606031 Mon Mar 23 07:04:04 -0700 2009 44 28 Kosher 0 4529315 Looking to see if I can find a consensus of opinion on the best tasting brand of matzoh (not shmura) for Pesach. Please weigh in with your favorite brand. Thanks! Mon Mar 23 07:04:05 -0700 2009 15126 Bzdhkap 1 4529318 Charedim Mon Mar 23 07:05:27 -0700 2009 4529315 13122 berel 2 4529684 Charedim is the best for shmura, but OP was asking for NON smurah. I too responded with Charedim as a knee jerk reaction, but edited my post when I re-read OP. Mon Mar 23 08:55:03 -0700 2009 4529318 16616 MartyB 3 4529703 all the machine matzah tastes like cardboard to me reminds me of the story where a guy is eating a matzah in the park and sees a blind man sitting on other end the bench. feeling sorry for him he hands a matzah and the blind guy starts to feel the matzah and finally says "who wrote this garbage" Mon Mar 23 08:58:37 -0700 2009 4529684 13122 berel 4 4529748 > all the machine matzah tastes like cardboard to me Well it is after all "the bread of affliction", should go well with the marror :) Nice story by the way! Mon Mar 23 09:08:49 -0700 2009 4529703 16616 MartyB 1 4529511 It's Streits for me. Mon Mar 23 08:08:56 -0700 2009 4529315 159087 queenscook 2 4529555 I grew up on streits and didnt even want to taste anything else as an adult, then i tasted yehuda, and theres no question, soething abt it just tastes fresher Mon Mar 23 08:23:05 -0700 2009 4529511 18598 shoelace 2 4530431 We're also a Streits family. I'll give Yehuda a try, but it would be awfully hard to give up those pink boxes. Who is it who does the bran matzah? Osem? That was the first box to disappear. Mon Mar 23 12:07:49 -0700 2009 4529511 132293 Kochav 1 4529655 Yehuda, check out the reviews. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2008/04/09/FDGDVUOG4.DTL Mon Mar 23 08:48:22 -0700 2009 4529315 16616 MartyB 2 4529738 For machine made IMHO nothing beats Yehuda - Mon Mar 23 09:06:56 -0700 2009 4529655 11622 weinstein5 1 4529788 Streits and Rakusen's (UK) for tea-sized. Mon Mar 23 09:21:12 -0700 2009 4529315 26162 Kosher Critic 1 4529835 See last year's reviews here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/505225?tag=search_results;results_list Seems many concur with the Yehuda brand. Mon Mar 23 09:32:45 -0700 2009 4529315 16307 Himishgal 1 4529852 Yehuda Mon Mar 23 09:35:20 -0700 2009 4529315 23394 hanistor 2 4529869 does Yehuda sell an "18 minute matzah"? (I know all kosher matzah is done in 18 minutes or less) I'm referring to the 1st batch after the machinery had been thoroughly cleaned after the last batch Mon Mar 23 09:41:48 -0700 2009 4529852 13122 berel 3 4529996 yes they do per their website - http://www.yehudamatzos.com/asg/Category_31.html Also forgot I love their whole wheat matzah - Mon Mar 23 10:06:47 -0700 2009 4529869 11622 weinstein5 4 4530018 they have a whole wheat thats kosher lpesach? Mon Mar 23 10:12:44 -0700 2009 4529996 18598 shoelace 5 4530058 why not? Mon Mar 23 10:23:08 -0700 2009 4530018 13122 berel 5 4530177 How do we know the original matzah wasn't whole wheat? Mon Mar 23 11:01:41 -0700 2009 4530018 32905 rolise 6 4530204 the "original" probably was Mon Mar 23 11:07:06 -0700 2009 4530177 13122 berel 1 4530263 Yehuda is the best! Mon Mar 23 11:20:54 -0700 2009 4529315 24247 morris 1 4530387 Definitely Yehuda...also made in Israel :) Mon Mar 23 11:54:13 -0700 2009 4529315 177523 Pluckyduk8 1 4531087 Yehuda is good, but I must say that if you haven't tried Shmura Matza, you are missing out. Also, fyi, there are spelt Matzas out there for the gluten free crowd. Mon Mar 23 14:58:32 -0700 2009 4529315 163929 cappucino 2 4531338 Absolutely, nothing beats shmura matzo, but at 20x the price some sort of balance between the two is in order. Also, shmura is only available on Pesach so an answer to "what is the best machine made matzo" is in order. Is it theoretically possible to make a machine shmura, by that I mean one that has the same texture and taste as the hand version? You know without all those air bubbles that are characteristic of the machine ones. I would love to eat "shmura" (taste wise, not religious wise) all year long at say, twice the price of current machine matzo. Mon Mar 23 16:14:05 -0700 2009 4531087 16616 MartyB 3 4531424 The Book of our Heritage by Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov actullay discusses hand shmurah vs, machine shmurah, both have their mila's. I buy one box of Machine shmurah for my wife because she has a problem chewing hand shmurah Mon Mar 23 16:39:13 -0700 2009 4531338 13122 berel 3 4532594 We have Matza eaters in our family that will eat the hand Shmura for months after. We order a bit extra for that reason. Now, I don't touch it a minute after Pesach, but that's just me. Tue Mar 24 05:38:27 -0700 2009 4531338 163929 cappucino 4 4532618 they make great pizza crust too, if you don't want the trouble starting with dough from scratch. Though I just saw pre made pizza dough with a hechscher at my local Trader Joes Tue Mar 24 05:50:55 -0700 2009 4532594 13122 berel 4 4533502 I used to do that too. I would buy shmura matzo after pesach as well when the prices go down. My question is that since matzo, hand or machine, is nothing more than flour and water. Is there any reson why one can't produce a machine matzo that tasts like the hand matzo? Are the machine ones baked at a different temperature? Are they "wipped" (to give it more of the "air bubbles" or what. Tue Mar 24 10:17:31 -0700 2009 4532594 16616 MartyB 5 4533721 From what I understand, it's got to do with the ovens. Tue Mar 24 11:13:11 -0700 2009 4533502 217807 cheesecake17 2 4531920 I agree shmurah is the best - but for matzah brei yehudah - Mon Mar 23 19:18:18 -0700 2009 4531087 11622 weinstein5 1 4534751 Rakusen's, it's British but I have seen it for sale in South Fl. Tue Mar 24 15:39:32 -0700 2009 4529315 22559 smartie 2 4535174 the make the mini tea matzahs, which are good. the whole wheat version is to be avoided- awful cardboard taste. Tue Mar 24 18:01:16 -0700 2009 4534751 217807 cheesecake17 1 4535204 I go with Streits for machine & Shatzer for Shmura. Tue Mar 24 18:13:22 -0700 2009 4529315 192535 bay1 1 4535441 No votes for Horowitz? I grew up on it and although I know it's really Manischewitz now, I still think it's tasty and makes a great Matzoh brie Tue Mar 24 19:37:34 -0700 2009 4529315 61945 jaknny 2 4536031 horowitz has my vote!!!!!! Wed Mar 25 05:01:02 -0700 2009 4535441 182026 knowitall2 1 4535443 Aviv is the best, followed by Yehuda. I actually look forward to Aviv. Tue Mar 24 19:37:50 -0700 2009 4529315 13153 Tarz 1 4536798 In order to make an intelligent and meaningful "study" it would be instructive if one would also include what matzos they have tasted as well. As an example, if someone says that their favorite matzo is Streitz and never had any other matzo but Streitz, this really says nothing. However if someone says they tried Streitz, Horowitz, Manischewitz, and Yehuda and then says that their favorite is Streitz, then that observation says something with respect to relative tastes among a set of matzos. After all, what the OP asked was really a question about the relative tastes of the various matzos out there, not weather one likes the matzo that they eat. So if someone tasted all machine matzos out there and hated them all but found Yehuda to be the least offensive of the batch, this tells the OP something of relevance. Wed Mar 25 09:30:14 -0700 2009 4529315 16616 MartyB 2 4536861 there's an idea for Shul fundraiser, a matzah tasting event. Ok, might as well make it a wine-cheese-and-matzah tasting event Wed Mar 25 09:43:06 -0700 2009 4536798 13122 berel 3 4537013 Considering the extremely high cost of shmura matzos. Some comparison or tasting opportunity would be in order. I like Charadim, but to be honest, I haven’t tried many other brands and I can't justify, at $20/lb, experimenting. Last year I bought one of the $8/lb shmura matzos and had to give it away. So I would welcome meaningful comparisons or tasting opportunities. Sign me up! Wed Mar 25 10:19:50 -0700 2009 4536861 16616 MartyB 4 4537057 I think I've tasted most of the other brands of shmurah matzah (including shatzer and Tiferet where I actually did baking at) I've had the rokeach, the chabad. Charadim are the best Wed Mar 25 10:27:54 -0700 2009 4537013 13122 berel 5 4537146 Berel, many thanks for your confirmation. I guess the only possible shmura matzo option that I would pay extra for from Charadim would be."extra well done", Just like they have a cheaper option for broken matzo, I would pay a premium for boxes of extra well done, not black burnt, more like brown extreemly thin in the center, you probably know which ones I am talking about. I would take boxes of broken, but not pulverized, ones as well since it would be asking too much to have much yield of whole ones that thin. Wed Mar 25 10:55:51 -0700 2009 4537057 16616 MartyB 6 4537220 putting the shmurah matzah into the oven for few minutes before eating does make them a bit crispier btw Wed Mar 25 11:16:00 -0700 2009 4537146 13122 berel 1 4537670 Aviv organic is available at Whole Foods. Wed Mar 25 13:11:15 -0700 2009 4529315 43877 Michigan Mishuganer 2 4550768 Does anybody know if Whole Wheat Machine Shmura is available and if so who might carry in the NYC area? Mon Mar 30 08:33:30 -0700 2009 4537670 278590 hhertz 1 4555368 For years I bought whatever was cheapest but I have settled on Yehudah as the best tasting. At the Shop Rite in Norwich, CT, they have a number of different brands of American and Israeli matzoh, including their own Shop Rite brand which is made in Israel (not sure by whom.) Virtually all of them are $4.99 for five pounds, which is cheaper than I have seen it in both New York and Boston. Tue Mar 31 14:42:36 -0700 2009 4529315 29024 ravchaz 2 4555480 Who pays for matza? I see enough suburban stores offering a free five pounds with a large enough order that I haven't paid for machine matza in years. Tue Mar 31 15:17:02 -0700 2009 4555368 114317 avitrek