Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--An Israeli Pseudo Matzo

      A while ago I had a bit of a brush from the past.  As a child, my family and I would occasionally eat matzah.  I liked it, but didn't love it, as I recall.  So I kind of forgot about it, mostly.  It is sometimes part of gefilte fish (see my post on April 6, 2013), which I've enjoyed frequently as an adult.  But I haven't had it separate from the ground up gefilte fish in decades.  Anyway, I saw some on the shelf, and decided to revisit it.  The fact that it was made in Israel sealed the deal.  However, there is a big caveat.  What I tried here was not technically matzah--it was a gluten-free approximation of it.  Or, as the box put it, "Matz-style squares."  From the Yehuda Matzos company, out of Jerusalem.

     The reason the company was so adamant about calling their product "matzo-style" instead of "matzo" is because the food is very strictly defined.  Most notably, almost all Jewish groups agree that matzah must be made using one of five accepted grains--wheat, spelt, barley, rye, or oats.  Along with water that's usually it, for the ingredients.  Some sects allow the addition of egg, and/or fruit juices, but that's about it as far as variants go.  Also, if you're confused about the spellings I've used so far, accepted renderings for this food are "matzah," "matzo," and "mazzah."  Looking at the allowable grain bases used for matzah, you might have noticed a huge problem for those with celiac disease or gluten allergies.  Wheat, spelt, rye, and barley all contain gluten.  Oats do not, but there's still potential snags.  Some Jewish groups don't think that oats are permissible as a grain base for matzah, and claim that their inclusion is based on a mistranslation of holy texts.  And, even if oats are allowed, they're often made into matzah in facilities that also process gluten-containing grains, so there's a strong potential of contamination.  And since even miniscule amounts of gluten can cause misery for celiac and gluten-allergy sufferers, they're in quite a dilemma.  So, gluten-free versions like the Yehuda Matzos type I tried seek to solve this problem.  (Although some rabbis don't accept them.  So depending on how strict you are, this product might not qualify as being acceptable.)  It's complicated, as you can see.  For the record, the matzo I ate for this post was made from tapioca starch, water, potato starch, potato flakes, palm oil, honey, egg yolks, natural vinegar, and salt.  And the box notes that it's "not a replacement for matzo at the Seder."  As for the information about the manufacturer's origins, there's not much.  Yehuda Matzos dates back to 1921, when the Ludmir family started making it in the Israeli town of Safed.  In 1949 the business moved its headquarters to Jerusalem.  Aside from the gluten-free matzo-style squares, the company also makes real matzo, matzo flour, cookies, biscuits, and coated biscuits (coated in chocolate).  And the importing company was the Kenover Marketing Group, out of New Jersey.

Yehuda Matzos original gluten-free matzo-style squares:  These pieces measured about 6 inches by 5.5 inches, or about 15.5 cm. by 14 cm.  (So they weren't technically squares, but they were close, to be nitpicky.)  They looked like the typical matzah I recall, like a whitish cracker with many small holes in it and rib like ridges, with brownish marks near the edges from the cooking.  The texture was dry and crunchy.  Again, it was quite some time ago, but these tasted pretty much like I remember the official matzah tasting--a bit bland plain, with some saltiness.  Kind of similar to a saltine cracker.  Some ketchup on it improved the taste, and with cheese on it the matzah was a proper canape, and very good.  It was a little more crumbly than most canape bases, but still effective.  So, to my mind this is a very credible and nice substitute for those folks who can't have gluten but want to eat matzah, or something very similar to it, to be technical.  I would definitely recommend it, and I'll try to sample this company's "real" matzah and cookies/biscuits if/when I encounter them.

     A few days ago I recorded a Zoom video interview with Rod Gilley, who is the owner and publisher of RDG Books and served as the host.  As regular readers hopefully recall, RDG put out "It's Dark in Their Minds Vol. II" back in October of 2025, and this horror anthology contains one of my stories, "Wet Nightmare."  As soon as this segment is edited and available for viewing I'll post the link here.  I'm hoping this will be soon, perhaps by next Saturday, or even before.  Stay tuned!

 

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A French Cookie

      Today we'll be discussing a cookie, or to some, a biscuit, from a French company.  Specifically a raspberry tartlet from the Bonne Maman brand, which in turn was manufactured by the St Michel company.

