My Family's Apple Harosets Recipe & What Passover Is Really About (2024)

FAQs

What is a typical Passover dinner menu? ›

The actual Seder meal is also quite variable. Traditions among Ashkenazi Jews generally include gefilte fish (poached fish dumplings), matzo ball soup, brisket or roast chicken, potato kugel (somewhat like a casserole) and tzimmes, a stew of carrots and prunes, sometimes including potatoes or sweet potatoes.

Charoset (pronounced har-o-set) comes from the Hebrew word cheres that means "clay," though it goes by many different names around the world. It is a sweet relish made with fruits, nuts, spices, as well as wine and a binder such as honey.

Charoset – A sweet, brown mixture representing the mortar and brick used by the Hebrew slaves to build the structures of Egypt. In Ashkenazi Jewish homes, Charoset is traditionally made from chopped nuts, grated apples, cinnamon, and sweet red wine.

The menu may differ depending on family tradition, but some popular choices include brisket, roasted chicken, gefilte fish and potato kugel. For dessert, many opt for a flourless chocolate cake, macaroons made with coconut, or something made with matzo (like a Matzo Truffle Tart or Berry Matzo Crumble).

The seder plate 7 ingredients include Beitzah, Maror, Charoset, Karpas, Chazeret, Zeroah, and Matzo.

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.

Charoset is one of the symbolic foods on the Passover Seder Plate. After reciting the blessings, and eating first maror dipped in charoset and then a matzah "Hillel sandwich" (with two matzot) combining charoset and maror, people often eat the remainder spread on matzah.

: a pastelike mixture of apples, nuts, cinnamon, and wine used during the seder meal on the Passover and symbolic of the clay from which the Israelites made bricks during their Egyptian slavery.

Symbolism. According to the Haggadah, the traditional text which is recited at the Seder and which defines the Seder's form and customs, the maror symbolizes the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.

Haroset (sweet fruit paste symbolizing mortar)

Ashkenazi Jews generally include apples in haroset, a nod to the midrashic tradition that the Israelite women would go into the fields and seduce their husbands under the apple trees, in defiance of the Egyptian attempts to prevent reproduction by separating men and women.

Why is an orange on a Seder plate? ›

The next year, Heschel put an orange on her seder plate and shared that she chose the orange “because it suggests the fruitfulness for all Jews when lesbians and gay men are contributing and active members of Jewish life.” The seeds of the orange, like other items on the seder plate, symbolize rebirth and renewal.

During the Seder, we're instructed to dip the parsley into salt water to symbolize the tears that were shed and the hardships that the Hebrew slaves were forced to endure.

Pasta is typically made from wheat, and even gluten-free varieties do not automatically get a kosher for Passover seal of approval. (This is actually a thing that appears on certified kosher for Passover packaged food.) It's technically a seed, and a lot of Jews embrace it to get through the eight days.

– Many dairy products, like cheese and yogurt, are acceptable when they are not mixed with additives (like corn syrup). Dairy products cannot be mixed with meat. If you're strictly keeping kosher, always look for a Passover kosher hechsher.

Some Christians, out of deference for traditional gentile Easter dates, choose to celebrate Passover, or hold Seders, on the Thursday before Easter, known as Maundy Thursday, or the Last Supper observance.

This is the seder plate, and each food is symbolic for an aspect of Passover: A roasted shank bone represents the Pescah sacrifice, an egg represents spring and the circle of life, bitter herbs represent the bitterness of slavery, haroset (an applesauce-like mixture with wine, nuts, apples, etc.) represents the mortar ...

During the seder the story of Passover is told through readings, songs, prayers, drinking wine, and eating specific foods. And it is customary for everyone seated at the Passover table (yes, even the non-Jews) to participate in the rituals.

This Christian observance of this ritual meal celebrates not only our tradition of Christ's last supper but our own Jewish heritage which provided the context for Jesus' institution at the last supper. The Seder meal is accompanied by commentary, prayers and, where possible, songs.