Charoset / Haroset

[Pam R]

We need to discuss charoset. I have to make a bunch, and I'm not really feeling the apple/walnut/sweet wine love.

How do you make yours?

[cakewalk]

I compiled a bunch of haroset recipes a few years ago. Yemenite, Moroccan, Greek, Italian, I think even some plain old Ashkenazi recipes. They're from various websites, I don't remember which. My favorite is one of the Moroccan ones, with raisins, dates, nuts, sweet wine, etc. soaked overnight. I've made it several times, I think any of the Sephardi recipes beats out the Ashkenazi haroset by a long shot. (I can PM you the recipes if you want.) I'm not making any this year, at least not for the seder (I'm going out), but I might make some to have during the week of Passover. It makes matzoh a lot more tolerable.

[Katie Meadow]

Mine is very simple but it's all about texture. Also, I do not use sweet wine. I confess that the seder we attend is very lax, and everyone brings great wine and lots of it, most of it CA wine and there are usually a few bottles that are kosher. So, I've always used a red wine leftover from the night before, like a pinot or a light cab or a merlot or whatever's around.

I don't go near a processor, so it's just a tad time-consuming. I slice my apples as thin as I can, then chop them carefully into tiny little dice. The walnuts are also chopped by hand, very fine as well. As the apples are chopped I spritz them with lemon juice to keep them from browning and to tarten them up. Then I add a little honey to taste, and then a generous sprinkling of wine. I use 3 apples (usually one of them green) to a 1/2 cup of walnuts, and the honey and wine I just do by taste/feel; I don't like it sweet. I save some at home and then bring back my friend's fabulous home-made horseradish just so I can have it the next day.

There's someone else who comes to this seder who also brings charoset. It's very sweet and looks like cement. Not very appealing.

Cakewalk: I would love to see those recipes, they sound very tempting. I might try incorporating soaked fruit into the apples just for a change.

[KatieLoeb]

Pam:

I have a recipe in RecipeGullet titled "Sephardic Charoset" but can't seem to get it to come up right now. Seems there are still problems with the server switchover.

Fresh apples and pears, dried dates, dried apricots and golden raisins. Walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios and almonds. Honey, white kosher concord wine, cinnamon and ginger. Chop everything up and moisten with wine, honey and spices. Way more delicious than the standard mortar. I've been asked to make this for every seder I'm invited to. With lots of extra. Everyone loves it. Never any leftover.

[Doodad]

I have no idea what charoset is, but from this discussion I think I will find out.

[John DePaula]

Pam:

I have a recipe in RecipeGullet titled "Sephardic Charoset" but can't seem to get it to come up right now.  Seems there are still problems with the server switchover.

Fresh apples and pears, dried dates, dried apricots and golden raisins.  Walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios and almonds.  Honey, white kosher concord wine, cinnamon and ginger.  Chop everything up and moisten with wine, honey and spices.  Way more delicious than the standard mortar.  I've been asked to make this for every seder I'm invited to.  With lots of extra.  Everyone loves it.  Never any leftover.

←

If this helps, I google-cached it:

Sephardic Charoset

Submitted by: KatieLoeb

Keywords: Kosher, Fruit, Condiment, Jewish, Passover

Recipe Image

From the Passover thread:

I've been making a sort of improvised Sephardic charoset for the past several years that is always a hit and much tastier than the "standard" mortar.

3  apples, cubed

3  pears, cubed

1/2 c each walnuts, almonds, filberts and pistachios, finely chopped

1  handful each dried apricots, golden raisins, and dates, finely chopped

  Ground Cinnamon

  Ground Ginger

  Pinch ground Nutmeg

  Kosher White Concord wine

1/3 c Honey

Mix together fruits and nuts. Moisten with enough wine and honey to create "mortar-like-texture" and season to taste with ground spices. This is delicious and particularly easy since I cheat and pulse everything except the hand cubed fruit in batches through the food processor and then dump it in a big bowl. I get the fruit stickyness out of the bowl with the wine and honey and mix the spices into the liquids in the processor as well. Makes for a very evenly flavored mixture. Voila! Couldn't be easier. This seems to be particularly popular with children and is a great way to get them to eat something half good for them.

Date User Comment

Tue 04/01/03 23:14:12 Jason Perlow Initial entry of recipe.

[scubadoo97]

Mine is made from dried dates that have been cooked in water to soften then pressed through a sieve. This is seasoned with a little cinnamon and a dash of sweet kosher wine

[KitchenMom]

We have walnut allergies around here, so I use pecans. I also use a good kosher wine rather than sweet wine, hand chop and throw in some kind of dried fruit with the apples. It is always yummy and disappears quickly.

[KatieLoeb]

John - thanks for fishing that recipe out of cyberspace for me. Here's what this year's batch looks like.

There's another humongous container for the second seder on Sunday night. There will be 24 in attendance at last count, I believe.

[Katie Meadow]

Thank you Cakewalk and all others whose enthusiasm for Sephardic Charoset nudged me over the fence. I'm never going back. I made a hybrid that seems most like the recipes for Yemenite or Turkish Charoset, which use both fresh apple and dried fruit. And I basically used what I had in the house already.

Approx 1+ cup of finely chopped dried figs and apricots was soaked in wine (not sweet wine) for an hour or so. Walnuts and pine nuts were briefly toasted and then chopped fine. I finely minced by hand 3 Braeburns and a green apple, sprinkling with lemon juice as I chopped, then added a lemon's worth of fine zest. I drizzled the apples with honey to taste--stopped at still tart. Then I mixed in the soaked fruits and added a little bit more wine, then the nuts, and finally a few shakes of toasted sesame seeds and a very modest sprinkle of salt. It was fabulous, got raves, and sadly, there wasn't a forkful left to take home.

The pine nuts added a terrific flavor and just the small amount of sesame seeds was a great surprise. If I had had dates or pistachios around I think I would have tried to work them in too. Dates & walnuts is tried-and-true; apricots & pistachios is a divine intervention.

[mizducky]

These all sound yummy!

FWIW, I always thought it would be really cool to adapt a mild Indian chutney recipe for use as charoset, but so far have not had the opportunity to try this idea out.

[Chris Amirault]

On NPR the other day, I heard about a Ugandan charoset recipe using peanuts and pineapple.

[JasonZ]

Sorry I've gotten to this thread a little late, but Copeland Marks' book, Sephardic Cooking, has multiple charoset recipes and I've routinely made 3-4 of them, to remind us that wherever we are and wherever we may be from, the universal traditions follow us ... this year I made recipes from Greece, Georgia, Persia, and the Benei Yisroel of India. Will post them next week, when I can bring my copy in ...

For next Passover ...