A couple more things...
 

Here are a couple of items that refer to the baking powder/baking soda issue:

http://www.koshercooking.com/resource/kosher.html

http://www.fatfree.com/archive/1997/nov/msg00312.html

And, I looked at a bunch of sources that contained the words sesame seeds and Passover. It seems that all of the sources that mention sesame seeds either say they are kitniot (although I don't know why) or they are listed as ingredients in Sephardic dishes. I called my mom, and she's as surprised as the rest of us were. I think she went off to do a search of her own.

As for finding Halvah that's labeled, it's most likely the same brand as the honey-sesame candies I enjoyed -- Joyva -- which is an Israeli product.

The things you learn every day!

Dina

I called and emailed the Cornell Agriculture Extension Service yesterday. I await a reply on the string bean issue. I will share the information as soon as it comes in! And, what about lima beans? Fava beans? oy, again.

I actually did a search on google.com (string beans legumes) and the references that were agricultural in nature all said that string beans were legumes (EPA classification, Penn State, etc.). One of them also specifically stated lima beans, although I'm curious as to why you would question lima or fava beans as being any different than kidney, black, pinto, etc. beans.

Dina

FYI.. Chestnuts are a fruit like any other nut - they grow on trees.
I'm interested in hearing what everyone else found out about the beans.

String Beans!
 

Fall into the botanical family of FABACEAE or LEGUMINOSAE (the family names are synonyms). Snap beans, synonymous w/ string beans are botanically classified as Phaseolus vulgaris; (genus = Phaseolus; species = vulgaris). They are in the same family (Fabaceae) as butter beans, fava beans, garbanzo (chick) beans; peas, and lima beans; all of which have different genus and species classification, but are indeed, LEGUMES, so I humble myself before you all. Corn is another animal entirely. Not at all a legume. But, let's not go there.

Corn: is considered a grass (NOT A LEGUME) and is classified as Zea mays. (Family - grass, genus and species, zea mays). All of this information comes from the "National Gardening Association Dictionary of Horticulture", Penguin Books, pub;, 1994. Maize (Zea mays) and wild rice (Zizania aquatica) are both members of the Poaceae (the grass family).

Vanilla
 

Wow. I'm impressed by the number of messages here. For some reason I got told when there wre initial updates but not the rest. :-(

On K for Passover, one of the reasons some of us do look explicitly for this labeling is because a lot of items (e.g., Equal) have hidden additives. Sure they could substitute something else or just leave out the additive but the companies making the products often don't.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and suggestions. Everyone who has offered recipes, please post them. Even if I don't use them this year, it would be great to use in future years.

Now for my next question. I need vanilla for one of my recipes. Unfortunately, the vanilla extract for Passover didn't get out here this year (we always have *something* that doesn't make it; hey we got Diet Coke for the first time in *years*). So I need to substitute. I can use vanilla bean but I'm not sure what the equivilants are. Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks.

Alaa-

If it weren't so close to the holiday and I weren't so behind in my preparations (or if one of the things I was behind in involved a trip to the supermarket), I'd offer to send it to you. You may want to post a general question, since some of the people who may know the answer aren't looking at the Passover thread.

Maybe you can try some of the general cooking sites, like Cooking Light or Epicurious?

Dina

Vanilla Substitute
 

I spoke too soon. I did a search, and there was something on Epicurious about it. They suggested cutting up 2 vanilla beans in several pieces and letting them steep in 1/4 cup of Vodka for..... a month, which you obviously don't have.

Sorry.
Dina

Vanilla
 

Thanks for the suggestion. I've posted a general query about the vanilla and a similar problem with wine vinegar.

I seem to remember, in the past, that there was a way to substitute a certain amount of vanilla bean for vanilla and it worked just fine. Hopefully someone else will know. I posted it under this thread because I suspect this is a common problem for Passover.

What about vanilla sugar? I don't know if that made it over to you either.

As a follow up, I made the vanilla sugar. It came out great. Thanks!

As an alternative, my friend (who came the night which did not have the cake with the vanilla sugar in it) decided to use extra orange rind and a little oj instead of the vanilla. This also worked great. So there are some alternatives for next year.

So all of you who have civilized choices for Pesach, care to send a care package next year? I'd happily pay postage.

Thanks again for everyone's help.