Green Your Passover – Not Just the Karpas are Green at this Seder!

Some days it seems as hard as parting the Red Sea. Many times I feel like I’ve been wandering in the desert for 40 years. We could all use a Moses type leader to make it through, or Miriam to lead us to the next well.

Well, Greenopolis is here to help. The last half of our name may be Greek, but the front half is definitely Jewish, like our old mascot Liv Greene. They shortened it from Greenberg, Greenwald or Greenfeld at Ellis Island. We know that Passover is the time to get the family together and celebrate freedom. Why not free yourself from the Pharaoh of old habits and green your Seder? Here’s some tips and links we’ve adapted from Green Options Wiki:

Here’s 8 simple changes you can make to get out of Egypt and into the Green Promised Land:

Matzo and Wine

1. Organic matzo is a must, local made if you can find it.

2. The wine should be Kosher, of course, but look for an organic, and If you are on the West Coast- try for California wines, east coast, get French or Israeli. It’s more energy efficient to ship from Europe to NYC than to truck from California, and vice versa.
 

Seder Plate and Meal

3. Of course the Seder plate should feature local organic horseradish, parsley, homemade charoset, and a free-range local egg. Ours come from the Diemand Farm, a mile from our house.

4. Wherever you can, weave local. organic foods into your Seder meal, like local free range chicken, greens from a local farmer’s market or CSA. Try making your own matzo balls and gefilte fish with local organic ingredients.

5. I’ve never eaten of anything but good china plates and cups at Passover, but if you can’t or don’t want to do dishes- use compostable dinnerware.
 

Why is This Night Different From All Other Nights?

6. You can invite your guests to carpool, walk or bike to Seder, even sleep over!

7. Beeswax or soy candles will last longer and cleaner burn cleaner than paraffin ones.

8. Wear thrift shop or eco-friendly and organic clothing for your Passover.

The Matzo

Matzah, matzoh, matza, matzo, matsah, or matze, who’s spelling?! Here’s some links to organic spelt and organic whole-wheat matzo.

• Handmade Shmurah Matzah made with 100% certified organic spelt from Matzahonline.com

• Haddar 18-Minute Organic Spelt Matzah and Matzah Meal from KCKosherCoop.com

• Chicago's Original Organic Matzah: If you're in Chicago (or lucky enough to find this matzo in your local store), grab it. It's made in the U.S. and it's certified organic and free of any GMOs.

• Organic Spelt Matzah from Chabad of greater Dayton: If you're in Dayton, Ohio (or near there), you can pick up packs of organic spelt matzo here.

• While you are at it, wrap the afikomen in an organic cotton napkin when you hide it.

The Wine

Ok, you grew up with it, but there are options beyond Manischewitz. You can find organic Kosher wines if you look around.

Yarden Chardonnay Odem Organic is available at Kosherwine.com. Four Gates Winery in Santa Cruz, CA produces organic and Kosher chardonnay, merlot, pinot noir, and cabernet franc.  Herzog Wine Cellars produces Kosher and Mevushal wines ranging from cabernet sauvignon to brut champagne.

The Seder Plate

What goes on the plate symbolizes both the Passover themes of renewal, freedom and redemption, but also symbolize the regenerativity of the earth. Try to align your choices with that theme as well.

Horseradish for Maror

I grew up with Silver Spring Horseradish. They make an organic product and it’s kosher. you can also make your own from local organic root.

Parsley for Karpas

Your local grocery ought to have organic parsley. If not, grow your own -or get a different grocer.

Charoset

Make your favorite charoset recipe, with organic ingredients!  Think organic walnuts, organic apples, organic wine, and organic spices.  What could be better?

Eggs for Baytzah

Ideally, your hard-boiled egg would be both organic, free range and local. Check your local coop, farmer’s market or grocery. Two brands of organic, free-range eggs are Organic Valley eggs and Sparboe Farms eggs.

The Best part- the Meal

When Moses and the Israelites left Egypt, you can bet they took local organic food with them for that first Passover meal. You do the same. From the matzo ball soup to gefilte fish to the roast chicken or Tofurkey, you can go beyond Kosher to eco-Kosher by greening your Passover menu.  I have two words for you: Local and organic.

Green Options Wiki also suggest going veggie for your Seder- (remember the poor cattle who died in the plagues)- vegetarian matzo ball soup, sweet potato kugel, rice pilaf, stuffed zucchini/ eggplant, fruit compote for dessert. Lower carbon footprint too. There are vegetarian recipes for Passover at VegSource, VegCooking, VegParadise, The Vegetarian Resource Group, and Recipe Zaar.

The Seder

Best to use the good china — reusable cups, wine glasses, plates, and silverware. Helps with zero waste and if you wash in the dish washer you’ll save energy, soap and water. You can get eco-friendly tableware like glassware made from recycled glass or plates made from bamboo.

But, if you cringe at the thought of dishes, use biodegradable and compostable plates, cups, and utensils. There are products from WorldCentric or compostable cups from Greenware. For the very eco-hip, VerTerra's plates, bowls, and platters are made from nothing but fallen leaves and water.

So there you have it! May you celebrate freedom in every area of your life, and welcome the renewal of earth and spirit by greening your Passover Seder.  Save some wine for Elijah, and Next Year in Jerusalem!

The source materials for this post were originally published at http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/having-an-eco-friendly-and-organic-passover.

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