Plethora of New Passover Foods & Wines
Abound for 2008

A plethora of new Passover foods and wines are available this year to grace the Seder table, according to the producers of Kosherfest, the largest kosher food, beverage and spirits trade show in the United States.

According to Menachem Lubinsky, co-producer of Kosherfest and editor of Kosher Today, "This Passover the emphasis is on products that are either healthier or gourmet, including foods made without spelt, low cholesterol, low fat and low sugar items."

Lubinsky also noted that we'll be seeing many new brand names entering the Passover market this year. They include Oxygen Imports, Ora's Organics, Pereg, Sweet Dreams, Castle Spirits, and Reisman's, among others.

"One good reason for the change in Passover brands and products is the changing demographics of the Jewish community, particularly among the Orthodox where the majority are now younger consumers with a rich appetite for new and different," says Lubinsky.

Overview of Passover Products
If you are a connoisseur of wine, it's perhaps the biggest growth category this Passover with an abundance of new and award-winning selections from all over the world.

From Royal Wine/Kedem comes its top ten new wines for Passover including Casa da Corva Reserve 2005 (Portugal), Herzog Reserve Cab '05 (California), Baron Rothchild
Haute Medoc 2003 (France), Goose Bay-Chardonnay 2006 (New Zealand), Psagot Merlot 2004 (Israel), Barkan Reserve Shiraz 2005 (Israel), among others.

A winner at the Kosherfest 2007 New Products Competition for 'Best New Wine, Beer or Spirit' was Rimon Pomegranate Dessert Wine 2005 (kosher for Passover) - Rimon Winery (Cannonball Wine Co.), Menlo Park, CA (www.rimonwines.com).

Tabor is a new winery from Israel being exported to the U.S. for the first time. The Mescha is a blend of Cab Merlot and Shiraz. The distributor, Allied Importers, also offers Borgo Reale Pinot Grigio 2007, Borgo Reale Chianti 2006, Borgo Reale Asti, Teperberg Late Harvest (Late Riesling) and Dalton Alma (blend of Cab-Merlot).

Golan Heights and Galil Mountain are introducing 2004 Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 Yarden Chardonnay, 2007 Golan Moscato, and Galil Mountain Yiron 2004. From Five Stones winery come Pinot Grigio delle Venezie 2007, Cabernet Sauvignon- Merlot, Beckett's Flat 'Five Stones' Shiraz 2006, Flat 'Five Stones' Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2006, and Flat 'Five Stones' 2007 Rose.

Each year it feels less and less like Passover when it comes to baked goods, as the companies who produce non-Passover bakery items the rest of the year hone their Passover recipes. For the first time in its 50 years, Reisman's of Brooklyn, NY will offer Passover bakery items with a mouthwatering assortment of layer cakes, brownies and cookies.

From Elegant Desserts come decadent desserts including individual apple cakes, sliced cantaloupe puree, rocky road chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and brownie bits on a moist double fudge brownie, Boston cream pie, and lollypop ice cream sticks.

Shabtai Gourmet is a unique gluten-free bakery line specializing in gluten-free, lactose-free, soy-free, casein free and dairy free cakes and cookies. Shabtai won 'Best New Dessert, Candies, Cookies, or Crackers' at Kosherfest 2007 New Products Competition for its Marzipan Sushi (Shabtai Gourmet, Woodmere, NY).

Passover Artisan dessert by Sumsum offers Gelato premium Sweet Dreams brand, a 100% natural frozen 'ice cream' that is lactose, gluten, cholesterol, soy, egg and colour- free. And, My Most Favorite Food, a kosher eatery in Manhattan (info@mymostfavorite.com) offers a Passover menu of cakes, tarts and cookies that sound too good to be kosher for Passover (but they are).

Wash down all those Passover sweets with Ora's Organics, tea blends from the Galilee. Varieties include black teas, fruit teas, red teas, green teas and herbal teas (with or without caffeine.)

From Oxygen Imports (www.oxygenimports.com) of Carteret, N.J. comes a large variety of gourmet Kosher for Passover items including Turkish coffee with Cardamon, Organic Honey and Halva spread, Kiwi and mango preserves, Spicy Mexican marinade, Chocolate flavored date spread, and Zesty Indian Marinade with peanut butter and curry.

For the kids, and anyone who is young at heart, comes Rite Lite's 'The Game of Four' Passover educational card game for ages 6 and up, a 16 piece wood Passover puzzle, Passover frog plush hand puppet, ceramic Matzah ball salt and pepper shakers in a gift box, and Kosherfest's 'Best New Passover Product' for 2007- Ten Plagues in Pyramid Box, distributed by Shulsinger Judaica, Brooklyn, NY.

If you want to take a break from cooking this Passover, treat yourself and your family to Abigael's on Broadway in NYC. Dubbing itself the largest gourmet kosher restaurant, Abigael's will be open for Passover for private and communal Seders, Chol Hamoed weekday dining and offers a new and innovative menu for Passover take-out.

Last, but certainly not least, comes the matzah. After eight days, you may want to try Yehuda Matzos Light Whole Wheat Bran Matzos, high in dietary fiber with 30% less calories.

That's the good news. The not so good news, according to Kosher Today, the official trade publication of the kosher food industry, is that kosher consumers will face steep price increases for Passover 2008. Distributors say that prices for a large number of products will increase by 15% - 25%. Manufacturers say they are just passing along sharp increases in products that were already on the rise even before Passover.

This year Passover begins at sundown on April 19 and ends April 27, 2008. Kosherfest 2008 will take place November 11-12 2008 at the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, NJ (www.kosherfest.com). Kosherfest is co-produced by Diversified Business Communications of Portland, ME (www.divbusiness.com) and Menachem Lubinsky, president and CEO of LUBICOM (www.lubicom.com).