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Chocolate is made from a cocoa bean. What keeps that bean from being considered kitniyos?

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I don't think that would be confused for flour –  sam Apr 3 '14 at 0:38
If anything, cocoa beans are considered fruit. So you could ask, why don't we recite ha'eitz before eating chocolate? –  Fred Apr 3 '14 at 1:25
Because no one stopped eating chocolate way back when. Hence, there is no such custom today. –  Double AA Apr 3 '14 at 3:08
Don't ask that, next some rabbanim WILL ban it, chas v'chalilah. –  Noach mi Frankfurt Apr 3 '14 at 18:26

2 Answers 2

There were briefly those who'd heard of this thing called coffee -- it's a "bean", you grind it -- who wondered if it were kitniyot.

This was quickly rejected, I don't recall who it was who'd said "if you ever saw a coffee plant, you'd understand why it's not kitniyos."

Very simply -- all kitniyos, like the 5 grains, are annuals. Coffee and chocolate are perennials.

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Are we sure that this is the rational? +1 for the maase though. –  Noach mi Frankfurt Apr 3 '14 at 20:25

Just because the English word is 'bean' does not mean that it is kitniyos. A good explanation can be found at What is Kitniyot?

Here is the initial summary of that article. You can read the details there.

Authored by the Orthodox Union. Copyright © 2008 Orthodox Union

In addition to the Torah’s restrictions on owning, eating and benefiting from chametz, an Ashkenazic minhag developed in the middle ages to not eat certain foods known collectively as “kitnios”. The Mishnah Berurah (453:6 & 464:5) cites three reasons for the minhag (a) kitnios is harvested and processed in the same manner as chametz, (b) it is ground into flour and baked just like chametz [so people may mistakenly believe that if they can eat kitnios, they can also eat chametz], (c) it may have chametz grains mixed into it [so people who eat kitnios may inadvertently be eating chametz]. Although initially there were those who objected to the minhag, it has become an accepted part of Pesach in all Ashkenazic communities.

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Just like peanuts! –  Double AA Apr 3 '14 at 2:57
@DoubleAA Read the article and see why potatoes and quinoa are not considered kitniyos. The summary is just that. THe article goes into more detail. Also look at the 2014 OU Passover guide which explains why quinoa now has a kosher for Pesach determination. –  sabbahillel Apr 3 '14 at 3:03

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