     Normally I strive not to repeat myself, when it comes to brands and companies.  As in, once I cover one brand and/or company, I won't do another post about it.  Instead, if I have another product from this original company, I'll go back to the original post and add to it. This post in an exception.  Way back on May 22nd, 2015 I reviewed a fruit preserve made by Bonne Maman.  However, back in those days, over a decade ago, I didn't usually mention much detail about the manufacturing company.  As such, in the 2015 post, I didn't go into detail about the company at all.  So, this will be new information when I do so now.  Plus, technically the preserves of the 2015 post were made by Bonne Maman, while the tartlets today were made by another company, St Michel, in a partnership with Bonne Maman.  So I think it's different enough, and appropriate for my purposes.

     As it turns out, there is very little detail about the history of the Bonne Maman brand and company.  Fortunately, there is some about St Michel.  (In case you're wondering, I'm not misspelling this--St Michel does not include a period after the "St", for reasons not commented upon,)  Back in 1905 a pastry chef named Joseph Grellier created a new kind of pastry, the galette.  Reportedly the people of the village where Josepf made them, Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef, really enjoyed them.  In 1908 Joseph's wife Constance had the idea of selling these galettes on the nearby beach, to visiting women.  This was a huge boon to their popularity.  In 1919 a biscuit factory was started, and production amped up.  In addition to cookies St Michel also makes other kinds of cakes, pastries, and appetizers.  In 1994 the company was sold to the German company Bahlsen.  Then in 2006 Bahlsen sold St Michel to Monna Baie Biscuits, who then promptly changed their company name to St Michel Biscuits.  But for now let's review the actual cookie itself.  A section about an ugly controversy concerning this company will follow.

Bonne Maman raspberry tartlets:  These were oval shaped, about 6 cm. by 5 cm. (about 2.25 inches by 2 inches).  They were also formed like a dish, with an outer rim enclosing an inner "cup."  The outer part was yellowish-brown in color, while the inner part was a red gel.  The outer pastry part was good, a very decent example of the genre.  And the inner raspberry filling part was also tasty, with a nice sweet and tart flavor.  So, unlike a lot of European biscuits I've had, this one was not bland.  It had a full, bold flavor.  I really like these, and would heartily recommend them.

     I'll preface this next account by stating I got this information from online sources, including Wikipedia, so for legal reasons I'll say all of this is "alleged."  But, that said, back in the 1990's, St Michel did a curious, and to many (hopefully most) people an offensive thing.  They partnered up with a zoo, which was then called Safari Africain, to recreate an Ivory Coast (an African country) village, which they named Bamboula's Village.  To accomplish this, they hired a couple of dozen Ivory Coast citizens to serve as actors.  So, essentially a human exhibit in a zoo.  However, "Bamboula" is an old colonial term, which by the late 20th century was considered a racial slur.  But it gets worse.  The Ivory Coast employees were paid less than minimum wage, and were forced to appear bare-chested even in foul and cold weather conditions.  Their children received no schooling or tutoring during this time.  And their passports were confiscated so they couldn't leave the zoo premises, forced to live in tiny hut replicas.  Obviously, for many reasons, various civil rights organizations and labor unions were appalled by this, and look legal action against the zoo.  It was closed after less than a year, in September of 1994, and the zoo/St Michel were fined a token one Franc fine, plus legal expenses.  (Which may have well been expensive, but I didn't see any exact amounts.)  So this was weird promotion, huh?  "Enjoy this racist exhibit, put on by oppressed employees, and then be sure to buy our pastries."  Hopefully whoever decided that this was an acceptable idea was fired long ago.  And to be fair, it was over 30 years ago.  But still, even for the time it was pretty messed up.  Sorry to get all depressing in this blog post about a cookie, but sometimes that's where the complete story takes us.

     

  

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Two Canadian Dried Cranberry Snacks

      I found these randomly in the grocery store a while ago.  When I saw they were cranberry based, I was intrigued, since I like this fruit.  When I discovered that these products were Canadian in origin, that clinched it.  These were the raspberry flavored sour dried cranberries, and the watermelon flavored sour dried cranberries, both from the Patience brand.

