Thinnest, best matzah (matzo) shmurah?

[AdinaA]

I use Charedim. And I think it's the best, and the thinnest.

I would be interested in hearing the opinion of those who have comparison tasted.

Also, for anyone who hasn't yet seen it, the funniest bit of film ever made about matzah is a sequence called "Are you Smarter than a 10 year old Passover Dilemma" You can find it at you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJrKPb...

[AdinaA]

I purchased 4 boxes of Charedim. I like it a lot, thin, crisp, not burnt. Rounc pieces about 11 " diameter.

The boxes varied from 10 to 13 pieces per 1 lb. box. All intact, although some are very fragile. (some makers in clude a lot of broken pieces, which, frankly, I do not object to since you have to "piece out" a kezayit for each person.

[MartyB]

So far I opened up two of the Charedim matzos and they each had 10 matzos per box. Anyone can report of what other companies packed in their 1 lb box of shmurah matzos?

[EmpireState]

Our box of shatzer had 8.

[MartyB]

I don't quite know how reliable this information that I picked up from the web but here it goes.

"Which Matzos are the thinnest this year? I don't know about thinest, but Pupa-Tzelem is 8 matzos per pound (Satmar Williamsburg is 6)."

"The thinnest matzo in NY is Chareidim. Regular or whole wheat. You get 11 matzos per lb. "

It would be instructive if people could over the course of the holiday give a shout on how many matzos were in their one pound boxes. Assuming all matzos are similarly sized we should see a pattern develop and get a more accurate answer. Measuring their "thinness" is rather tough, but the number of matzos per box would be somewhat equivalent. Again, this assumes similar diameter and box weight.

[MartyB]

I found a video on how matzo is made at the Charedim matzo factory and it sheds some light on why they are the thinnest. A friend of mine said that there are two people who rolled the matzo to get it extra thin. Looking at the video you see that there are sets of three people involved in making the matzo at the table. One breaks the dough into balls that will be one matzo. Another who rolled it into matzo shape with wood rolling pin on a parchment covered metal table then it gets moved to a metal surface where it is further flattened with a metal rolling pin. Most other factories have only one roller who makes the matzo.

Check them out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAtnxtfUwy0&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JaY5A...

[berel]

I know the "parchment" is changed after each batch so as there's no chance of any leftover particles becoming chametz. How do they clean the metal surface table that the matzah is directly on?

[psycomp]

Blowtorches? ;-)

[berel]

they wouldn't need to blowtorch, hagolah (boiling water) shouldbe enough, but I just can't see them doing it after each batch, what a mess

[MartyB]

If those tables roll then the can roll in a second set and clean the prior one during the run. The rolling pins have to be cleaned as well so I assume there are doubles of all items that need to be cleaned. I believe that the wood items like the rods and pins have to be sanded. Would be inefficient to wait for them to be cleaned and sanded before they can begin the next run..

[berel]

it wouldn't have been a bad idea to include the sanding, changing the paper and orther kashering methods in the video.

[MartyB]

I have no idea but the metal roller on the bare metal table explains its thinness. My friend spoke to the owner and he(she?) said that they could not keep up with the demand this year. I guess this means that they either expand next year or raise their prices (or both).

Nevertheless, to me shmurah matzo makes pesach from a food point of view. I actually LOVE the damn thing, all the other pesach food items are nothing special or unique and could be had all year long, but not the (shmurah) matzos.

[hbg1]

I was at the Chareidim factory this year and watched for a while. I don't know how they actually clean the metal surface itself, but the whole metal top of the table gets taken off and replaced with a fresh one at the same time that they replace the parchment for the first rollers.

[MartyB]

Went to Flatbush / Boro Park today. KRM - no Charedim. Moisha - no Charedim. Glodbergs - no Charedim. Pomegranates - no Charedim. So I called up the 5 towns Supersol (Seasons) and they said that they carry them. I told my daughter - let’s get out of here, and come back to the 5 towns and pay the $25/lb. On the way home my daughter says that she needs to use the restroom so we double park on Kings Highway and my daughter notices a hole in wall kosher store and guess what, they carried the matzos - $22/lb.

So one year we had the lady finger shortage, the next is the margarine shortage, this year appears to be the Charedim shortage. Last year KRM had piles of it so they either got less this year or more people found out about the quality of Charedim matzos and bought it out. There was plenty of stock of the other shmura brands.

[berel]

Mazel tov Marty! kiddush kiddush!

[shmuliebz]

hey marty can you tell me the name the little store and where it is

[bay1]

My vote goes to Shatzer which I have used for many years. the Matzah has always been consistantly crispy & great tasting.

However, at least as important as the brand is how close to Pesach your Matzah was baked.

[berel]

I've baked my own Shatzer matzah fresh for years. The Charedim matzah still blow it away

[hanistor]

KRM is out of Charedim matzah!

[MartyB]

I will be going to the holyland (Boro Park/Flatbush) on Friday anyone else besides KRM carry Charedim matzos? I usually go straight to KRM buy my matzos and leave. Considering the parking nightmare in Boro Park/Flatbush going to many stores would be a disaster. I really don't want to circle around 20 minutes to find a parking spot a few blocks away from a store only to find out that the store ran out. I guess I can try calling first.

By the way, if you do plan on coming to Brooklyn to do some shopping check this out to see some of the specials.

http://thevuesonline.com/special_more...

[MartyB]

What I find interesting is that whenever the topic of thin shmura matzos gets brought up the ONLY one that you hear about is Charedim. They appear to be in class by itself. Any other matzo topic, like best machine matzo will elicit responses like Yehuda, Manachewitz, Streits etc but in the shmura matzo world Charedim stands alone.

Maybe a separate thread on best *tasting* shmura matzo will bring in some other names however what would be instructive would be replies from people who have tried Charedim and still choose another brand based on taste rather than things like - I baked them myself or the more obvious one "it was cheaper" or I couldn't find Charedim in my store.

[queenscook]

I have found Shatzer matzohs to be quite thin as well, and very easy to eat, even in the amounts we eat at the seder.

[MartyB]

I will buy a pound if I find it. Like I said before, for some reason I can't find Charedim in the 5 towns and would love to have options after all, how hard is it to make thin matos. Then again, I guess I can understand that by making it thin you have to include more matzos per pound and will invariably have more breakage.

[chicago maven]

I've never tried the Charedim brand but it must be good since that is the favorite here. I've used Shatzer for many years and i have always been very happy with it.

[SoCal Mother]

FYI Any shmura matzah will taste better if you crisp it up for a few minutes in the oven. Unfortunately most of us have no room in the oven for matzah during the seder. I would leave 3 on the table and put the rest of the box in the oven if I had room.

[Cook81]

I especially like their whole wheat matzah.

[MartyB]

Charedim - hands down the thinnest and best! If I can't find it here in the 5 towns then I will do what I did last year and shlep to Boro Park and brave the parking nightmare to buy it. If I am paying hundreds of dollars I might as well get the best.

I went to my brother for the last days last year. He bought "Tzilema Pupa"(sp) everyone was fighting to get some of the Charedim matzo that I brought for myself.

[chazzer]

Charedim is the best I have had, can not get here in the Jewish boonies, only shmurah available is the Chabad

[MartyB]

At least the kids will be able to play frizzbies with them. Very durable matzos - well built!

[berel]

this was discussed to death last year/ I've tried almost very brand of hand shmurah, the Charedim brand is the thinnest and best tasting