<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

The GF Passover rules conveyed some popular misconceptions about
Passover, and so were overly stringent in some ways and overly lenient
in other ways.

1.  You may still use agents which cause foods to rise on passover,
as long as these agents are themselves kosher for passover.
_All baking soda_ is kosher for passover without special supervision.
Baking powder requires Passover supervision; see the Pesach guide on
kosherquest.org for a list of the baking powder brands which supervise
their baking powder.  In theory, even yeast could be kosher for
Passover, although there is no brand which is.

2.  European-origin Jews who want to maintain their custom not to eat kitniyot
(non-gluten grains and legumes) may eat quinoa and flax seed; amarinth
and tapioca are potentially okay.  All grains should be bought before
Passover and sorted since one may find stray pieces of other grains.
In sorting through the 8 lbs of quinoa that I bought, I found part of
an oat and a grain of rye.

European-origin Jews with dietary restrictions can generally get permission
to abdicate the custom not to eat kitniyot.  Abandoning this custom
isn't to be done lightly since it is over 1000 years old, but given the
hardship, it's a reasonable course of action.

3.  Foods which are gluten free are not necessarily kosher for passover.
The vitamins which are sprayed onto rice or which are added to milk may
contain chametz.  Lactose-digesting drops and Lactaid and similar milks
contain chametz.  Distilled vinegar may be chametz.  Citric acid may be
chametz.  See kosherquest.org for a list of other ingredients which may
be actual chametz, and so forbidden for any Jew to eat, own, or benefit
from during Passover.

4.  According to JSOR (jsor.org, a mostly Syrian organization which is a
major source of information about kosher for Passover kitniyot), any
tapioca and any corn starch is fine without special passover supervision.
I didn't ask them about other ingredients, but they will respond to
email sent through their website.


Janet

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *