Kosher sweets explained

Kosher sweets are sweets that meet Jewish dietary law, known as kashrut, and have been certified as doing so. For sweets, the big question is usually gelatine, so jelly sweets and marshmallows are the ones to check.

How certification works

Kosher certification is carried out by agencies that inspect how food is made and then allow the maker to show their symbol, called a hechsher, on the packet. Each agency has its own symbol, usually a registered trademark, and an agency can withdraw it if a product stops complying. Agencies make periodic site visits to check. Among the international kosher supervisors, the London Beth Din is one of the most prominent, and in the United States, five large agencies certify more than 80 per cent of kosher food sold there.

The gelatine question

Gelatine is made from collagen, the main protein in animal connective tissue, so it can come from a non kosher source such as pig skin. That makes the kosher status of gelatine, used in jelly sweets and marshmallows, fairly controversial:

• Most Orthodox authorities regard gelatine from non kosher animals as non kosher, because of doubts about where it came from.
• Some prominent Orthodox rabbis, such as Chaim Ozer Grodzinski and Ovadia Yosef, and Conservative rabbis argue that gelatine undergoes such a complete chemical change that it is permitted. The Conservative movement's guide states that all gelatine is kosher and pareve.

The alternatives are gelatine from kosher animals or fish, which costs more, or plant gelling agents such as pectin, made from fruit: see gelatine in sweets explained and pectin sweets explained

Meat, dairy and pareve

Kosher food falls into three groups:

• Meat, which includes meat derivatives such as animal gelatine.
• Dairy, anything containing milk or its derivatives, such as butter.
• Pareve, containing neither meat nor milk. Eggs from kosher birds count as pareve.

Under this scheme, animal gelatine counts as a meat derivative, although the Conservative guide treats all gelatine as pareve. A milk chocolate sweet is dairy, and a sweet set with pectin and made without milk can be pareve, if certified.

Checking pick and mix

Loose pick and mix may not come with kosher certification for each sweet, and loose sweets share displays and scoops. If you keep kosher, look for certified sweets, or ask your own rabbinic authority: see pick and mix and allergies

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