Best Charoset Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can I substitute for wine in charoset? ›

Purple grape juice: Kosher red wine is the traditional choice, but grape juice keeps our version family-friendly! White grape juice also works as a substitute.

According to The Biblical and Historical Background of Jewish Customs and Ceremonies, the sticky, granular mixture of fruit and nuts is meant to recall the mortar that the Jews used to build the Egyptian pharaohs' buildings (not the pyramids). Cinnamon and other spices represent straw used in brick making.

Game plan: Though charoset is traditionally served as part of the Passover Seder, it's also appropriate for a Rosh Hashanah meal.

Star of the Seder Plate

Sweet and flavorful, charoset is usually everyone's favorite symbolic dish on the Passover seder plate, sitting beside a shank bone (zeroa), a roasted egg (beitzah), bitter herbs, or horseradish (maror), and a vegetable like parsley, lettuce, or celery (karpas).

Charoset variations:

The only thing we wouldn't recommend subbing in here is your more standard red wine. In this recipe (and in many American households) the key to a good charoset is using sweet, Kosher wine like Manischewitz. The taste borders on grape juice, and lends a sweetness to balance out the tart apples.

This recipe is very versatile and wine is not needed. As a matter of fact, this recipe doesn't use any alcohol at all! We change it up by using grape juice to get the same flavors and effects, without the buzz.

On a surface level, charoset is present on the Seder plate to represent the mortar the Hebrews needed to work with during their enslavement, as the Hagadah states, “They embittered the Jews' lives with hard labor in brick and mortar.”

Charoset, is one of the symbolic foods eaten by Jews during the Passover seder. There are no references to charoset in all the biblical text. The Torah never mentions eating it.

According to the Torah, we are supposed to eat matzo and abstain from eating wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats for the eight days of Passover. The category of foods called kitniyot (corn, rice, and beans) have also been off limits for many Ashkenazi families.

What's the difference? Ashkenazi charoset is usually made from apples, walnuts, a lot of cinnamon, and sweet wine. Sephardic versions veer more toward dried fruit, balanced spices, and a variety of nuts. And in my experience, they have a far superior texture and depth of flavor.

Which nuts do we not eat on Rosh Hashanah? ›

Just as we eat sweet apples and other foods on Rosh Hashanah because of their symbolic significance, it is customary to avoid bitter and vinegary foods on Rosh Hashanah (see, for example, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 129:9). The Rama (Orach Chaim 583:2) writes that some avoid eating egozim (walnuts) on Rosh Hashanah.

The word karpas [כרפס] appears only once in the Bible, in the phrase ותכלת כרפס חור u'tekhelet karpas hur, that is found in the Book of Esther. In this context it means "a fine linen," using a word borrowed from the Sanskrit or Persian kirpas.

The first known mention of apples and honey being eaten on Rosh Hashanah comes from the 14th-century legal work Arba'ah Turim, which states that German Jews ate apples and honey in order to bring sweetness into the New Year.

Usually freshly grated horseradish (if available). This symbolises the bitterness of slavery. If horseradish is not available, a bitter green lettuce, such as romaine, can be substituted in its place. The Hebrew term for the bitter herbs is maror and they are dipped into the charoset to lessen their bitterness.

Also, if you don't happen to have an heirloom bottle of Concord grape wine lying around, you can substitute ruby Port, creme sherry, or grape juice in the walnut recipe.

White wine vinegar: This is an ideal substitute for dry white wine, especially when its purpose is to deglaze a pan. Made from white wine, white wine vinegar has many of the same flavor characteristics, minus the alcohol. Lemon juice: This is another good substitute for deglazing.