Exotic delicacies in an unexpected place

I happened to be at a gas station in Modiin recently when I was approached by a man to come see his new halvah store.  I followed him to a small store that was packed with all sorts of foods that I never expected to see in one place.  Of course , there was halvah- lots and lots of halvah.

Some of the halvah is dairy and some is pareve.  Once you taste a sliver, you will be hooked.  I succeeded in only purchasing two flavors- Italian chocolate and espresso.  For the diet-conscious, there is halvah with no sugar- only artificial sweetener.

A new item for me was the fruit/vegetable “halvah” which is made with figs, carrots, or dates.

They also had one of my favorite indulgences: layered chocolate/nougat.

For those who support businesses in the Shomron, you can also purchase Meshek Achia olive oil and olives.

A treat I rarely see outside of the shuk, sultan and lokum or Turkish Delight can be found here as well in a myriad of flavors and colors.

There are also lots of cookies, chocolate covered nuts/jellies, and marzipan.

I am not sure why he decided to carry prune juice and cranberry juice, but I was happy to pick up a bottle as well.

This product was completely mystifying to me.  Chickpeas with a candy coating.  The store owner’s Hebrew wasn’t good enough to explain what was done to these chickpeas that made them edible and there weren’t samples, so I passed on this product for now.

Dulce de leche is my daughter’s favorite sweet.  Grab a bottle and you can make amazing sufganiyot.

I can’t imagine how sucralose fits in with the halvah theme, but the price can’t be beat- 20 shekels for 100 packets in a bag or 26 shekels for a box.

This product was the biggest surprise of all. I have one child (and husband) who fondly remember these crackers.  The price was better than the American stores and when I bought a pack of 8, he only charged me 30 shekels instead of 40.

The store is labeled as kosher.  As you can see, many of the products are not in their original packaging.  The owner will show you the kashrut certificates for each product if you ask.  One halvah has a rabbanut hashgacha and one has Chatam Sofer- I don’t remember the other products.

The store is located in Yishpru Center in Modiin.  Go into the Paz gas station and it is next to the Yellow store.

Hours: Sunday-Thursday from 9:00 am-8:00 pm and Friday from 8:30 am- 3:00 pm.

For more information, call 052-326-3269 or go to the store’s Facebook page or web site.

(I did not receive any compensation for this post)

New “ready-to-cook” shnitzel from Of Tov with a coupon

Of Tov has come out with a new product- schnitzel that is egged, breaded, and ready to cook/fry.  It has all natural ingredients and 1.8% fat before frying. Now you can have freshly cooked schnitzel without all the mess!

All natural ingredients means:

• No preservatives
• No MSG
• No stabilizers
• No E-numbers (food additives)
• Low cholesterol

To print a 5 shekel coupon, click here or go to Of Tov’s Facebook page to have it sent to you by email.

According to My Supermarket, it is selling for 27.90 shekels at Rami Levy and Shufersal.  That is 5.58 per 100 grams,which is a shekel or so more expensive than the precooked schnitzels.

 

Source: La-daat

Resultz coupon- expires 31 Dec 2014

You can get the same coupon and more by signing up for their club/moadon- not that anyone plans to have lice that often…

Newest Pizza Hut coupon

Free orange juice for nursing mothers at Cafe Greg?

I couldn’t find anything official on this, but a friend was just in Cafe Greg and said she got a free orange juice for being a nursing mother!

I don’t know which Cafe Greg she was in, but if you were planning to go (and nurse), ask for the deal- what do you have to lose?

This may be in response to an incident that occurred in 2012, when a Cafe Greg employee removed a nursing mother from the restaurant.

 

 

EXPOSED: Heter mechira produce or worse sold as “nochri” produce

During shmitah there is a dramatic increase in the use of “nochri” produce (produce grown by non-Jews) by the haredi population.  This is provided by the Palestinians, who receive 2-3 times the regular non-shmitah price.  Despite the increase in need, there is no subsequent increase in production which creates a strong motivation to provide produce from other sources in order to fulfill the demand and receive double/triple compensation.  This week a produce wholesaler was caught doing just that.  “Kvutzat Siam L’Peirot v’Yerakot” sells fruits and vegetables to restaurants in Jerusalem along with direct sales of produce in the Machane Yehuda shuk.  The owner of this business, Kfir Issa, has a brother who sells Palestinian produce under the business name “Peirot v’Yerakot Mishor Adumim”.  Kfir Issa was caught this week by the Pitzuach unit of Misrad HaChakalut purchasing large quantities of produce from Jewish farms under the heter mechira as well as other farms under no supervision whatsoever.  On this produce he put a fake rabbanut stamp and stored it in cold storage in Mishor Adumim.  From there it was sold to haredi centers as produce under “shmitah l’chumrah”.

Haredi consumers and mehadrin restaurants who thought they were purchasing kosher l’mehadrin produce discovered that under the best situation, they purchased heter mechira produce at 2-3 times the regular price.  In the worst case scenario, they purchased product of unknown origin, under no government or rabbinic supervision at the same price.

The produce came into Israel with travel documents that were for previously purchased Israeli produce that were re-purposed.

Rabbi Rafi Yochai, in charge of kashrut fraud in the rabbanut stated: “This is a revolving door of whitewashing merchandise in large quantities, and the great majority of it we will probably never know about.  Businesses such as these are likely to turn the matter of ‘yivol chul’ into a laughingstock.  This expose shows how important it is to strengthen and to empower the rabbanut, and to put effective tools in their hands for dealing with and supervising kashrut on a national basis.”

Source: Mekor Rishon 24/10/2014

Helpful shmita lists

If you want to know if the produce you are buying is from a farm that is under the heter mechira, check out these lists from the rabbanut and Misrad HaHaklaut arranged by yishuv and by the name of the farm.

For a comprehensive list of when shmita starts and finishes for each fruit, vegetable, and spice check out this chart.  It also has dates for sefichin and biur.

New Misrad HaBriut website comparing different kupot holim

Misrad HaBriut has just launched a new web site called “Call HaBriut- Magia Li“, which compares services and privileges between the four kupot cholim and the sal briut mamlachti.  The site is currently only in Hebrew.  If you do not have access to the internet, you can call the moked at *5400 and have the information faxed to you as well. I would hope that one could call and ask for the information in English so that will save time trying to navigate the web site.  If you have an Android phone, you can go the “קול בריאות” web site and download an app called “Dial My App” which allows you to connect to Misrad HaBriut’s web site in many languages, including English.  I wasn’t able to find it through Google Play- if you do. let me know.

Burger Ranch meal for only 28 shekels

GROUPON is offering a deal for a Burger Ranch meal- only 28 shekels instead of 43.90 shekels.  The meal includes a burger, fries and a drink.  There is no limit to the amount of coupons you can buy, but they do expire 10 Nov 2014.  Valid at all branches except for the branches in duty free (airport) and Eilat hotels.

RECALL: Zoglobek Pergiot Hot Dogs

Zoglobek is recalling Naknikiot Pergiot with bar code number 7290006739346 and an expiration date of 1 Feb 2015 because there may be some foreign matter in the product due to a temporary dysfunction in the manufacturing process.  If you have this product, you are asked not to eat it and to call 1-800-555-000 to get a refund.  Zoglobek would like to emphasize that all other products are completely safe to eat.

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