Guest guest Posted April 22, 2005 Report Share Posted April 22, 2005 This is a non-rabbinical opinion, but as a Jewish botanist, I'll do the best I can until someone can give a more authoritative answer. Agar is a very common vegetarian/vegan substitute for gelatin. It behaves somewhat similarly, although it gels more firmly and at room temperature. It is very valuable in many kinds of scientific research, as well as a few household uses, and asian cooking. It is a long chain of sugar molecules (chemically sugar, but not table sugar; more like a simple starch in kitchen terms), that is extracted from seaweed. Thus, it is inherently pareve, as far as I can tell. For Passover, I would guess that it is clearly OK by Sephardic tradition that restricts foods more closely to the few specifically prohibited grains. I believe it would pass Ashkenazi scrutiny because one cannot make bread out of it or leaven it. That is, as I understand it, the reason rice and legumes are often out, because one can make rice bread, etc. Since I cannot realistically envision a seaweed bread or leavened seaweed, Agar should be fine. Jeff http://www.foodsubs.com/ThickenGelatins.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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