Shkedei marak known as "soup mandel" in the United States, is an Israeli

Israeli cuisine

Israeli cuisine comprises local dishes by Jews native to Israel and dishes brought to Israel by Jews from the Diaspora. Since before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and particularly since the late 1970s, an Israeli Jewish fusion cuisine has developed.Israeli cuisine has adopted,...

 food product consisting of crisp mini croutons used as a soup accompaniment. Shkedei marak are small yellow squares made from flour

Flour

Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...

 and palm oil

Palm oil

Palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are edible plant oils derived from the fruits of palm trees. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis; palm kernel oil is derived from the kernel of the oil palm and coconut oil is derived from the kernel of the...

. As a parve product, they can be used in either meat or cream soups. Despite the name, they contain no almonds.

Etymology

The word mandlach is the plural diminutive of mandel, which means "almond" in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 and Yiddish.

History

Although today shkedei marak are manufactured, they are based on the homemade crispy-fried squares of dough known as mandlach traditionally served with chicken soup

Chicken soup

Chicken soup is a soup made by bringing to a boil and then simmering chicken parts and/or bones in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pieces of chicken or vegetables, or with noodles or dumplings, or grains such...

 by Ashkenazi Jews.

Marketing

For many years Osem

Osem (company)

Osem Investments Ltd. is one of the largest food manufacturers and distributors in Israel.The group is majority owned by Nestlé S.A...

 was the exclusive manufacturer of shkedei marak in Israel, but today the product is also marketed by other Israeli food companies, such as Vita and Knorr. Davidovich Bakery & Sons located near Haifa also produces and packages soup almonds under a variety of brand names. Over the years, food companies have experimented with different shapes for shkedei marak, including stars, rings, and little fish. Today only the original squares survive. In addition to their use in soups, shkedei marak are eaten plain as a snack food

Snack food

A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....

.

External links

• Osem website