for Passover? Beans are included in the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Falafel Kosher for Passover? The primary component of falafel is chickpeas (or fava beans), which are included in the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Green Beans Kosher for Passover? Green beans fall under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Mustard Kosher for Passover? Mustard falls under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Chickpeas Kosher for Passover? Chickpeas fall under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Rice Noodles Kosher for Passover? Rice noodles fall under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Sunflower Seeds Kosher for Passover? Sunflower seeds fall under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Canola Oil Kosher for Passover? Canola (rapeseed) oil is considered kitniyot, which Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) avoid on Passover.
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Are Chia Seeds Kosher for Passover? Chia seeds are not chametz, nor are they considered kitniyot, but should only be used with reliable kosher-for-Passover certification due to possible cross-contamination.
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Is Halva Kosher for Passover? Halva falls under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Is Corn Starch Kosher for Passover? Corn starch falls under the general class of kitniyot, foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Are Sesame Seeds Kosher for Passover? Sesame seeds fall
under the general class of kitniyot,
foods that Ashkenazim (and some Sephardim) may not eat on Passover.
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Join the Discussion
So, move peanut butter to the **SOLD to the goy** sealed cupboard during Pesach?
That's right :)
No. See the article:
"The prohibition is only with regards to consumption of kitniyot; there is no obligation, however, to destroy or sell kitniyot products before Passover." That's what the article says. It's at the end of the article.
Please double check this. I believe only chometz and seor are sold, not kitniyot and not what we don't eat because of chumrot (because they might contain traces, which exist before Pesach and are nullified). If you have a minhag of not eating kitniyot, and if your family includes peanuts, simply do not eat it. You can own kitniyot and you can offer them to your Sefardi friends too.
Got it! Thank you. O heard some Sephard still eat peanut butter throughout Pesach. Chabad is Ashkenaz?
Yes, Chabad follows Ashkenazi customs.
The Sephardic Passover Food Guide lists peanut butter as Kosher for Passover- the ones from Costco (Kirkland), BJ’s Wholesale Club & Trader Joe’s for Sephardim. There are also Ashkenazim that eat peanut butter (peanuts) and the South African Orthodox Passover food guide issues a kosher for Passover approval for peanut butter (they have a custom of eating peanuts/peanut butter) Visit Kashrut.com & tap on the Passover tab. Rav Feinstein seems to permit peanuts.
You are right, however an open jar of peanut butter might contain bread as often it is used on bread and it often happens that bread ends up in the container.
Thank you, yes indeed. Another serious issue is food that looks like kitniyot but really is chometz e.g. soy sauce which has wheat listed in the ingredients. In my opinion certification agencies should label them "Chometz - Not for Pesach".
Interesting point regarding soy sauce. I choose Tamari to avoid wheat, always. ..though have to check to see if my Nama Shoyu is without wheat.
Yes absolutely, please check. Kitniyot certification for Pesach is not very common in the USA but I have occasionally seen it. If you eat gluten free please be aware that there exists gluten free food which is wheat based (processed to remove the gluten). On Pesach this is an issue.
SURPRIZE! When checking rice, I recently found several wheat grains in the rice I was borering. So there’s definitely a point to the Kitnyot ban for Ashkenazi Jews
In former days when rice needed to be imported to Europe, it so happened that some wheat would inevitably come to be mixed in the rice sacks.
Understandably a ban was implemented
The custom has been preserved and has merit even to this very day.
Very rare to find grains “today” in the rice. However, Sephardim have a custom to check the rice 3 times.
Did you buy it loose from the suk or was it packaged? If packaged please share the brand.
Again, that’s why we check it. Also, I see you reside in Israel. The rice here is cleaned and it is rare to find anything but rice. But again, that’s why Sephardim have a custom of checking the rice 3 times.
Maybe you purchased the rice in an open container loose and it is not in packaged bags like what is sold here in the United States. It is cleaned here. You say the “custom has merit even to this day.” However, the rice explanation does not explain the ban on the other kitniyot like peas and beans, etc. it is a custom and even more lenient than an issur d’rabbanan. The main thing is Hametz, not Kitniyot, which is NOT Hametz.
Corn, peanuts etc. are not included in the kitniyot minhag as they were not known by the Rabbis who forbade kitniyot, they are a chumra. For most people they are not even family minhagim because their families did not have access to all these until recent generations. Everyone should follow their family minhag (some don't eat potatoes, some don't eat garlic, etc) but let's be realistic, a lot of people reading this are baalei teshuva and it's debatable what minhag for them to follow. As you say, chometz is the real, actual issue on Pesach and eliminating Chametz should be the focus.
