Reese’s pieces are now kosher parves. Carnivores are delighted.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise. There is a war going on in the Middle East. Passover is upon us and gas prices are higher than ever.

And yet this month came a piece of good news to the Jewish faithful: Reese’s pieces are now kosher-peru certified.

OU Kosher, the largest kosher certifier in the United States, announced March 12 that Candy Lipt’s peanut butter candies are no longer considered dairy despite the packaging labeling them as such.

The implications for kosher consumers are as important as they are simple: slices of Reese can be eaten immediately after meat — or, for the deeply hearty stomach, alongside it — without the hours-long Orthodox Jews wait before eating dairy.

The change in status became apparent over the past year, when Reese’s parent company, the Hershey Company, notified OU Kosher that it was changing its candy ingredients.

“The president himself decided that there are a lot of consumers who don’t like the fact that it’s dairy,” explained Rabbi Moshe Elephant, OU Kosher’s chief operating officer. “Once they decided they were removing dairy from Reese, it became a big possibility for them to be OU-Pareve.”

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and other Reese’s brands remain dairy, and Elefant said Reese’s Pies packaging, which currently displays OU-D, will be refreshed in 2026. For those concerned about the old packaging lying around, the OU said to check the ingredients list or include an allergen statement – if you don’t like milk.

The change comes amid wider changes in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where the company that makes the director is headquartered. Some Reese’s products, such as Reese’s Mini Hearts and Peanut Butter Eggs, are no longer made with milk chocolate due to the high cost of cocoa, sparking controversy and criticism from the Reese’s family. (These candies remain certified dairy because they contain other milk ingredients, the OU said.)

The director’s piece, on the other hand, never had chocolate to begin with.

Meanwhile, the OU Kosher Hotline has fielded countless phone calls in recent weeks from home chefs about the change — some to confirm the update, and some just to say thank you. The last time there was so much excitement about a status change, Elephant said, was when Oreos became kosher. (The cookies contained animal fat until the late 1990s.)

of the before The Hershey Company was reached for comment.

Elephant said there is some debate within OU Kosher — which is a division of the Orthodox Union, the leading umbrella organization for Orthodox Judaism — about whether the candy packaging itself should be updated before declaring the candy’s perio kosher status. The organization’s advisory basically instructs customers to temporarily ignore the “D” on the packaging.

His team considered whether this would undermine the OU’s authority or confuse people into ignoring the certification printed on the product. But at some level it was decided for them.

“This is one of those situations where we have to think about the welfare of the Jewish people,” Elephant said. “And the welfare of the Jewish people was such that they needed Reese to be considered.”

Kosher consumers usually wait three to six hours after eating meat for dairy. Now one can get a hamburger on the way to the movies and then nibble on the classic peanut butter candy at the theater. check in ET: Extraterrestrialperhaps. (I’m not saying it’s healthy. Just that it’s kosher.)

But the effect will likely be most appreciated on Shabbat, when meat-based dishes force dessert makers to get creative. And while the bite-sized brown, orange, and yellow rounds are always kosher, the reed pieces are meant to be followed by what Jews see. cholov yisroel Restrictions – consuming only milk that has been milked by a Jewish person – can still be enjoyed.

Time will tell if the update really changes kosher baking — or if Reese’s pieces actually change the perio chocolate chip — but a new, easy-to-find garnish for any confection was sweet in the ears of OU Kosher’s Instagram followers.

“YESSSSS! This is a win for non-dairy queens like me!!!” One wrote.

“This is how I know Hashem loves me,” said another, using the Jewish name for God.