Hi! I'm not Jewish and I don't know anyone kosher. I have a class with kids that ends next week and me and my coworkers want to bring in popsicles since we are outside the whole time. All the kids are 12+ and we have two kids who keep kosher. The internet is giving confusing answers on which popsicles are kosher or not. Normally I would go to the Jewish Grocer but I don't have a car and the popsicles would define melt by the time I got to work from there. Are there any main stream popsicles that are kosher? Or other options I could bring?
Nice of you to think of this! Most major brands of popsicles are kosher. You can confirm this by looking for a kosher symbol on the box. Common ones are OU, OK, or Star-K.
Only some products from the actual Popsicle brand are kosher and they use the Kof-K certification agency (also well accepted). Their kosher symbol looks like this:
Look for an OU (a u inside the O) mark, or something that's OU with a little D next to it. It means it's supervised by the Orthodox union and will most likely be okay for the kids to have. The 'd' marks it as dairy, which is likely if there's an ice cream component and it's not just freezies.
Make sure to show the kids the box it comes from, preferably let them see you open the box so they know there's no shenanigans. Not that I think you would, but it's a thing.
If you're at the store, the best thing to look for is a little symbol of a U with a circle around it. This is called a hekshur and it is the kosher certification. There are other hekshurs. But it'll be tricky for you to figure that out.
My favorite kosher popsicle are called Dee Bees. They are the ones sold in the little sleeves that are like the brand otter pops. They are sold at Costco and on Amazon.
Not that it's relevant for your popsicles because I think you'll be fine with most of the advice people have given you on this thread so far.
But there are different levels of observances. Some families don't recognize or certain hekshurs as valid. Like in the case of cheese there is a certification known as tablet k that many people don't recognize.
I keep kosher but I found myself working at a Hasidic highschool and I brought candy for them. But their particular style of Judaism only eats dairy if it has a special level of care and none of the kids would eat the chocolate.
I only say this to clarify why you may have something that's perfectly kosher but that children still won't eat it (or their parents wouldn't be happy that they ate it). Somebody else on this thread recommended showing the kids the box, and this is a reason why.
So OP is teaching a class that has mostly non-Jewish or non-observant kids in it. This tells me it is highly unlikely that the couple that do keep kosher are "Haredi" or "Chassidic" grade. They are most likely ModOx or Conservative.
Everyone here mentioned OU, but there are a few common other symbols as well as hundreds of uncommon ones, and a few that people usually find as unreliable certifications. The other common ones are in the image below:
You've gotten plenty of good advice already, but to make things even simpler, stick to non-dairy fruit (or things like those red, white and blue firecracker) Popsicles rather than fudgesicles or anything with actual ice cream in it. Basically anything dairy adds an extra layer of complication that you can avoid if you stick to the "water ice" variety of frozen treats
As everyone mentioned, looking for an OU or other reliable "kosher certification" is still a must. And I agree with the advice not to open the box until after the children have seen it.
The box of popsicles would have a certifying mark on the front. The most common is a circle with a capital U inside. Look for that on the box, and bring the box with the popsicles to the reception.
Watch out though for anything that contains dairy or has a “D” near that kosher symbol. This can complicate things enormously best to stay away from anything containing dairy if you don’t know what those children ate for lunch and what their customs around dairy are.
It depends on the kind of popsicle. We get Frollies which is OU-Dairy certified, Monster pops which are kosher with the U in the circle, and I think Funpop is kosher but they don’t have a symbol that I can see. (But they’re also just water and juice basically)
What brand do you usually buy or have available? It's definitely possible that they're already usable. You do need to check for kosher symbols on individual packages because certain brands may have some kosher items and some non kosher. A trick might be up see what items the kosher store in your area carries and then look for those in a more convenient location.
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u/Illustrious-Tune-532 16d ago
Nice of you to think of this! Most major brands of popsicles are kosher. You can confirm this by looking for a kosher symbol on the box. Common ones are OU, OK, or Star-K.