Better-for-You Matzoh

To celebrate Passover, I’m making Marcy Goldman’s Whole-Grain Matzoh Recipe, which I found via Food & Wine. I love that the recipe features spelt, oat and whole wheat flours. You may have noticed that I often recommend using spelt flour in place of all-purpose flour—that’s because unlike other grains, even conventionally grown spelt is not commonly sprayed with pesticides or other synthetic chemicals. (As an added bonus, those with wheat allergies often tolerate immune-strengthening spelt.) Goldman’s recipe does also call for a cup of all-purpose flour, which I’d recommend replacing with—you guessed it!—additional spelt flour.

If making matzoh from scratch is a bit too ambitious for you this year, I’ve also rounded up the healthiest brands of matzoh available from websites and grocery stores around the country.

Look for these brands, or better yet, ask around in your local Hasidic community for the best tasting, organic whole grain shmura matzohs (for an explanation of shmura matzoh, and a guide to where to find them in New York City, check out this article from the City Cook website).

And don’t forget your gluten-free friends and family members!  Lakewood makes  gluten-free matzoh, available for purchase online and in stores nationwide.

Healthiest Matzoh Brands:

• Lakewood Organic Spelt Matzoh (online bakery with products available in retail stores around the country)
• Matzah Online’s Organic Spelt Shmura Matzah (online bakery in Brooklyn, NY)
• Haddar Organic Spelt Matzoh (Amazon.com)
• Aviv Organic Whole Wheat Matzo (Wholefoods.com)
• Streit’s Spelt Matzo (Amazon.com)
• Manischewitz Spelt Matzo  (Amazon.com)

What’s your favorite way to enjoy matzoh? Plain? With a little butter or jam? Matzoh brei? Let me know!

Main image courtesy of Flickr user awallin. Image of spelt flour courtesy of Flickr users George Wesley and Bonita Dannells.