{"id":1756568,"date":"2022-04-05T17:16:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T22:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=1756568"},"modified":"2024-10-07T04:06:55","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T09:06:55","slug":"date-charoset-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/date-charoset-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Sephardic Date Charoset"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are lots of stars on a Passover table\u2014the slow cooked brisket<\/a>, the nostalgic matzo ball soup<\/a>, the spicy maror<\/a> horseradish spread. But growing up, our seder<\/a> was so long that it was hours<\/em> before we would get to the actual meal, as we read the Haggadah<\/em> and retold the story of the Jewish people escaping slavery in Egypt.<\/p>\r\n

I always knew the meal was near when we finally reached the charoset. I loved it because it was a sweet and flavorful Passover staple, but there's more to this simply prepared date charoset recipe than meets the eye.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

What Is Charoset?<\/h2>\r\n

The foods we eat during the seder help tell the story of the Jewish exodus from slavery in Egypt. Like everything on the Passover table, charoset is a symbolic food and part of the rich history of this holiday.<\/p>\r\n

Charoset represents the mortar the Israelites used to build the pyramids for Pharaoh while they were in Egypt. While recipes vary by region and family, they generally involve some type of fruit and nut mixed with sweet wine and warming spices. As they're blended together, the ingredients form a sort of paste that's symbolic of the mortar and reminds us of what our ancestors survived.<\/p>\r\n

One way we eat charoset during the seder is in a \"Hillel sandwich.\" Charoset is spread between two small pieces of matzo<\/a>\u2014the unleavened bread that resembles crackers that we eat on Passover\u2014along with the bitter maror, the horseradish spread. The mixture of the sweet with the bitter reminds us of our difficult history and the sweetness we experienced in our exodus.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Sephardic Charoset vs. Ashkenazi Charoset<\/h2>\r\n

Jews around the world have different Passover traditions<\/a>, including their own recipes for charoset<\/a>. They vary from region to region, but the most widely known here in the U.S. are the Ashkenazi and Sephardic charosets.<\/p>\r\n

Sephardic Jews, whose ancestors come from Spain, Portugal and North Africa, make charoset into a proper paste by blending dried fruit such as dates<\/a>, raisins, figs, or apricots with nuts and sweet red wine. Ashkenazi Jews, whose families hail from Eastern Europe, make charoset<\/a> by mixing diced apples with walnuts, cinnamon and sweet red wine like Manischewitz.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Sephardic Date Charoset Recipe<\/h2>\r\n

This Sephardic charoset features dates, raisins and apricots, and I love that the paste it makes more closely resembles the mortar it symbolizes. The recipe below makes about 3 cups of charoset.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Ingredients<\/h3>\r\n