Wild rice & green beans for Pesach

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Kitniyot Minimization Project ™ update:

Last year we added raw peanuts and KFP for sephardim peanut butter. The 2 additions to our household this year will be:


  1. Wild rice, the North American variety, unknown in Europe at the time of the introduction of the minhag. The commonly sold variety is Northern Wild Rice (zizania palustris), native to the Great Lakes region of North America. It's unrelated to other rice, and is not really a "rice" at all. The only slight similarity is the shape. Early French explorers called it Folles Avoines (crazy oats). Other explorers called it a rice, not only because of the shape, but because they saw the plants rising above waters of the great lakes region, reminding them of rice paddies.
     
  2. Green (string) beans. While they may be called "beans", and are, indeed, in the legume family, no one considered them kitniyot until the mid-20th century. While there are some unclear sources that go back further, there are none before the start of the 20th century. Green beans are a perfect example of something that crept into the minhag only recently through a combination of misunderstanding, a confusion over the name, and dubious sources.
     


Disclaimer: I am not a posek. This is for informational purposes only, and to explain my own decisions.

Some links:
Some history & details about wild rice
Discussion - what is the earliest source for green beans as kitniyot?

Comments

  1. tesyaaMarch 30, 2015 at 1:04 PM

    String beans also don't need to be checked for bugs, unlike vegetables like asparagus. You'd think rabbis would be lenient, but I've asked and gotten a no.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gary WhiteOctober 31, 2016 at 4:23 AM

    How to celebrate a Passover Seder?
    Orlando Passover

    ReplyDelete
  3. mianaliSeptember 22, 2020 at 2:45 AM

    Hi, I’ve been a lurker around your blog for a few months. I love this article and your entire site! Looking forward to reading more!
    how to cook basmati rice

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ali AsifOctober 14, 2020 at 2:58 AM

    Really cool post, highly informative and professionally written..Good Job
    organic rice

    ReplyDelete
  5. hadikhanOctober 14, 2020 at 6:06 AM

    Your post is providing good information. I liked it and enjoyed reading it. Keep sharing such important posts. I am very much pleased with the contents you have mentioned. I wanted to thank you for this great article. I enjoyed every little bit part of it and I will be waiting for the new updates. I really appreciated this post. Just want to say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post.
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