     Patience is a brand of the Fruit d'Or company.  This company's roots go back to 2000, when three families, including the Le Moines, started to organically farm cranberries in the Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes area in Quebec, Canada.  Reportedly, they were one of the first organic cranberry farmers at this time.  Later, in 2015, this collective began the Patience brand, which consisted of cranberries, and to a lesser extent blueberries, in quite a few of their forms.  Most are dried, but some are organically grown, while others are traditionally grown, and some have sugar added, while others don't, and others have non-sugar sweeteners added.  Additionally, some are sour versions of these fruits.  For the record, the co-founders name I could locate were Martin Le Moine (who is the current company president) and Sylvain Dufour (who is the current VP of business development).  Aside from the Patience brand, Fruit D'Or also markets other cranberry and blueberry products, such as juice concentrates, and also nutraceuticals, meaning supplements and cosmetic/personal care products, again which are either based on cranberries or blueberries.

Patience sour cranberries, raspberry flavored:  These looked like typical dried cranberries, or tiny, red, wrinkled cranberries.  They had a cranberry-like odor, not shockingly. And a chewy texture.  The taste was very tart, but in a good way.  I could detect the raspberry additives.  Overall I liked these quite a bit.  I enjoy cranberries, and cranberry-flavored products in general, and these dried ones, with a raspberry flavor added, were also tasty.  I would strongly recommend these, unless you really hate cranberries.

Patience sour cranberries, watermelon flavored:  These looked and smelled like the previous kind, and had an identical texture.  The taste was similar as well.  Maybe slightly less tart.  I don't usually like watermelon, or watermelon-flavored products, but this one was still good.  Not as good as the raspberry ones, but still better than average.  I'm guessing the fact that they're sour certainly helped.  I would recommend these, too.

     As so often happens when I sample a new product, I'm amused by the company's obsession with one, or a limited few, food types.  In this case, cranberries and blueberries.  I wonder if the Fruit D'Or company is offended by the scene in "The Departed" when characters make certain sex-based assumptions about those who enjoy cranberry juice.  I'm guessing, probably.

Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--Still Yet Another Spanish Cheese

      Happy new year!  I thought I'd start off 2026 with an example of my favorite food type ever--cheese.  Today's offering is the black garlic infused sheep's milk cheese from the Solera brand.  Which, as the title informs, is based out of Spain.

     I couldn't find an official website for Solera.  However, there was one for its American importer and distributer, Specialties, Inc., out of New Jersey.  Alas, it provided no real information on Solera's origins.  But, after Googling it I was able to learn a bit.  Solera was founded in 1967, by the husband and wife team of Mariano Verdeju Solera, and Generosa Monfort Orti.  And their factory was based in---oops.  That's what the AI explanation was.  However, a little more online checking indicated that this was for another company of the same name.  One which appears to be involved with connectors, mounting, breakers, and other electronic products.  I've heard that AI is often questionable with its accuracy, and this seems to be the case here.  Anyway, I couldn't find out much of anything about the cheese-making Solera company.  So, moving up the chain, the incredibly generically-named Specialties, Inc. company began in 1991, and its focus is on importing and distributing European cheeses and cured meats.  Aside from the Spanish Solera, which includes both cheeses and meats, the brands handled are Bellentani (Italian meats), Hotos (Greek cheese), and two French brands--Ermitage (cheese), and La Bistro (meats).  Other Solera products include Manchego cheese, Iberica cheese, Mahon cheese, and two infused goat cheeses--Winey Goat and Rosey Goat.  Plus more cheese made from three different animals' milk--one infused with chili, one with red berry, and one with truffles.  Also, if you're curious, "solera" is Spanish for "on the ground," but it refers to "a process for aging liquids, by fractional blending," chiefly used with wines, brandies, beers, sherries, and vinegars.  (The "on the ground" part indicates the lowest level of barrels used for the mixing.)  So either this cheese company wanted to associate its cheeses with fine mixed wines and spirits, as some of its cheeses are also mixed and blended, or maybe the founder's name was Solera, just like the other company named Solera.

Solera black garlic infused sheep's milk cheese:  This had a pale yellow color, with streaks and edges of black.  It had a mild cheese odor.  The texture was semisoft.  The flavor was mild, with the garlic taste evident but not overpowering.  I had some of this plain, and some as part of a sandwich.  Overall it wasn't among the best cheeses I've had, but it also wasn't among the worst.  And, as I've stated many, many times, even the "worst" cheeses are still pretty good--none that I've tasted are actually bad.  But this one was a more mild cheese, without a strong, distinctive flavor.

     I should be doing a video interview with the publisher of my last anthology, "It's Dark in Their Minds," soon.  Details forthcoming.