Chapter 7. List of Kitniyot

Regarding the reason for the prohibition of kitniyot, the Tur wrote1 : “יש אוסרין לאכול אורז וכל מיני קטניות בתבשיל לפי שמיני חטין מתערבין בהן” (“Some forbid eating rice and all kinds of kitniyot in a cooked dish, because types of wheat get mixed in with them”), and in the SeMaK the reason is written as: “כיון שראוי לעשות עיסה מהן אתי לאחלופי בשאר עיסה של חמץ” (“since dough can be made from them, one may come to confuse it with other dough made from chametz”)2 . As for the definition of kitniyot, the Rambam wrote3: “הזרעונין נחלקין לשלשה חלקים וכו' והשני מהן הוא הנקרא קטנית, והן כל זרעים הנאכל לאדם חוץ מן התבואה, כגון הפול והאפונים והעדשים והדוחן והאורז והשומשמין והפרגין והספיר וכיוצא בהן” (“Seeds are divided into three categories, etc.; the second of them is called kitnit, and it includes all seeds eaten by people other than grain, such as beans, peas, lentils, millet, rice, sesame, poppy, sappir, and the like”). It is clear from the Rambam that the definition of kitniyot applies to edible seeds. And the Taz wrote: “ונראה הטעם לפי שגידול החרדל הוא בשרביטיה דומה לגידול קטניות על כן הוי בכלל איסור קטניות” (“The reason appears to be that mustard grows in pods, resembling the growth of kitniyot; therefore it is included in the prohibition of kitniyot”). [The kitniyot enclosed in brackets are subject to halachic discussion. Spices — most of them are not kitniyot and do not appear in the list. General note — there are products considered kitniyot because of kitniyot oil mixed into them. Grisim are not kitniyot; regarding chametz, see their law above under the entry Grisim] peas, rice, [peanuts], sunflower seeds [andpumpkin], millet, chickpeas, mustard, fenugreek [because it grows in pods], buckwheat [not kusmin, which is a type of grain], cumin [even for those who eat kitniyot, there is a problem with this because oats resemble cumin], [rapeseed, and likewise canola oil produced from rapeseed; see Avnei Nezer4 ], soy [see below regarding corn], lentils, broad beans, poppy, quinoa, sesame, beans, lupin, corn [even though it is a new species that was not known at the time of the decree]5 .