Manischewitz wine: How sweet it is

Concord Grapes (Public Domain)

Those who enjoy puckering up for a glass of dry white wine might need some "getting used to" when first encountering the sugary taste of Manischewitz.

Comedian Jackie Mason once proclaimed that a "seder without sweet Manischewitz" is akin to such calamities as  "a shul without a complaint" and "a yenta without a big mouth."  Nevertheless, not everyone is as fond of this sweetness as Mason apparently is. Some (smart alecks, no doubt) are even calling it "The 11^th Plague" of Passover.

Others are daring to wonder where this sweeter-than-sweet tradition originated from.  Although some might suspect that Manischewitz grapes first grew in the Garden of Eden, they would

be wrong.  In fact, Manischewitz grapes first grew (and not without a whole lot of human intervention) in Concord, Massachusetts.

Not only does Manischewitz use Concord grapes in their wine, but then goes ahead and also adds either corn syrup or cane syrup to the mix.  Wikipedia explains this tradition in the following way:  "The combination of a limited choice of grape varieties that could grow in the areas where Jews had settled, along with the limited time available to produce the wine and a market dominated by hard cider, yielded a bitter wine that had to be sweetened to make it palatable."

Since the production of kosher foods needs to be closely monitored, Manischewitz also wanted a grape that could be grown nearby (or at least a lot closer to its New Jersey base than California or France).  The Atlantic mentions that "Concord grapes could be harvested, and turned into wine, under local rabbinical supervision."

Resources

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/04/the-11th-plague-why-people-drink-sweet-wine-on-passover/73193/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manischewitz

Copyright March 23, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved