Anyone know of a Kosher L'Pesach Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate?

[falconress]

This one's for my mom, who uses apple juice concentrate as a sweetener during the year but has never found one with a Passover hechsher. I thought the Chow hivemind might be more knowledgeable than my puny little brain.

While we're on the subject, are there any artificial sweeteners for Pesach that don't have a vile aftertaste? Splenda has spoiled me for life.

Oh, FWIW, we don't use kitniyot.

[skipper]

Check the OU website. It might be that frozen apple juice if purchased before Passover doesn't need a Passover hecksher.

[ferret]

The OU list of frozen juice concentrates NOT requiring OU-P is limited to a variety of orange and grapefruit juices - no apple.

[ganeden]

That may be their policy nowadays, but back in the old days, frozen apple juice concentrate was kosher l'Pesach, if produced under OU. I used to use it to grow malolactic bacteria for my OU certified winemaking.

[Lissy63]

I saw a big bag of Xylitol- a sugar substitute that's used in sugarfree gum- today in Gourmet Glatt's Pesach store.

[ferret]

Xylitol, like all sugar alcohols, can induce gas production and diarrhea in some people. Use it sparingly.

[cheesecake17]

I remember last year buying some kind of artificial sweetner in tablet form. I only used it for iced coffee, but it tasted fine. Don't remember the brand, but I bought it at Moisha's in Brooklyn.

[ferret]

The tablets are just compressed saccharin (like Sweet n Low).

[cheesecake17]

Didn't know what they were made of. I won't buy them again this year though, not worth it.

[DeisCane]

The tablet form of saccharin is the more common form in Europe, interestingly.

[ferret]

Back in my youth the tablets and liquid sweetener were the preferred choice for Shabbos given the alternative of tearing open the little packets.

[cheesecake17]

That's so interesting. We were in Europe recently.. and I noticed that sugar and subs are pretty absent from coffee. At one place, the coffee was paticularly bad and I asked for splenda.. they looked at me like I was nuts.

This year for Pesach it's just not worth it to me to buy the tablets or any fake sweetner. I'll take a bit of sugar from my mom's house and use it in my coffee. I only drink coffee on workdays anyway...

[ferret]

No frozen, but she could always make a "reduction" from the regular juice. Just cook it down to concentrate the flavor. Why this over sugar? Not much (if any) of a caloric advantage.

[falconress]

That's a good idea, I'll suggest it to her. I don't know why, actually. She and several of her siblings went to the Pritikin Center about 20 years ago, and it's worse than Scientology. White sugar and white flour will not pass through her doorway if she can help it. I don't think it's the calories so much as the other detrimental effects to health, but don't ask me. I'm not part of their cult.

Re the sweeteners, saccharin is pretty much what I found. I can't go back to that awful aftertaste, so I guess either I'l use nothing, or sugar.

[ferret]

There's KFP demerara sugar available - don't recall the brand but it's in a jar. I picked it up because some family members also have a "white sugar = evil" thing. Don't really understand it, because the white sugar is just centrifuged to extract the brown molasses bits. The fructose in apple juice is still caloric and not really healthier (just feels healthier -- because it's an apple, right?)

[falconress]

Oh, you're preaching to the choir here, believe me. I stopped trying to understand the intricacies long ago, although it's fun to watch them stutter and rationalize when you try to get them to explain the invariable inconsistencies that will pop up with any kind of fanaticism.

Seriously, I don't know if it's the caloric content (she is very thin and in her 90's, and I'd like her to gain a lb or 2, actually), although it can't be for the fiber, if it's in concentrated juice form. I really don't know what health benefits they claim, to be honest. I think it's habit, and it would be easier not to convert the formula when she makes compote and applesauce. Of course she can live without it for a week, I just thought if someone had seen it, I'd go out of my way and pick some up for her.

And ditto ferret's wise advice on the xylitol, go easy on it, lest ye spend more time in the loo than at the table. It's a mixed blessing, xylitol is.