Daily Halacha Podcast - Daily Halacha By Rabbi Eli J. Mansour

Ashkenazim have the custom not to eat "Kitniyot"-various beans and legumes on Pesah. The earliest authority to record this custom is the SaMaK, (Sefer Misvot Katan by Rabbi Yishak of Corbeil, 13th century) who lived 750 years ago. The reason he gives is that these foods can be confused with Hames grains, such as wheat. Just as wheat can be ground into flour, so too corn and lentils can also be dried and made into flour. Interestingly, he also includes mustard seed in the list of "Kitniyot." Even though it is not made into flour, nevertheless, it grows in pods and could also be mistaken for wheat. In later generations, the Ashkenazi Poskim discuss whether other foods, such as coffee beans, peanuts and quinoa, would also be considered "Kitniyot." Rav Shlomo Amar and Rav Moshe Feinstein rule that any food that wasn't known in the Western world at the time of the original institution of the Gezera was not included in the custom. There was a controversy with regard to whether potatoes are considered "Kitniyot." So