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It can be a big step when you make plans to set up a kosher kitchen for the first time, but in a short space of time, you will more than likely find that the kosher way becomes second nature to you and a fundamental part of your role as home-maker and following the Jewish faith.
Any kitchen can be made kosher so it really doesn’t matter whether you have the latest hi-tech gadgets to rely on or your kitchen is a lot more basic. Whatever facilities you have to work with, you will soon be able to make the adjustments needed to adopt kosher practices.
Getting started
Getting helpful advice from someone in the Jewish community such as the Rabbi’s wife will often prove invaluable and you can also find guidance from the kosher certification agency.
Your primary objective when starting to set up your kosher kitchen is to start buying only foods that are certified kosher and being the process of keeping your meat and dairy separate. You should also take a good look around your kitchen and try to remove all questionable foods that may not be compliant.
Before you can begin to make the kitchen kosher, you have to ensure that any foods that were prepared prior to the new kosher regime are discarded. A good tip would be to consider using disposable utensils in the final period leading up to the moment when your kitchen becomes kosher.
Prepare an inventory
Having carried out the basic preparatory work you need to perform another essential task, which is to divide the kitchen into two distinct categories.
These means discarding the items that are not able to be koshered and are therefore no longer suitable for use in your kosher kitchen. You also need to identify the various items that you will be able to use once they have undergone the koshering procedure.
You should consider it inevitable that some new purchase will be required in order to achieve compliance with the strict rules and in addition to koshering, many of your new dishes and utensils will require immersion in a Mikvah before they are able to be used.
Koshering your utensils
The majority of your utensils that are already in your kitchen will be ready for use again in your new kosher kitchen once that have undergone the koshering process.
You and your rabbi will normally go through the utensils together, so make an appointment for him to come and kasher your kitchen. This will probably involve immersing each utensil in boiling water or maybe heating it with a blowtorch.
In preparation for this important procedure, you should thoroughly clean all parts of the kitchen, making sure you scrub the work surfaces, tables, ovens and stoves and also your refrigerator. You should ideally avoid using these items for a 24-hour period just before the rabbi is due to visit.
Designing your kitchen layout
The perfect kosher kitchen layout would involve having designated individual work areas for milk and meat.
A kitchen that is being designed for kashrut observance would normally have two sinks and two stoves but although this would undoubtedly been more convenient it should not be considered a necessity.
A typical modern Jewish kitchen will often use a colour scheme to aid separation. You will commonly find that red is used for meat (fleishig) and blue for dairy (milchig), with white or yellow for Pareve.
You can choose your own colour scheme depending on your own personal preferences and also ensure that you are able to easily identify any sponges and dishcloths, which is definitely an important consideration.
Other considerations
There are always going to be a number of extra questions that you will want answering when you are setting up your kosher kitchen.
Sometimes people are unsure what is acceptable when it comes to using small appliances such as a mixer or a blender, where the opportunity for cross-contamination exists. Your mixer or blender should have separate attachments but they are allowed to share a single motor. Just make sure that you clean the machine really well after each use.
Dishwashers are another modern dilemma. There are many factors to consider when considering the use of a suitably compliant kosher dishwasher.
Best advice when dealing with questions like this and any other similar issues or questions, is to ask your rabbi and search out some advice online as well. Tod Gilmore and his wife Jill have run a kosher household for over 3 years. They enjoy sharing their experiences and insights through blogging.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Any kitchen can be made kosher so it really doesn’t matter whether you have the latest hi-tech gadgets to rely on or your kitchen is a lot more basic. Whatever facilities you have to work with, you will soon be able to make the adjustments needed to adopt kosher practices.
Getting started
Getting helpful advice from someone in the Jewish community such as the Rabbi’s wife will often prove invaluable and you can also find guidance from the kosher certification agency.
Your primary objective when starting to set up your kosher kitchen is to start buying only foods that are certified kosher and being the process of keeping your meat and dairy separate. You should also take a good look around your kitchen and try to remove all questionable foods that may not be compliant.
Before you can begin to make the kitchen kosher, you have to ensure that any foods that were prepared prior to the new kosher regime are discarded. A good tip would be to consider using disposable utensils in the final period leading up to the moment when your kitchen becomes kosher.
Prepare an inventory
Having carried out the basic preparatory work you need to perform another essential task, which is to divide the kitchen into two distinct categories.
These means discarding the items that are not able to be koshered and are therefore no longer suitable for use in your kosher kitchen. You also need to identify the various items that you will be able to use once they have undergone the koshering procedure.
You should consider it inevitable that some new purchase will be required in order to achieve compliance with the strict rules and in addition to koshering, many of your new dishes and utensils will require immersion in a Mikvah before they are able to be used.
Koshering your utensils
The majority of your utensils that are already in your kitchen will be ready for use again in your new kosher kitchen once that have undergone the koshering process.
You and your rabbi will normally go through the utensils together, so make an appointment for him to come and kasher your kitchen. This will probably involve immersing each utensil in boiling water or maybe heating it with a blowtorch.
In preparation for this important procedure, you should thoroughly clean all parts of the kitchen, making sure you scrub the work surfaces, tables, ovens and stoves and also your refrigerator. You should ideally avoid using these items for a 24-hour period just before the rabbi is due to visit.
Designing your kitchen layout
The perfect kosher kitchen layout would involve having designated individual work areas for milk and meat.
A kitchen that is being designed for kashrut observance would normally have two sinks and two stoves but although this would undoubtedly been more convenient it should not be considered a necessity.
A typical modern Jewish kitchen will often use a colour scheme to aid separation. You will commonly find that red is used for meat (fleishig) and blue for dairy (milchig), with white or yellow for Pareve.
You can choose your own colour scheme depending on your own personal preferences and also ensure that you are able to easily identify any sponges and dishcloths, which is definitely an important consideration.
Other considerations
There are always going to be a number of extra questions that you will want answering when you are setting up your kosher kitchen.
Sometimes people are unsure what is acceptable when it comes to using small appliances such as a mixer or a blender, where the opportunity for cross-contamination exists. Your mixer or blender should have separate attachments but they are allowed to share a single motor. Just make sure that you clean the machine really well after each use.
Dishwashers are another modern dilemma. There are many factors to consider when considering the use of a suitably compliant kosher dishwasher.
Best advice when dealing with questions like this and any other similar issues or questions, is to ask your rabbi and search out some advice online as well. Tod Gilmore and his wife Jill have run a kosher household for over 3 years. They enjoy sharing their experiences and insights through blogging.
Follow Women24 on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
