Niche Market - Streit’s Matzos

Streit’s matzo bakery on the Lower East Side, which opened its doors on Rivington Street in 1925, may be the oldest factory of its kind in the country. Nestled among the trendy bars and restaurants that now populate the neighborhood, the family-owned factory pumps out 8 million boxes of the unleavened bread most notably consumed by Jews during the eight days of Passover.

 The family-run venture started with Aron Streit, an immigrant from Austria, who opened the shop to cater to the Jewish population. Now, Aron’s great grandson, Alan Adler, runs the business with two of his cousins. Adler keeps a lot of family traditions, even smoking a cigar while working at the factory, like his great-grandfather did.

 Of the 8 million boxes of matzo produced in the factory annually, 2.5 million are Kosher for Passover. This special kind of matzo is made with flour and water only, and the dough must be mixed, go through machinery and be baked within 18 minutes under Jewish law.

 During the production season, Streit’s has six rabbis supervising the matzo-making process. A timer is set to go off every 15 minutes in the second-floor mixing room so rabbis know to alternate mixers since old dough is allowed in subsequent batches.

 After the dough is mixed, it falls down a chute to the first floor and onto a sheet that perforates it before rolling it into the 72-foot long original oven, which cooks the dough at 900 degrees and produces 1,000 pounds of matzo an hour.

 Workers break it into squares and send it back upstairs in metal crates on a conveyer belt so it can get packaged.

Today, most of the Jewish community in the neighborhood has dispersed, and the majority of Streit’s business is wholesale to supermarkets. They still have a retail store attached to the bakery where a box of matzo sells for $2.

The Streit family said they will stay put on the Lower East Side despite the inconveniences of having a factory in Manhattan. They believe the original oven and the New York City water are what makes the taste of Streit’s matzo unique.

Read the rest of the story here at WNYC.org. 

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