At first glance it would seem, the dough became non-kosher, since the non-kosher grape juice concentrate is only one part out of fifty-six. However, this is not necessarily correct. Pischei Teshuva (YD 98:2) writes that in order to evaluate whether an ingredient is nullified, one must calculate according to the volume of the ingredients, not their weight. Since grape juice concentrate is very dense, much denser than dough, in all likelihood when measured by volume, the concentrate will be less than one part in sixty. One should measure the volume of ¼ lbs. of grape juice concentrate and the volume of the entire dough. If indeed the ratio of the volumes is one to sixty or less, the grape juice would be nullified in the dough.
However, there is one more consideration. Grape juice concentrate, as its name implies, is made by concentrating grape juice and removing the water. A quarter pound of grape juice concentrate represents more than a pound of grape juice. Perhaps it is not enough to nullify this in sixty parts. (To be continued…)
Learn more about the Halacha Yomis program and subscribe
Subscribers can also ask their own questions on Kashrus issues and send them to GerstenE@ou.org. These questions and their answers may be selected to become one of the Q and A’s on OU Kosher Halacha Yomis.