Are the following kitniyot (Ashkenazi)? Thanks.
quinoa
ground flax seed/flax meal
ground hemp seeds
chia seeds
tapioca
Quinoa is not kitniyot according to the OU however it must have Passover certification as it can be contaminated with wheat, which is chametz.
Flaxseed/meal is not kitniyot according to the CRC
Hemp seeds are kitniyot according to the OU
Chia seeds are not considered kitniyot but require special checking according to the OU
Tapioca is not kitniyot according to the OU
In all cases, it is advisable to use the above with Passover certification.
Thank you!
I am Ashkenazi and I do not kitniot on Pesach. My wife’s father is Farsi. Is it ok for her to eat kitniot—I assume from separate pots and other dishes—? It would be ok with me for sure.
In general, the wife follows the husband's custom in this matter. The husband though may choose to agree to his wife following her family custom.
A peanut is a bean, are peanuts kitniyot?
Peanuts are indeed Kitniyot. See chabad.org/4686766 about this.
Not according to Rav Moshe Feinstein
According to HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt'l, peanuts and any other food item not present at the time the custom of not eating kitniyot was started are not included in the prohibition This also includes derivatives. There are, however, different customs as is true with many things in Judaism.
See the following Chabad page on this topic for more details. Search: Chabad and Are Peanuts Kosher for Passover
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's opinion regarding peanuts is indeed brought and discussed in the article that was linked to. Will repost the link: Are Peanuts Kosher for Passover? - Would they be included in the kitniyot ban?
Are Pine Nuts that are marked KLP considered Kitniyos for Ashkenazim?
Pine nuts are not kitniyos.
A general rule about products certified by a reliable kosher supervising agency: If it's kitniyos, they will mark it as such; so if it is certified kosher for Passover and there is no kitniyos marking, you can assume that it isn't kitniyos.
Thank you. What are pine nuts (AKA Pignoli Nuts) since they are not kitniyos?? Just nuts?
Why some do - do not - Kitniyot
Although I found several interesting links I do not find any reasons WHY these are prohibited.
Rationally, I expect it has something to do with the then known (today lost) knowledge of the process involved in a product at specific life of the product at a particular time of the season and, most likely derivative from the region in which the prohibition originated and, it seems, in this case, in Ashkenazi - would then be Eastern Europe.
I imagine, it could for example be - the types of worms and insects of that season that could accidentally be swallowed.
But then, this is just me - my thoughts on the subject without any particular knowledge.
The rabbis do not want to change. Two orthodox rabbis, one Sephardic and one Ashkenaz, one is permitted to eat kitniyot the other will not, and forbids. Makes sense? One is enjoying the holiday and one is so severely restricted that it is questionable if he or she can enjoy. There is a tendency in our religion that to restrict is to make holy or holier. It becomes an obsession about who is holier or who is kosher enough. Can it be asur in the eyes of Hashem that an ashkenaz can't eat legumes but an Sephard can? Permissible for one and not the other? Makes no sense.
It's all minhag (custom) and belief nothing about one can and the other can't. My father is sepharadic and we don't eat ktniot on pesach. Everyone has their own minhag.
My family does not eat kitniyot and we had a great time. Plenty of food, wine and Arak!
Same here. We are Sephardi, and we had no kitnyot!
severely restricted? Give me a break! If you can have all the produce, all the fish, all the poultry, all the meat, all the wine you can possibly dream of, are you restricted? Is this a new firm of narcissism or something? I got news for you: many people don’t have access to a fraction of this dazzling bounty year round, and you feel severely restricted because you can’t have rice and popcorn? Well in this case, yes I do feel sorry for you!
Arak IS kitniyot, as it contains anise, which is on the prohibited list. Unless it's the one with artificial flavor. Also, some opinions permit liquified kitniyot.
Re: ban on Kitniyot
When discussing what is or isn't Kitniyot, it is important to keep in mind tha many of the different opinions about specific foods, stem from the differences of opnion as to what Kitniyot is. For more on that see Why Aren’t Potatoes Kitniyot?
See also this class titled The Legumes Passover Controversy
Re: ban on Kitniyot
I read the article linked below on the history of Kitniyot. So convoluted, it gave me a headache. We're supposed to believe that kitniyot is not chometz and has less stringent requirements to meet. Yet, the reasons for banning kitniyot are all over the road. From actual interaction with true chometz, to it being "soft" chometz, to mistranslations of the actual name (!), to its derivatives bearing no resemblance whatsoever to chometz, to erring on the side of strictness rather than leniency (the wrong way to apply the law). Even an uneven application of the custom (Both corn and peanuts did not exist in Europe at the time of the custom). And various rabbis bend over backwards with twisted logic to try and justify it all, simply to maintain the custom. It makes no sense.
