My wife's favorite dessert has long been tiramisu. It gets ordered after a meal out. When I had a Costco card, sometimes I would find kosher-certified tiramisu in their freezer. Never headed home without a box. It can be hard to find from commercial sources.
For kosher tiramisu to follow a dairy meal, home preparation takes planning and effort. My first attempt brought me to the beginning of a learning curve. I bought spongy ladyfingers from the supermarket's bakery section. Kosher certified. As I dipped each into a bowl of strong coffee, the sponge dissolved in my fingers. I thought about making my own lady fingers, but never did, though I have the needed piping bag and tip. It makes a project more arduous. I'd much rather substitute Linzertorte for dessert.
Mascarpone with kosher certification seems more readily available. The Orthodox Union products site lists many suitable brands easily found at the places I shop. Heavy cream has a presence on most supermarket refrigerator cases, though I sometimes need to buy more than my tiramisu recipe requires. I use the extra up within a week or two. The barrier remains suitable commercial ladyfingers. OU Kosher offers a product search. Ladyfingers brings up a few entries, including the house brand from the supermarket bakery of the store where I get my prescriptions filled. I saw them. Basically sponge cake, the kind that dissolved on dunking once before. They only list one other brand, one from an Italian producer, Vicenzi. I've used these before and they work superbly, holding their shape with a generous dunk. Availability has been inconsistent. The company website indicated that the nearest places that carry them require a drive of about 7 miles, near the auto dealer that sold me my current car. Two stores, one a megamart, the other more of a boutique. No places closer. The last time I bought them, I found them at Wegman's, a megamart known for specialty products. They were not in a place with other lady fingers. A customer service agent misdirected me when she typed ladyfingers into her inventory list. I had her type the brand, which was located not with baking supplies or cookies, but with Italian specialties. On return for the next tiramisu ingredient gathering, I returned to Wegman's.
At the early lunch hour on a Sunday morning, a parking space needed its own hunt. I drove a few aisles, finding some openings at the far reaches. While my local preferred grocer, the bastion of kosher near my home, has deteriorated over the last few years, Wegman's had quite a throng shopping there. Prices a bit higher than where I shop, but clean store, well-stocked shelves, conspicuous signs of what appears on aisles, and specialty items from bakery to produce, and ample in-store cafe. I went to my usual shelves. No luck. I went to customer service. She searched for lady fingers. My brand not there, even though the company website indicated it was. I asked for kosher ladyfingers. Using her thumbs to navigate AI on her cell phone, she identified a different brand as kosher. Then she directed me to their place in the store. Right across from the donuts, as she said they would be. I examined the box. No kosher agency mark, my criteria for a kosher product.
Being a bit hungy, I toured the eat-in options. More than I wanted to spend on a quick Sunday snack. My online search offered one other store, almost around the corner from Wegman's. Green Grocer is small franchise, with many fewer products, but mostly selections of items beyond the mass market. I walked the perimeter of the store. Mostly specialties. Barrels of coffee beans at $15.99 per pound. Meats, cheeses. I looked at the baked goods area. No luck. Being a small operation, they do not have a dedicated service kiosk. Instead, I asked the cashier if she could do a product search. I handed her a paper with the brand of what I sought. She did not need to look it up. Instead, she walked over to the right shelf, pointing it out to me. I took a package. While there, why not get mascarpone? She pointed out the cheese section. I found mascarpone, two brands kosher certified. One had tubs of twice what I needed, the other brand the right size but priced well above what I usually pay for this. I paid for the ladyfingers in cash, then drove home, almost ready to make my wife's favorite Mother's Day treat.
Once home, my culinary quarry safely on a flat surface in the kitchen, I attempted to see what my real ladyfinger options were. St. Michel company site would not allow me to query them without a product bar code. The FAQ on the kosher status of their ladyfingers listed ingredients that would be acceptable to me, but made no mention of a certifying agency. Typing kosher ladyfingers as the search led me to their product, just as it did the agent at Wegman's. But kosher-certifed, with a few sentences generated by AI, lists only Vicenzi.
In this era of widespread certification of consumer products, I wonder why this common treat and versatile ingredient so rarely attracted manufacturers to engage one the common kosher agencies. Not Goya, not Savolardi, not Pacelli, those brands easily found at supermarkets.And Goya, at least, has many OU-certified products, so they are familiar with the certification process and its benefits to their company.
I still need an 8-ounce tub of mascarpone. Other ingredients, other than fresh whipping cream, largely sit in my pantry. While making this special treat for my special person takes some effort and planning, even the hunt for the key ingredient adds to the accomplishment. Maybe I should learn how to bake my own ladyfingers.
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