Behold, the power of kosher cheese
As a self-identifying foodie, nothing makes me feel more cozy inside than a gooey slice of brie or the sharp tingle of pecorino. I swoon over a thoughtful cheese plate, and relish the way a hunk of cheddar humbly brings a meal together. But more recently, I’ve started to feel some internal hestitations about my beloved cheese. Responding to Anna’s amazing question, “Why do you keep kosher,” I wrote:
“Although I still eat unhechshered cheese, it is starting to feel less “authentically kosher” OR “authentically vegetarian,” to me because of the animal rennet. Not authentically vegetarian for obvious reasons, but not authentically kosher because Kashrut is, to some degree, about the act of intentionally limiting or setting boundaries around what one eats or does not eat, regardless of cravings. And at this point the only reason I still eat unhechshered cheese is because I love it too damn much not to.”
Additionally, my boyfriend (the other thing that makes me feel cozy inside, aside from cheese), keeps kosher. Finding ways for us to eat comfortably together is an ongoing priority. Usually it means we either don’t eat cheese together at all, or we eat a kosher certified cheese that tastes - to my snobby tastebuds - hollow.
So I was delighted yesterday - when shopping at Fairway’s new (and locally controversial) location in Red Hook - to find one of my favorite cheeses has gone kosher: Tillamook.
Tillamook cheddar is a regional legend in the Pacific Northwest. I originally fell in love with their hearty cheddars on weekend hikes in the Willamette National Forest during my first two years of college. On a trip to Portland last spring, my friends and I went for a day hike along the Oregon coast and stopped at the Tillamook factory to sample their “squeaky cheese” (cheese curds), which sputter and whine as you bite into them.
Tillamook rests firmly in my book of “good cheese,” so finding a kosher version felt like a small miracle. Tillamook uses a microbial/vegetable-based rennent instead of an animal-based rennent to produce their kosher medium cheddar.
Looking around online today, I discovered that Cabot offers an OU certified cheddar, although with limited distribution.
Cabot, which is based in Vermont, is the East Coast equivalent to Tillamook. Oddly enough, I first learned of Cabot cheddar during my second two years of college, when I transfered from a university in Oregon to a small college in Vermont (perhaps I was following the cheese?)
Cabot also sells a more widely-available kosher cheddar with a “Tablet-K” certification. Tablet-K, however, is not a universally accepted hechsher. The current debate over its authenticity is fierce. Those who think its legit say that Tablet-K’s demonization has more to do with personal politics of the kashrut industry rather than real halachic issues.
The comments on a recent posting at kosherblog.net give a sense of the controversy.
One the “pro Tablet-K” side:
“The only negative criticism I have heard about Tablet-K is “not recommended” with no further explanation. Is there really a problem with Rabbi Saffra’s certification or is he simply not part of the “club?” Until there is compelling evidence that Rabbi Saffra is not to be trusted or that he is no longer supervising these products, I see no reason why his hashgacha should not be acceptable.”
And the “Anti Tablet-K” side:
“Something is either kosher or not [just like either pregnant or not]. In the kosher marketplace, it is well known that Tablet K is substandard. As to the products and plants tabletK visitor is looking for, there isn’t enough space here to list them all. It’s time for tabletK to stop pretending to sell kosher, and start selling Chofetz Chaim books.”
Oy. For now my personal debate is not quite so complex. I’m just glad that, thanks to my Tillamook discovery, I was able to eat those black bean and spinach nachos - nachos that tasted amazing, satisfied my boyfriend’s kashrut standards, and further deepened my own search for a vegetarian/kosher ideal.
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5 Responses to “Behold, the power of kosher cheese”
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Elizabeth Says:
February 1st, 2007 at 5:51 pmAs a fellow cheese lover, I agree that the hechshered choices are getting better and better! In addition to Tillamook (which I actually think has been hechshered for years) and Cabot, there are:
Barkanit’s imported Israeli goat cheeses (Tavor, Tilsit, Shahat, etc.): available at Fairway, Zabars, and often places like Whole Foods and other gourmet stores, though never cheap
Woolwich Dairy/sometimes marketed as Madame Chevre (www.woolwichdairy.com): A Canadian goat cheese producer, several of whose products are OU. Several others aren’t hechshered but are rennet-free (The website says which is which). The goat cheese logs are really good, and are consistently available (and cheap!) at Trader Joe’s.
Millers feta: I know, I know…. Every other Millers cheese I’ve had tastes like plastic. But their feta (OU, of course) is actually *really* good. Rumor has it they import it from outside the US.
Now I’m getting hungry….
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Nathan Says:
March 15th, 2007 at 6:57 pmThe take-home point on the Cabot “debate” is that the cheese is exactly the same for both types of production run: same ingredients, same processing, etc. The one, and only, difference is that the OU-certified run has a rabbi place the rennet (same rennet, BTW) into the batch, which satisfies the strict position on the rabbinic gezara for cheese making. Perhaps that will shed some light on the “credibility issues” of Tablet-K supervision for this product. Follow the money - and there’s a great deal of it at stake in the kashruth supervision marketplace.
Although the strict position on cheese is all the current rage, it most certainly was not always so, as is true for many currently held kashruth positions in Orthodoxy. Well-known poskim ate kraft cheese and jello in this country fifty years ago - my teacher was there to see it. Also, don’t forget there is a codified minority position held by some of the Tosafoth (including Rabbenu Tam) that cheese made with vegetarian rennet does not fall under the gezera. That would mean most cheese produced in this country would fall into that category - but you should specifically check the product before using this heter.
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Stephen Mendelsohn Says:
September 24th, 2007 at 11:14 pmBS”D
You missed Sugar River, a delicious gourmet kosher cheese from Wisconsin, formerly certified by the cRc, now by the OK. I am for the most part strictly vegetarian, but will occasionally buy this at Whole Foods as I am unable to find any decent kosher vegan soy-based cheese. The label indicates that Sugar River cheese (available in several flavors such as garlic basil Monterrey Jack) comes from small family farms and, like Tillamook, is rBGH-free.
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cheesehead Says:
November 7th, 2007 at 8:15 pmThe halakha is clear about one thing: your rabbi poskens for you and that’s that. There is not a single Orthodox rabbi in my city who allows Tablet-K products, and that’s the psak we follow.
Plus, requiring that a kosher Jew handle the rennet is not simply “all the rage,” it’s pretty well established. (I was thumbing through the Kosherblog — thanks for the link — and found a chart tracing the history of chazal’s prohibition of “gevinat akum,” or cheese made by a non-Jew.) The Rama, way back in the sixteenth century, declared this the accepted custom.
On top of it all, even the Conservative Movement’s Rabbinical Assembly has recommended against the use of Tablet K. I suppose everyone’s in on this little canard?
PS. Ditto on the Sugar River- great stuff!
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Rivka Rennet Says:
November 9th, 2007 at 4:34 amI bought some Sugar River tonight at Fairway and it is
excellent. I bought some jack and some white chedder.Another cheese that is supposed to be great is 5 spoke Creamery but it was very expensive.
Regarding tablet K…. 15 years ago, I met R. Safra.
I asked him how H and H bagels East (on 2nd avenue, not the one on broadway) could serve Boars Head Ham and still be certified kosher. He told me it was OK because they wore gloves. That sounded ridiculous to me and I never relied on his hechsher again.
