''Charoset'' is a sweet, dark-colored mixture of finely chopped fruits and nuts eaten at the

Passover Seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew d ...

. According to the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

, its color and texture are meant to recall mortar (or mud used to make adobe bricks), which the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

used during their

enslavement Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

, as mentioned in Tractate Pesahim 116a of the

. The word comes from the Hebrew word for clay (). ''Charoset'' is one of the symbolic foods on the Passover Seder plate. After reciting the blessings, and eating first ''

maror ''Maror'' ( ''mārōr'') are the bitter herbs eaten at the Passover Seder in keeping with the biblical commandment "with bitter herbs they shall eat it." ( Exodus 12:8). The Maror is one of the symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder pla ...

'' dipped in ''charoset'' and then a

matzah Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which ''chametz'' (lea ...

" Hillel sandwich" (with two matzot) combining ''charoset'' and ''maror'', people often eat the remainder spread on

History

''Charoset'' is mentioned in the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

in connection with the items placed on the Passover table: "unleavened bread and lettuce and ''charoset''". Some say it can be traced back to the custom of symposia in ancient Greece, where philosophical discussions were accompanied by drinking large quantities of wine and consuming foods dipped into mixtures of pounded nuts and spices.

Variations

There are many recipes for ''charoset''. Many include at least some of the fruits and spices mentioned in the

Song of Songs The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

: apple
2-3
fig

pomegranate

grape

walnut

date

with the addition of win

saffro

and cinnamo

According to Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus "the influence of Persian culinary preferences on Jews living in the medieval Islamic empires probably reinforced this 'Song of Songs' flavor profile. The spices used vary among cultures; Yemenites use cloves and pepper, while American Jews typically use cinnamon. In Italy, Venetian Jews have been known to add chestnuts and pine nuts. ''Halek'' is a variation made by

Persian Jews Iranian Jews, (; ) also Persian Jews ( ) or Parsim, constitute one of the oldest communities of the Jewish diaspora. Dating back to the History of ancient Israel and Judah, biblical era, they originate from the Jews who relocated to Iran (his ...

using dates instead of apples. Locally grown blueberries are added to the traditional recipe in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Sephardi traditions

Sephardi ''charoset'' is a paste made of

raisin A raisin is a Dried fruit, dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Afri ...

s, figs and dates. Egyptian Jews make it from dates, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, and sweet wine.

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Turkish Jews The history of the Jews in Turkey ( or ; ; () covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey. There have been Romaniotes, Jewish communities in Anatolia since at least the beginning of the common era. Anatolia's Jewish popu ...

use apples, dates, chopped almonds, and wine.

Italian Jews Italian Jews (; ) or Roman Jews (; ) can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living in or with roots in Italy, or, in a narrower sense, to mean the Italkim, an ancient community living in Italy since the Ancient Roman era, who use the It ...

add chestnuts. Suriname Jews add coconut.

Iraqi Jews The history of the Jews in Iraq (, ', ; , ) is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity . Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities. The Jewish community in Mesopotamia, kn ...

make it from a mixture of dates and nuts.

Moroccan Jews Moroccan Jews (; ; ) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman Empire, Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were much later met by a second wave o ...

use a mixture consisting of walnuts, almonds, dates, figs, dried apricots, pitted prunes, and sweet red Passover wine, with optional additions such as shelled pistachios or ground cinnamon. The ingredients are blended or ground together and shaped into one-inch balls.

Yemenite tradition

Yihye Bashiri (17th century) described the manner in which the ''charoset'' was made in Yemen:

They take figs or raisins or dates, and pound them into the consistency of dough. They then put vinegar thereto, and add spices. Some there are who put ground
sesame seeds Sesame (; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for it ...
into this admixture. On the night of the Passover, a person is required to put therein whole spices that have not been ground; either two or three seeds of valerian (Arabic: ''sunbul''), or sprigs of marjoram lternatively: wild thyme (Arabic: '' za'tar''), or savory (Arabic: ''hasha''), or things similar to them, so that it will resemble straw in mortar—in remembrance of that thing by which our fathers were enslaved in Egypt, seeing that it is like unto bricks and straw.

In Yemenite Jewish tradition, the ''charoset'' is also called ''dukeh'' (), a name also referred to as such in the

Jerusalem Talmud The Jerusalem Talmud (, often for short) or Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talm ...

Mizrahi traditions

Not all Jews use the term ''charoset''. Some of the Jews of the Middle East instead use the term "''halegh''". The origin of ''halegh'' is not clear. Rav

Saadia Gaon Saʿadia ben Yosef Gaon (892–942) was a prominent rabbi, Geonim, gaon, Jews, Jewish philosopher, and exegesis, exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate. Saadia is the first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Judeo-Arabic ...

uses the word and attributes it to a kind of walnut that was a mandatory ingredient in the preparation of the ''halegh''. Parts of the

Jewish Diaspora The Jewish diaspora ( ), alternatively the dispersion ( ) or the exile ( ; ), consists of Jews who reside outside of the Land of Israel. Historically, it refers to the expansive scattering of the Israelites out of their homeland in the Southe ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

have a tradition of including 40 different ingredients in the ''halegh''. The number 40 signifies the 40 years of wandering in the desert.

Ashkenazi traditions

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an (or

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

) ''charoset'' is made from chopped walnuts and

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s, spiced with

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...

and sweet red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

may be added as a sweetener and binder. The mixture is not cooked.

Modern variations

In 2015 Ben & Jerry's Charoset ice cream became widely available in Israel and was covered in several major news outlets.

Leftovers

Leftover charoset is commonly eaten with matzah, but it can also be used as a filling for hand pies.

Notes

References

External links

A Quick Charoset FAQ (includes charoset recipes)
{{Salads Fruit salads Passover foods Passover seder Jewish cuisine Israeli cuisine