Find Clean Food Tips and Tricks (focus on Marshmallows)

Hello, everyone!

Today's post is going to be short and simple. If, like me, you live in a less-than-urban center, you might have some problems trying to find clean versions of foods you used to enjoy. Foods like skittles and poptarts have stopped using pork-derived gelatin, but it can still be hard to find clean versions of things like....marshmallows!

"Remember us?" (source)

After I became an Israelite, I lived a few sad, solitary, marshmallow-less years. There were some lovely folks in our congregation who found some kosher marshmallows for sale at this grocery story or another, but I was never able to track any down for myself. 

About a year ago (just in time for Sukkot!) I started hankering for marshmallows, badly. (I promise we'll get to the "where do you find them?" question, but first, suspense-building!). Knowing that the original marshmallows had been made out of a plant, Marsh Mallow, I started searching the web to see if there was any way to order some, and if so, how to turn it into the sweet and spongy delicacy we all know and love. 

Unfortunately, I didn't find any great sources for Marsh Mallow, and the recipes were all rather complex, time-consuming, and requiring gelatin (of course!). Now, this should not deter the most devoted of chefs, but as pork gelatin (or a mix of beef and pork) is the most common type, it's difficult to find kosher gelatin, and, from the sources I searched, it's either very expensive and in a tiny shaker, or relatively cheap but in a huge bag. I'm not a baker or a confectioner, so I don't need a 1lb or 2lb or 15lb of gelatin taking up space in my house (but if you are--get on that!). Obviously, there had to be another way.

My next search was for kosher marshmallows themselves. Unfortunately, I hit a wall here, as well. There just aren't that many sources for kosher marshmallows, and, if there are, they don't have a large online presence. The marshmallows I found were expensive, sold in bulk, or some weird-flavored type (strawberry-mini-kosher-marshmallows!). I didn't want to compromise. I wanted to make s'mores. 

Then, I remembered something a wise friend had shared with me back in the day when I was first lamenting the uncleanness of skittles. When life hands you $50+ kosher marshmallows, you hand them back because that's ridiculous and buy $6 halal marshmallows instead.

(source)

But! Before this starts a stampede (A) To my inbox to lecture me (B) to the store to stock up on clean-food goodness, KOSHER AND HALAL FOODS ARE NOT THE SAME (and, if you are an Israelite, neither is 100% in fitting with our own rules). However:

(source)

In this case of marshmallows at least, halal marshmallows are made with the same sort of gelatin kosher marshmallows are--beef or fish, and are therefore just fine and dandy to eat. (Not to mention tasty).
Of religious concern is one of the special acts that makes halal meat halal--in addition to the specific slaughtering technique, there is an additional requirement; a blessing said over the animal. So, the question becomes, does this Muslim blessing make the food inedible to non-Muslim religious people? Let's look at 1 Corinthians 8. The whole chapter tackles this question. In the end, the answer reached is this, 'food offered to idols is no different from other food, so it doesn't matter. However, if eating this food would cause others to stumble in their religious walk, hold off.'
So there you have it! As long as your household understands the concept, eating clean halal food is fine.
Conclusion
If you're having trouble finding the clean version of a food you'd like to eat, there are a few methods you can try:

• Check on the internet for a kosher option
• You can check general sites like amazon, or more specific individual grocery store sites
• If you can't find the food item itself but you're adventurous, look for the ingredients!
• Health food companies will normally carry any food item you might want
• Pinterest and similar sites contain a wealth of diy recipes for pretty much every food you could ever want to make, even homemade rose-flavored marshmallows.
• If the first two options fail, look outside the box
• When using another religion's version of "clean" food, always double-check ingredients! For example, Israelites do not eat shellfish, but Muslims do, so a food could still be halal while containing unclean ingredients; you are responsible for your own food intake, so be diligent!

Happy s'moring! (source)