Customs do not, and should not carry the same force as Torah law, because customs vary, while Torah law does not. The strictness of the kitniyot ban borders on the obsessive-compulsive.
I agree!
"And various rabbis bend over backwards with twisted logic to try and justify it all, simply to maintain the custom. It makes no sense."
Further compounding the difficulty for many of deciding what definitely is or is not Kitniyot among borderline foods occurs this very week before Chag HaPesach, when it makes sense that many of our local rabbis are simply much too occupied with Holiday preparations to be able to provide straightforward answers to these questions in a timely fashion.
One could even justifiably maintain that the time-honored exhortation to simply "ask your local rabbi/rov" when clearcut answers [regarding certain types of Kitniyot] are obviously unavailable is something of a cop-out; especially so, given the current time-dependent unavailability of your selfsame "local rabbi/rov".
In general most if not all rabbis are on call and available in the weeks and days leading up to Pesach. That said, since Pesach is not a surprise, consumers can certainly think about this matter ahead of time and receive more thorough responses well in advance.
With regards to the issue of Kitniyot in general, as well as why there are different opinions as to what is included in the category of Kitniyot please see
The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover
and Why Aren’t Potatoes Kitniyot?
Additionally, most major Kashrut organizations have on their websites a list of what is considered Kitniyot.
Why is custom important to Jewish observance?
search the chabad.org website for
Why Aren't Customs Reversible?
we are left with a very difficult question
Clearly this remains problematic. We are left with an apparent contradiction between: one, accepting a minhag because of the respect for the decisors themselves - an important halacha of its own; and the codifications and practices of nearly unanimously everyone would agree are higher authorities, from the Rambam to the Shulchan Aruch.
The result are clear problems like Ashkenazim not eating fresh green beans that could never ever have been mistaken for or mixed up with chametz, and the questionable carryover of customs developed in Galut into what were Sephardi-dominated places like Palestine and Colonial America.
As the authority here is itself so important, it might be best to convene authorities to address the apparent conflicts and show why Caro was wrong in the sixteenth century to dismiss the opposing and nascent Ashkenazi minhag.
Chag Kasher v'sameach, everyone.
Very difficult.
Re: ban on Kitniyot While you may be able to find one or two individual lone dissenters, nowadays traditional ashkenazic Jewery is pretty much unanimous about the ban on kitniyot. Even the sefardic Rabbi Ovadia Yosef held that someone of ashkenazic descent cannot eat kitniyot. For an in-depth halachik discussion about Kitniyot see The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover
Rabbi Ovadia's view on the subject is well-known and respected. That said, orthodoxy is indeed no longer fully unanimous on the subject. There is increasing recognition, especially in Israel, that there is an inherent problem importing Eastern European minhag-based rulings (which, in the context of our history, are very recent) to a place where the majority have held otherwise since the time of Hillel and the Beit HaMikdash.
Hemp & Kitnyos How did hemp seeds fall into the prohibition?
Pistachios Is it a Chabad friendly nut?
"This injunction was unanimously accepted by Ashkenazic Jews"
Clearly not true. There is a fair body of literature from the Middle Ages on down to today, with rabbis arguing against banning kitniyot, some even working to get it lifted. Please change this.
To Vi There are differences of opinion as to whether flax seeds are kitniyot or not, so it's best that you ask your local rabbi
Is flaxseed ok on pesach?
Re: false dichotomy between kitniyot and non-kitniot eaters I think the article is just using Ashkenazim and Sefardim as a generalization, but yes, there are other communities as well. Each person should follow their own customs. AS for the reason behind the custom, I would suggest reading the article linked to in the previous comments. (i.e. the article titled The History, Rationale and Practice of Avoiding Kitniyos on Passover).
Getting back to the issue of Am Echad, One People
Assuming Ashkenazim are correct to follow strictly the kitniyot minhag as halacha, what possible justification is there for a store not selling sold certified rice and other kitniyot (hechshered, of course) where Sephardim also shop? I have seen this practice in many if not most kosher supermarkets in the busy days before Pesach.
It would not be difficult for shopowners to segregate such items and allow non-Ashkenazim to do all their shopping in one place.
We have a duty to call out and end the practice of not selling kitniyot immediately, as its negative effects far outweigh any perceived benefits.
can kittens eat kitniyot
Yes. One may feed their pets Kitniyot.
See chabad.org/6400005
yes, you can feed it to animals, it is not chametez. You can handle it, own it, etc.