sellinghametz

Hametz includes anything made from the five major grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats and spelt) that has not been completely cooked within 18 minutes after coming into contact with water. Orthodox Jews of Ashkenazic background also avoid rice, corn, peanuts, and legumes (beans) as if they were hametz. All of these items are commonly used to make bread, therefore the use of them was prohibited to avoid any confusion. Such additional items are referred to as "kitniyot."

We may not eat hametz during Pesah; we may not even own it or derive benefit from it. We may not even feed it to our pets or cattle. All hametz, including utensils used to cook hametz, must either be disposed of or sold to a non-Jew (they can be repurchased after the holiday). Pets' diets must be changed for the holiday, or the pets must be sold to a non-Jew (like the food and utensils, the pets can be repurchased after the holiday ends). From the gentile's perspective, the purchase functions much like the buying and selling of futures on the stock market: even though he does not take physical possession of the goods, his temporary legal ownership of those goods is very real and potentially profitable.