{"id":566627,"date":"2026-03-26T23:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566627\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T23:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:50:09","slug":"reeses-pieces-are-now-kosher-pareve-carnivores-rejoice-the-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566627\/","title":{"rendered":"Reese\u2019s Pieces are now kosher pareve. Carnivores rejoice. \u2013 The Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"It's<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gonna be weird having these after a burger. Photo by Louis Keene<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Louis<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Louis Keene<\/a><\/p>\n

March 26, 2026<\/p>\n

Antisemitism is on the rise. There\u2019s a war raging in the Middle East. Passover is bearing down on us and gas prices are higher than ever.<\/p>\n

And yet one morsel of good news came to Jewish faithful this month: Reese\u2019s Pieces are now certified kosher pareve.<\/p>\n

OU Kosher, the largest kosher certifier in the U.S., announced<\/a> March 12 that the candy-coated peanut butter candies are no longer considered dairy despite packaging that labels them as such.<\/p>\n

The implications for kosher consumers are as momentous as they are simple: Reese\u2019s Pieces can be eaten immediately after meat \u2014 or for the deeply adventurous stomach, alongside it \u2014 without the hourslong period Orthodox Jews wait before eating dairy again.<\/p>\n

The status change unfolded over the last year, when Reese\u2019s parent corporation, the Hershey Company, informed OU Kosher that it was changing the candy\u2019s ingredients.<\/p>\n

\u201cReese\u2019s decided on their own that there are a lot of consumers that don\u2019t like the fact that it\u2019s dairy,\u201d explained Rabbi Moshe Elefant, OU Kosher\u2019s chief operating officer. \u201cOnce they decided that they\u2019re removing the dairy from Reese\u2019s, it became a great possibility for them to be OU-Pareve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups and other Reese\u2019s brands remain dairy, and Elefant said the Reese\u2019s Pieces packaging, which currently shows OU-D, will be updated later in 2026. For those concerned about any old bags lying around, the OU said to check the ingredient list or allergen statement \u2014\u00a0if it doesn\u2019t include milk, you\u2019re good.<\/p>\n

\"\"The back of the Reese\u2019s Pieces package still shows OU-D at the end of the ingredients list, but the certifier says the candy is not even made on \u201cdairy equipment\u201d \u2014\u00a0it is fully pareve. Photo by Louis Keene<\/p>\n

The change occurs amid wider changes in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where the company that makes Reese\u2019s is headquartered. Some Reese\u2019s products, like the Reese\u2019s Mini Hearts and Peanut Butter Eggs, are no longer being made with milk chocolate<\/a> due to the rising cost of cocoa, inciting controversy and drawing criticism from the Reese\u2019s family. (Those candies remain certified dairy because they contain other milk ingredients, the OU said.)<\/p>\n

Reese\u2019s Pieces, on the other hand, never had chocolate in them to begin with.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the OU Kosher hotline had fielded countless phone calls in recent weeks from home chefs about the change \u2014 some to verify the update, and some just to say thanks. The last time there was this much excitement over a status change, Elefant said, was when Oreos became kosher. (The cookies contained animal fat until the late 1990s.)<\/p>\n

The Forward reached out to the Hershey Company for comment.<\/p>\n

Elefant said there had been some debate within OU Kosher \u2014 which is a branch of the Orthodox Union, a leading umbrella organization for Orthodox Judaism \u2014 about whether to announce the candy\u2019s pareve kosher status before the candy\u2019s packaging itself could be updated. The organization\u2019s advisory essentially instructs consumers to temporarily ignore the \u201cD\u201d on the packaging.<\/p>\n

His team considered whether it would undermine the OU\u2019s authority or confuse people to practice disregarding the certification printed on the product. But on some level, the decision was made for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the situations where we had to think about the welfare of the Jewish people,\u201d Elefant said. \u201cAnd the welfare of the Jewish people was that they need Reese\u2019s to be pareve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kosher consumers typically wait between three and six hours after eating meat to have dairy; now one could get a hamburger on the way to the movies and then house fistfuls of the classic peanut-butter candy in the theater. Watching E.T.: The Extraterrestrial<\/a>, perhaps. (I\u2019m not saying this is healthy. Just that it\u2019s kosher.)<\/p>\n

But the impact will likely be received most gratefully on Shabbat, when meat-based meals force dessert makers to get creative. And while the bite-sized brown, orange and yellow rounds have always been kosher, Reese\u2019s Pieces becoming pareve means Jews who observe cholov yisroel restrictions<\/a> \u2014\u00a0only consuming milk that was milked by a Jewish person \u2014 can enjoy them now, too<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Time will tell whether the update truly transforms kosher baking \u2014 or turns Reese\u2019s Pieces into a de facto pareve chocolate chip<\/a> \u2014 but a new, easy-to-find garnish for any confection was sweet on the ears of OU Kosher\u2019s Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYESSSSS! This is a win for the non-dairy queens like me!!!\u201d wrote one<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Said another, using a Jewish name for God: \u201cThis is how I know Hashem loves me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louis Keene is a reporter for the Forward. His work has also been published in The New York Times, New York magazine and Vice. He is based in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us. <\/p>\n

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward \u2014 and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.<\/p>\n

The Forward doesn\u2019t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.<\/p>\n

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.<\/p>\n

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