Charoset Or Haroset Recipes For The Passover Or Pesach Seder
Charoset recipes are offered on this web page from many Middle Eastern countries, including the country that was the focus of the Passover / Pesach story.
Charoset : What is it?
Charoset - and its other English transliterations charoses, haroset, charoseth, haroseth, haroses, kharoset, kharoseth, and kharoses - is, in its most basic form, a mixture of apples, nuts, wine, cinnamon, and honey. Charoset symbolizes the mortar which the enslaved Hebrews used to make bricks when they were building store-houses and buildings in the cities of ancient Egypt, particularly the cities of Pithom and Ra'amses [not to be confused with the Pharaoh (King) Ramses] in the land of Goshen, which is an area of ancient Egypt that today is located between the city of Cairo and the Suez Canal. The cities in which the enslaved Hebrews toiled were used as supply centers for the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt.
What does charoset mean?
The word Charoset is a variant transliterated spelling of the Aramaic word Charoses, which is a word that was used to describe a food that contained a mixture of various fruits, nuts (usually almonds and/or walnuts or combinations of other types of nuts), ginger, cinnamon, occasionally honey, and either wine or grape juice. Since this mixture symbolizes the clay that the Hebrews used as slaves in ancient Egypt to make bricks in building store-houses and supply centers for the Pharaoh (King) of Egypt, particularly the supply centers of Pithom and Ra'amses (as mentioned, not to be confused with the well-known Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II), an allusion was made to the Hebrew words for clay, either "Charsis" or "Ceres", and so in Hebrew, the word Charoset that was used to describe this mixture became associated with the Hebrew words for clay, that is, "Charsis" and "Ceres".
Why is the traditional taste of charoset usually sweet in nature yet we are recalling the bitterness of slavery?
Passover contains a series of apparent contradictions. In this case, our first thought is in recalling the mortar used to make bricks as slaves in ancient Egypt yet upon tasting the sweetness of charoset, our perspective is broadened by reminding us of the current sweetness of our physical freedom. There is also another interesting point: as mentioned, the Hebrew word for "clay" that is used for building things is "cheres", and the Hebrew word for "destruction" is "heres". The closeness of the Hebrew word "cheres" to "heres" and vice-versa reminds us that all "building" can be used for both the sweet and the bitter.
The color of charoset : is there any meaning or symbolism to it?
The charoset mixture is usually a deep to dark color. The ancient rabbis wanted to simulate the color of the mortar in the charoset mixture and that was one of the reasons for the selection of the ingredients for charoset. The goal was to simulate reality as much as possible in the symbolic foods of the Passover festival so that in every generation each Jewish person would feel as if he or she had personally left ancient Egypt which maintains an unbroken chain of commemoration of G-d's commandment to observe the Passover of Egypt event in the past, present, and future.
Is there just one standard charoset recipe?
Charoset recipes come in a wide variety of ingredients. In fact, charoset recipes come in more varieties than any other Jewish recipe. This is due to families in different Jewish communities adding in local ingredients on top of the basic charoset recipe that reflect the local culture of the city and/or country of their residence. Individual families also add in their own unique ingredients to the charoset recipe on top of the basic charoset recipe and local ingredients taken from what is and/or was available where they live/lived.
The following charoset recipes are just some examples of the wide assortment of charoset recipes that have been created:
| Ashkenazi Charoset |
| Egyptian Charoset |
| Greek Charoset |
| Israeli Charoset |
| Italian Charoset |
| Moroccan Charoset Balls |
| Persian Charoset - Iranian Charoset |
| Sephardic Charoset |
| Turkish Charoset |
| Yemenite Charoset |
