Saturday February 4, 2006
Palazzolo's finds niche in kosher gelato market
By Tim Carpenter
Staff Writer
Thursday, January 26, 2006 12:11 PM EST
Over in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, a
little shop by the name of Tovelli's Gelato Cafe has become an
overnight success. Word of Ed Tovelli's 20-something different
offerings of all-natural gelato and sorbetto has spread
throughout New York City like wildfire, with customers coming
from as far as Long Island and as much as three times a day
for a bowl of authentic Italian ice cream.
Most of Tovelli's business comes from the Orthodox Jewish
community, due in part to the fact that he is the only one in
the Big Apple selling gelato adhering to the kosher standards
of Cholov Yisroel. Cholov Yisroel is the highest kosher status
available for milk and requires the presence of a rabbi from
the time it is milked from the animal to when it is shipped to
the retailer. Anything made with Cholov Yisroel milk must
contain all-kosher ingredients and be processed with kosher
equipment.
"We're in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, but there are no
other kosher ice cream stores in the area, so I guess you can
say we're filling a niche," said Tovelli, who after only two
months of being in business has a sales volume four times
higher than a normal retailer.
While Tovelli's is the only place selling Cholov Yisroel
gelato and sorbet in New York City, his supplier, Palazzolo's,
are the only ones certified to make it.
"I'm able to say that I'm the first one in the United States
that's giving them a product of this quality, and that's an
honor," said Pete Palazzolo from the production room of his
Saugatuck Township-based factory while his employees prepare
Tovelli's latest order of gelato.
The guardians of kosher law
For a product to be considered kosher, it must be certified by
a Jewish certifying agency. Kosher standards vary depending on
the food type and how it is made. A label located on the
packaging of the product will indicate its kosher status as
well as the agency that certified it.
continued
At the request of several of his restaurant customers in New
York, Palazzolo became kosher-certified about four years ago
through the Chicago Rabbinical Council, one of the oldest,
largest and most highly respected kosher-certifying agencies
in North America. As part of the intial approval process,
Palazzolo's plant had to undergo a thorough inspection by a
CRC rabbinic coordinator .
"We were already certified as kosher, but not to this level,"
he said of his company's current certification status. "We had
to really bring it up another notch to get to this stage of
certification."
The importance of Kosher
Overseeing Tovelli's latest gelato and sorbetto order at the
Palazzolo plant is Rabbi Weingarten, a part-time kosher
certification agent whose primary job is running two
synagogues in Lansing and Grand Rapids. Weingarten said that
the advent of kosher certifying agencies came out of the need
to assure the Jewish community that secular parties supplying
food to them were adhering to regulatory dietary standards set
forth in the Torah.
Today, he said that some Jewish families follow only a minimum
of kosher standards, while others just adhere to the United
States Department of Agriculture guidelines, citing reasons
such as scarcity, higher cost and lack of variety among kosher
products.
"The ultra-orthodox (Jews) will continue to watch the process
because that's the way it has always been done and to some
degree, it continues to be a problem," he said.
Weingarten also said that contrary to popular belief, blessing
the food as it is being made is not part of the kosher
certification process. "Blessings are only made when an animal
is slaughtered and when food is being eaten, " he said.
Quality comes first
While it's not even been six months since Palazzolo started
making special orders of kosher gelato for Tovelli, word about
their relationship has quickly spread. Palazzolo said that he
has had discussions with several other vendors interested in
distributing his Cholov Yisroel gelato, but wants to work out
some kinks first with some of the flavors as well as deal with
some scoopability issues before expanding his customer base.
"It's always about quality for us," he said. "We want to make
sure we're getting everything done right before going any
further."
PGI of Saugatuck Inc., IDC of Saugatuck Inc. 413 Third St, Fennville, MI 49408 1-800-4GELATO, 269-561-2000