Amid Surging Wheat Prices, Matzah Market Settles for Spelt

By Jacob “Matzah Man” Kamaras

Matzah. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

With global wheat prices soaring, a Passover staple that’s already strikingly overpriced in more normal times is suddenly beyond reach for the budgets of Jewish consumers around the world.

The price of matzah, typically anywhere from $20 to $60 for a single pound, has soared to an international average of $100 per pound amid the Ukraine war.

If gas wasn’t causing enough tsuris — particularly for Californians, who are confronting the highest gas prices in the U.S. — the matzah crisis surely adds insult to injury for cash-strapped Jewish community members.

Most leading matzah manufacturers, such as Manischewitz and Streit’s, have pivoted to producing spelt matzah due to the skyrocketing wheat prices. But the change threatens to leave a bad taste in Seder-goers’ mouths.

“Regrettably, alternative grain choices like spelt make matzah taste even more like the bread of affliction,” says renowned Jewish food critic Gavin N. Goldstein.

In response to the crisis, the Orthodox Union has taken the unprecedented step of approving the consumption of “unsupervised” matzah this Passover. The OU is even distributing special “DIY Matzah Kits” at no cost for American Jews, although as of press time, the overwhelming amount of requests for the free kits at the ou.org website has caused the organization’s server to crash.

Meanwhile, a #ShunShmura social media campaign has trended worldwide, urging consumers to reject the most stringently prepared and most expensive form of matzah.

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This article is part of the San Diego Jewish World’s 2022 Purim Spoof section and is not meant to be taken literally.