Fresh-Picked Field Trip: Free Passover Food Tasting at Whole Foods

This week, Whole Foods* had a FREE! tasting of Passover foods.  Since the tasting doesn’t appear to be scheduled to repeat again before Passover, this report is less about an event to attend and more to give you the scoop on what I picked up at the tasting, in case you’re planning a Passover Seder yourself. To be honest, this report is pretty much mainly for my friend Sarah, who couldn’t make it and puts on a big Seder every year, but hey, maybe some of you could use the info too.

The tasting was put on in conjunction with Jewish Family Service and Jconnect Seattle.  Jewish Family Service "is a 117-year-old non-profit organization providing professional social services of the highest caliber for those with needs throughout our local community." Jconnect Seattle is a "program run by Hillel at the University of Washington…designed to serve the needs of post-college Jewish young adults in their twenties and early thirties in Seattle."

Outside the tasting, I met Josh from Jconnect, and he told me about some of the cooking classes his organization offers to its members and their friends. One especially cool-sounding one coming up on the 25th is Passover Cooking Around the World, which will feature holiday recipes that incorporate flavors from Brazil, Thailand, Spain and Morocco. The class is priced very reasonably at just $20. Josh noted that they generally try to keep the cooking class prices low, which is great. If you are interested in the organization and their classes, check out their site for more information. (Here is a round-up with this and other Passover-related holiday cooking classes.)

At the tasting, I sampled the gefilte fish that Whole Foods has on offer. I’ve never had it before, and always had this idea that it, like pickled herring or other traditional preserved fish dishes, would have a super-powerful flavor. I was, okay I’ll admit it, a little apprehensive. But I found it to be mild, like a firmly packed tuna with just a hint of some kind of extra flavor action going on that I can’t quite place. I have no idea if this particular brand is representative of a true gefilte fish experience, but I’m giving it a thumbs-up.

It was especially thumbs-uppy when paired with the kosher “Lou’s Famous Organic Horseradish” they had on offer. It’s a new one that Whole Foods is selling, and I have to say it is an impressive horseradish, a two-word combo it never seemed like I or anyone else would ever have an occasion to write.

As Patricia of Cook Local remarked when I brought it to their house that evening, “delicious” isn’t a word you think of when you think of horseradish. It’s often more of a physical sensation than a flavor. We tasted it against some standard horseradish, and it seems like this particular brand is a little more vinegary, making it a smidge less punch-you-in-your-sinuses and a bit more complex/flavorful. It wasn’t too too pricey, either, $3.99 for 8 ounces. (By the way, I was at their house to try a beet recipe she’d made as an experiment to see if I, a lifelong beet-despiser, could be converted and by golly I kinda was. Check out this post for the recipe.)  

Whole Foods also had samples of brisket and matzoh ball soup that I didn’t try so no scoop on those. I did try the charoset and several desserts like coconut macaroons, a flourless lemon tart-like thing and some of that chocolate-toffee covered matzoh.  All of it seemed solidly tasty, especially the chocolate matzoh. All of it is available to be purchased prepared. If you are planning a Seder but are not sure you’ll have time to cook everything, you might want to check them out to pick up a few prepared items.

There was also a wine tasting, with the $1 cost being donated to the Whole Planet Foundation. The three wines were from the Israel-based winery Golan Heights Winery. I am about as much of a wine expert as I am a Passover foods expert, so I will just say that I especially liked the lightly sparkling Moscato, even though I’m not generally a sweet wine-liker. I forgot to check the prices there, but it looks like it’s generally between $12-15. 

So that’s the report, folks.  I hope you have a wonderful Passover filled with friends, family and tasty food!  Again, check out the post with other related events for more tastings and events.

*Just a note on this post. Generally, I try to focus this site on locally-based businesses. As I’ve said before, most big businesses have marketing departments, PR folks and ad budgets, and so they don’t really need my help publicizing them. I’d rather spend that website real estate on helping promote some small biz that doesn’t have a PR person or much of an ad budget.

But that said, sometimes a larger business will offer something that I think is pretty useful to the average home food and cooking enthusiast.  In those cases, I don’t mind posting those events or resources, because I still feel like I’m Helping the Little Guy somewhere, with the Little Guy being the enthusiast instead of the business. 

This might not be a distinction that matters to anyone but me, but as the site grows, I just want to be sure I both a) keep focused on what I think is important and b) am transparent with you all about my decision-making process. Most of this is all just my gut reaction to things, but I figure as long as I am honest about my gut reactions, you will at least feel comfortable that I’ve been and will continue to be open with you about what shows up on this site.