Best Tasting Brand of Matzoh

[Bzdhkap]

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!

[ravchaz]

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.

[avitrek]

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.

[Michigan Mishuganer]

Aviv organic is available at Whole Foods.

[hhertz]

Does anybody know if Whole Wheat Machine Shmura is available and if so who might carry in the NYC area?

[MartyB]

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.

[berel]

there's an idea for Shul fundraiser, a matzah tasting event.

Ok, might as well make it a wine-cheese-and-matzah tasting event

[MartyB]

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!

[berel]

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

[MartyB]

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.

[berel]

putting the shmurah matzah into the oven for few minutes before eating does make them a bit crispier btw

[Tarz]

Aviv is the best, followed by Yehuda. I actually look forward to Aviv.

[jaknny]

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

[knowitall2]

horowitz has my vote!!!!!!

[bay1]

I go with Streits for machine & Shatzer for Shmura.

[smartie]

Rakusen's, it's British but I have seen it for sale in South Fl.

[cheesecake17]

the make the mini tea matzahs, which are good. the whole wheat version is to be avoided- awful cardboard taste.

[cappucino]

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.

[MartyB]

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.

[berel]

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

[cappucino]

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.

[berel]

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

[MartyB]

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.

[cheesecake17]

From what I understand, it's got to do with the ovens.

[weinstein5]

I agree shmurah is the best - but for matzah brei yehudah -

[Pluckyduk8]

Definitely Yehuda...also made in Israel :)

[morris]

Yehuda is the best!

[hanistor]

Yehuda

[berel]

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

[weinstein5]

yes they do per their website - http://www.yehudamatzos.com/asg/Categ...

Also forgot I love their whole wheat matzah -

[shoelace]

they have a whole wheat thats kosher lpesach?

[berel]

why not?

[rolise]

How do we know the original matzah wasn't whole wheat?

[berel]

the "original" probably was

[Himishgal]

See last year's reviews here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5052...
Seems many concur with the Yehuda brand.

[Kosher Critic]

Streits and Rakusen's (UK) for tea-sized.

[MartyB]

Yehuda, check out the reviews.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

[weinstein5]

For machine made IMHO nothing beats Yehuda -

[queenscook]

It's Streits for me.

[shoelace]

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

[Kochav]

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.

[berel]

Charedim

[MartyB]

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.

[berel]

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"

[MartyB]

> 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!