{"id":69922,"date":"2022-10-12T01:34:54","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T06:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=69922"},"modified":"2022-10-12T01:34:54","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T06:34:54","slug":"trader-joes-drops-the-israeli-for-its-pearl-couscous-citing-change-in-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/trader-joes-drops-the-israeli-for-its-pearl-couscous-citing-change-in-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Trader Joe\u2019s drops the \u2018Israeli\u2019 for its pearl couscous, citing change in supply chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANDREW LAPIN<\/p>\n

(JTA) \u2013 Couscous lovers who frequent the grocery store Trader Joe\u2019s may have noticed a change in the grain aisle: The chain\u2019s brightly colored purple boxes of \u201cIsraeli Couscous\u201d are now simply known as \u201cPearl Couscous.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The move raised questions in the group about whether Trader Joe\u2019s was trying to distance itself from Israel, a move that some companies have made for political reasons. But a spokesperson for the company said it \u201crecently switched to a new supplier for this product and it is now sourced domestically rather than from Israel.\u201d The product itself hasn\u2019t changed, according to The Nosher\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

Trader Joe\u2019s carries a host of ingredients and products associated with Israeli cuisine. The company sources its date syrup, called silan in Hebrew, from Belgium and its tahini, a Middle Eastern staple, from Greece. But its Bamba, both regular and chocolate-filled, is sourced from Israel and bears the kosher certification of Israel\u2019s Chief Rabbinate.<\/p>\n

Even if the pearl couscous itself is no longer sourced directly from Israel, the method by which it\u2019s prepared is historically Israeli (and is not actually couscous, a semolina product that is North African in origin). The pearl-shaped \u201cptitim\u201d wheat product came about during a period of intense rationing in Israel in the 1950s, when the country was seeing an influx of more than 700,000 new immigrants. Under orders by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, local food manufacturer Osem created a baked wheat-based alternative to rice, unlike its semolina-based \u201ctraditional\u201d couscous cousins from North Africa.<\/p>\n

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