More Details of Food Laws
Certain Animals are simply not kosher: a kosher animal must chew its cud, and must have split hooves, such as cows, goats, sheep and deer. However, animals such as camels are not kosher, as, although they chew the cud (they are ruminants) they do not have split hooves.
Kosher slaughtering: The birds and mammals that may be eaten must be slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law: A practising Jew may not eat animals that died of natural causes or that were killed by any other animals. The animal must have no disease or flaws in any organs at the time of slaughter. (These restrictions apply only to the flocks and herds, not to fish.) Ritual slaughter is known as shechitah: the method used by Jews to kill animals is seen as the most humane, as it is virtually painless. The method is one quick, deep stroke across the throat with a perfectly sharp blade; causing the animal to be unconscious within two seconds. Another advantage of shechitah is that it ensures complete draining of the blood, making the meat kosher. In smaller, more remote communities, the rabbi and the shochet are sometimes the same person. The shochet must be well trained in Jewish law, especially kashrut.
Draining of Blood: Consumption of blood is prohibited by the Torah. This does not apply to fish blood, only to the blood of birds and mammals. Thus, it is necessary to remove all blood from the flesh of kosher animals, in order for them to remain kosher. The first step in this process occurs at the time of slaughter. The blood remaining after the slaughtering must be removed, either by broiling, or by soaking and salting. Liver may only be kashered by the broiling method, as so much blood is contained in the liver. The process of draining the blood must be completed within 72 hours of the slaughter.
Jews tend to break eggs into a container in order to check it before putting it into a heated pan; if a blood-stained egg is placed into a heated pan, the pan becomes non-kosher.
Kosher utensils must be used: Utensils (pots, pans, plates, cutlery, etc.) must all be kosher. A utensil picks up the kosher "status" from the food that is cooked in it or eaten off of it, and transmits that status back to the next food that is cooked in it or eaten off of it. Kosher status can be transmitted from the food to the utensil or from the utensil to the food in the presence of heat only. Therefore, you could use the same knife to slice cold cuts and cheese, as long as you clean it in between. Dishwashers are a kashrut problem in Jewish households; if you are going to use a dishwasher in a kosher home, you need to have separate loads for utensils which have been used for meat and dairy.
Grape Products: The use of wines and other grape products made by non-Jews is prohibited. (Whole grapes in fruit cocktail are not a problem.) Mostly, this rule only affects wine and grape juice. For this reason, it is virtually impossible to find kosher baking powder; baking powder is made with cream of tartar, a by-product of wine making.
Forbidden Fats and Nerves: The sciatic nerve and its adjoining blood vessels mustn’t be eaten by Jews. Chelev, a certain kind of fat, surrounds the body’s vital organs and the liver, and cannot be eaten. (Kosher butchers remove this from animals.)
Separation of Meat and Dairy: The Torah tells Jews not to "boil a kid in its mother's milk." This passage has been interpreted as prohibiting eating meat and dairy together. Rabbis have extended this prohibition to include not eating milk and poultry together. Also, it is considered to be unhealthy to cook meat and fish together or serving them on the same plates, and so is prohibited. It is, however, permissible to eat fish and dairy together, as well as to eat dairy and eggs together. Jews must wait a significant amount of time between eating meat and dairy. Opinions differ on exact timing, and vary from three to six hours. This is because meat particles and fatty residues tend to cling to the mouth.
From dairy to meat, however, one need only rinse one's mouth and eat a neutral solid, such as bread.
Although these strict food laws observed by Jews do tend to isolate Jews in a mixed community, it is seen (primarily by Jews partaking in keeping kosher) to be a small way in which they can show their loyalty to G-d, as well as being a practise in self-control and discipline.
