Halal Facts: Chocolate Liquor, Root Beer, Cooking Wine and Non-Alcoholic Beer – Are they Halal? (2024)

There are many different types of alcohols.Alcohols you may be familiar with areethanol, methanol, and isopropanol.Which one should we avoid?

• Ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is the specificalcohol found in alcoholic beverages, or liquor. It is alsoused as an additive in gasoline.
• Methanol, or methyl alcohol, is toxic.
• Isopropanol, or isopropyl alcohol, is the maincomponent in most rubbing alcohol used in homes asa disinfectant for wounds.

Ethanol is the specific type of alcohol that causesintoxication, and should be avoided. The type ofalcohol that we refer to throughout this article isethanol.

Consumer products with added ingredients that containalcohol must have less than 0.1% ethanol, includingboth added and any natural ethanol, to qualify ashalal. At this level, one cannot taste, smell, or see thealcohol, a criterion generally applied for impurities.

NaturallyPresent Ethanol

Some amount of alcohol can befound in nearly all foods. In fact, alcohol is nearlyubiquitous. Alcohol is present in everything fromfruits, juices, and milk, to pickles, vinegar, and saladdressings.

Fruit juices may contain up to 0.04% ofnaturally occurring alcohol, while fresh fruits maycontain up to 0.1% alcohol. Fresh milk, pickles,fermented dairy products, natural vinegars and saladdressings contain anywhere from a trace to 0.5%natural, or intrinsic alcohol.

These minute amounts ofalcohol which are intrinsic in natural foods are allowed.Vanilla extract is commonly used in home-cooking, and isfound in countless varieties of soda and baked goods.

In the US, vanilla extract is made by using ethanol toextract the flavor and odor components from vanillabeans. The vanilla extract is required to contain at least35% ethanol.

What is Chocolate Liquor andCocoa Liquor?

A common misconception concerns chocolate liquor, orcocoa liquor. Chocolate liquor and cocoa liquor arenothing but the finely ground center, or cotyledon, offermented, dried, roasted cocoa beans, that have beenextracted from their shells.

Liquor is a thick, flowingsubstance and the first step in the production ofchocolate. It has no relationship to alcohol, nor isalcohol used in producing it. It is produced fromchocolate, and may be fortified with cocoa fat.Chocolate liquor can be found in chocolate bars and inchocolate flavored desserts.

What is Root Beer?

A&W, Barq’s, and IBC are popular brands of the softdrink called “root beer.” Root beer once referred to afermented beverage that contained alcohol. Presently,though, when you purchase root beer from a grocerystore or restaurant, you will be buying a soft drink, orsoda pop. Present-day root beer is not an alcoholicbeverage, and is not haram.

What is Non-Alcoholic Beer?

Alcoholic beverages are prohibited in Islam, and theculture associated with drinking alcoholic beverages isnot Islamic.

But what about non-alcoholic alternatives such as nonalcoholicbeer, near-beer, and non-alcoholic wine?

O’Doul’s and other “non-alcoholic” drinks do, in fact,contain small amounts of alcohol. Non-alcoholic beeris manufactured the same way as normal beer, i.e., it isbrewed, but at the end of the process, the alcohol is removed. There may still be a small amount of alcoholleft in “non-alcoholic” beer. In fact, under US law,“non-alcoholic beer” may contain up to 0.5% alcohol.Non-alcoholic wine is also made by removing the alcoholfrom regular wine.

Regardless of the small amount of alcohol remainingin non-alcoholic beer, we need to be mindful of ourreligious commitment. The best thing we can do isavoid the temptation, and not consume these so called“non-alcoholic” beverages. This is an obligatory precaution.IFANCA’s position is that we will not certify nonalcoholicbeer and wine, since the concept itself hasalcohol-related connotations.

Cooking With Wine

Some foods we purchase from grocery stores or restaurantsmay contain wine or other alcoholic beverages thatwere added to produce a certain flavor characteristic tothat food.

When any amount of alcoholic beverages suchas beer, wine, liquor, etc. is added to food, the foodautomatically becomes haram.

Cooking, to reduce theethanol content does not make the contaminated foodhalal. This is not a gray area, rather, it is clearly outlinedin the Quran that alcoholic beverages are haram andshould be completely avoided. The alcohol from winethat has been added to food will not completelyevaporate. In fact, a large portion remains aftercooking.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prepared
a table showing the amount of alcohol remaining after
various cooking methods, which is shown below.

USDA Alcohol Burn-Off Chart

Cooking Method = % alcohol remaining after cooking

• Added to boiling liquid and removed from heat = 85%
• Cooked over a flame = 75%
• Added without heat and stored overnight = 70%
• Baked for 25 minutes without stirring = 45%
• Stirred into a mixture and baked or simmered for 15 minutes = 40%
• Stirred into a mixture and baked or simmered for 30 minutes = 35%
• Stirred into a mixture and baked or simmered for 1 hour = 25%
• Stirred into a mixture and baked or simmered for 2 hours = 10 %
• Stirred into a mixture and baked or simmered for 2 hours = 5%

Substitutions for Wine in Cooking

If your recipe calls for alcohol, you can always make asubstitution. Alcohol is normally included for its flavor,so try adding ingredients with similar flavors that arenot alcoholic. For example, almond extract can be usedinstead of amaretto. White wine can be replaced with amixture of either vinegar and sugar or honey, orvinegar and white grape juice.Strong coffee or espressowith a hint of cocoa is an excellent replacement forKahlúa.

These, and other substitutions, can be found athttp://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blalcohol6.htm.

Remember, don’t substitute equalamounts! Use your best judgment when makingsubstitutions.

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Written by: Suzanne Audi forHalal Consumer magazine (Summer 2007 edition) fromIFANCA