Each Passover Adds New Food Choices to Grocery Shelves : Local stores are stocking a variety of non-traditional items, from Israeli jams to fat-free cereal and pizza sauce.

We are amazed each spring at the variety of Passover products on local grocery store shelves. It seems that just about any common food item can be converted into a “Kosher for Passover” specialty.

In past holidays, we have seen the Passover marshmallows, the Passover salad dressing and the popular Passover chocolate-covered citrus rinds.

So, with the first night of the Jewish holiday coming up April 14, we paid a visit last week to local Hughes, Ralphs and Vons markets to see what new Passover items they had in store for shoppers this year. While we were there, we compared some prices on two of the more traditional holiday edibles.

Our search got off to a good start at the Hughes store in Camarillo, where we found a box of Manischewitz Kosher for Passover Pizza Sauce & Crust Mix, priced at $4.69; a cup of Streit’s Instant Farfel Soup (a sibling to the Cup O’ Noodles-type products), for $1.09, and a box of Manischewitz Fruity’s breakfast cereal for $2.39.

Among the more common Passover items at Hughes, a 24-ounce jar of Adler’s gefilte fish was going for $2.99 and Manischewitz’s 24-ounce jar was priced at $4.29. The store also had a Manischewitz 24-ounce jar of Zesty Gefilte Fish with jalapeno peppers (now that’s a new taste treat) for $4.99.

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As for matzo: Five-pound packages were $8.79 (Manischewitz), $10.99 (Aviv brand) and $8.79 (Streit’s brand). And in case you were wondering, yes, over the weeklong holiday a family can, indeed, go through five pounds of matzo.

Over at the Ventura Ralphs, we found a 5 1/2-ounce box of Manischewitz rocky-road cookies for $3.99, a cup of Manischewitz Instant Soup mix for 89 cents, a box of T. Abraham’s Crispy-O’s fruit-flavored, fat-free cereal for $2.99 and a box of the Manischewitz Fruity’s for $3.39.

As for the traditional items, Ralphs had a 24-ounce jar of Manischewitz gefilte fish priced at $5.19. And the five-pound packages of matzo were going for $7.99 (Osem brand), $10.99 (Aviv) and $11.09 (Yehuda brand).

And finally, at Vons in Ojai, the new items this year are jars of strawberry and raspberry preserves straight from Sharon Valley in Israel. They were priced at $2.19 and $2.59, respectively.

The 24-ounce jar of Manischewitz gefilte fish was $4.79 and the five-pound boxes of matzo were $11.49 (Manischewitz) and $8.99 (Streit’s).

Next week, in our continuing effort to be multidenominational, we’ll take a look at merchandise available for Easter.

Leo Smith is a regular contributor to Ventura County Life. Write to him at 5200 Valentine Road, Suite 140, Ventura 93003, or send faxes to 658-5576.