Cottonseed Oil: Just the Thing for Pesach

Long deemed a kosher vegetable oil by the Jewish community, cottonseed oil is the perfect ingredient for Passover.

Cottonseed oil contains no animal byproducts and originates from the cottonseed rather than one of the five grains that are forbidden during Passover, including oats, wheat, barley, rye and spelt. Legumes also are forbidden.

Rabbi Zushe Blech, the author of Kosher Food Production and the administrator of EarthKosher Kosher Certification Services, notes that cottonseed oil offers several direct advantages in the kosher market.

"First, it is a domestic oil, and is not subject to the potential significant kosher issues relating to the shipment of tropical oils that also may transport animal fats," he says. "Second, most opinions approve its use for Passover, a status not enjoyed by soy, corn and canola oils."

Menachem Lubinsky, president of Lubicom Marketing Consulting, and editor-in-chief of KosherToday.com, a trade publication for the kosher-food industry, notes that kosher-certified products are becoming increasingly popular with the mainstream consumer.

"Kosher represents quality and safety," he says. "More than 11 million consumers buy kosher products in the United States, and that number is growing annually by 15 percent."

John Fricke of Planters Cottonseed Mill in Pine Bluff, Ark., which produces 100 million pounds of cottonseed oil each year, says that most oil mills turning out kosher oil do so exclusively.

"Kosher consumers want kosher oil, and nonkosher consumers are reassured with the safety and quality of the oil that is kosher," he said. "It's a win-win."

To earn official kosher certification, explains Scott Middleton of Delta Oil Mill in Jonestown, Miss., many cottonseed oil mills are supervised by rabbis affiliated with a certification organization like the Orthodox Union, the largest and most well-known of the nearly 900 agencies and individuals certifying kosher products.

"A rabbi tours our facility and carefully checks the storage tanks to be sure no outside materials have come in contact with the oil-manufacturing process," he says.

According to Ben Morgan, executive director of the National Cottonseed Products Association, Cordova, Tenn.: "We're seeing an increased interest in cottonseed oil not only as a kosher food, but as a healthy, trans-fat-free ingredient for food manufacturing and the food-service industry. Because of its natural stability, cotton seed oil does not require hydrogenation -- the process that produces artificial trans fats."

Cottonseed oil is generally consumed in commercial quantities by food processors and food-service operators. The oil is also available in consumer- friendly sizes that typically can be purchased at sporting-goods or kitchen-supply stores.

The National Cottonseed Products Association is the national trade association for the cottonseed-processing industry.