Sending Passover Kisses
Image by Amazon
If you are counting the days to Passover, perhaps you have also started hunting for nostalgia-laced Barton’s Almond Kisses. You may look forward to chewing them slowly to squeeze out the sugary, chocolate nuttiness. Save the iconic tin to store your leftover macaroons and matzo brickle. Think back, if you are of a certain age, to your visits to local Barton’s stores to select your favorite bon bon amidst the mid-century décor.
Founded by Stephen Klein, the start-up immigrant Barton’s company also concocted matzo balls from chocolate covered coconut or marzipan. The Orthodox-observant Klein educated his interfaith chocoholic public by inserting Jewish games and Jewish holiday stories into all of the chocolate boxes. The company paid for educational Jewish content advertising in The New York Times. The factory closed for Jewish holidays. Even its seasonal Santa Clauses and Easter eggs were kosher.
When confusion arose about whether cocoa beans for making the chocolate were legumes (kitniyot) and therefore forbidden for Passover consumption, Barton’s created a Haggadah for Passover. Barton’s Haggadah encouraged people to make positive connections of chocolate with Passover, since cocoa beans are seeds and may be eaten during the festival. Another Haggadah distributed by a food company, the Maxwell House Haggadah, sought to convince Jews that drinking coffee during Pesach was permitted, since coffee comes from berries.
Image by Amazon
The Klein family sold this charitable, start-up company in 1978. The Barton’s Company may not be the same, but you can count on the Almond Kisses.
Where to find them:
- Economy Candy, New York City
- Amazon
Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz lectures about chocolate and Jews around the world. Her book, On the Chocolate Trail: A Delicious Adventure Connecting Jews, Religions, History, Travel, Rituals and Recipes to the Magic of Cacao (Jewish Lights) is in its third printing. The book is used in adult study, classroom settings, book clubs and chocolate tastings. Prinz blogs at The Huffington Post, The Jewish Journal, On the Chocolate Trail, and elsewhere.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
