Edible links to our Jewish history
When the exotic yellow Barhi dates first appear in the open-air markets of Israel, no one needs a calendar to sense that Rosh Hashanah is approaching. So too did the ancient Hebrews mark the seasons with cues from nature – the ripening of wheat in spring, the profusion of figs in summer, pomegranate harvest in fall, the pressing of olives in winter.
Rosh Hashanah, which begins at sundown on Friday, September 11, began as an agricultural festival. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. by the Romans, which forced the Jewish people into exile, helped transform how the holidays were understood and observed. “The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking” (HarperCollins, $29.95) by Phyllis Glazer with her sister, Rabbi Miriyam Glazer, explores, through mouth-watering recipes and their fascinating origins, how the holidays were remolded by the rabbis and sages in the Diaspora.
“There were no familiar signs of nature for the people to follow in their new land,” explained Phyllis Glazer, visiting from her home in Israel where she is a cookbook author and well-known food journalist. “The rabbis sought to save the holidays and give them other meanings.”
“There’s a beautiful line in one of the Psalms: ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” added Miriyam, “and so the rabbis looked for scriptural evidence in the Bible itself in order to preserve the festivals.”
While the Bible mentions a day for blowing of the shofar, there is no evidence of a holiday called Rosh Hashanah. “Centuries later Rosh Hashanah evolved,” noted Miriyam, “because, although our New Year had been in the spring, the culture our ancestors were living in had a New Year celebration in the fall. All the holidays as we know them today are products of hundreds of years of discussion that are captured in the Talmud.”
Over the centuries, as the Jewish people found themselves dispersed across the globe, traditions were added. For Rosh Hashanah we dip apples in honey to wish each other a sweet year. We eat carrots, because the Yiddish word for carrots, “merren,” also means “increased,” so we wish for “increased” health and prosperity at this time.
Challah, the egg bread so inextricably linked with every celebration, takes various shapes for each holiday. “I learned to braid my hair by learning to braid challah,” recalled Phyllis of her mother’s Sabbath loaf. On Rosh Hashanah we create grand spirals to dip in honey. “Since Rosh Hashanah also celebrates the creation of the world, the round challah is a symbol of the holiness of life and the life cycle, the endlessness of life,” said Miriyam. “We add raisins for the same reason that we dip apples in honey, to enjoy a sweet New Year.”
Because Rosh Hashanah comes at the beginning of the lunar month when the moon is hidden, we eat “hidden” foods. “That’s echoed in food like kreplach, in which you can’t see what’s inside,” noted Miriyam, “just as the moon is hidden at the holiday.”
Pomegranates too assume a special place on the Rosh Hashanah table. “It’s a blessing to eat a food at Rosh Hashanah that you haven’t eaten in that season yet,” said Miriyam. “That’s why we eat pomegranates at Rosh Hashanah when they have just come into season.” This ancient fertility symbol was even used to make wine, the Glazers point out, as we see in the Song of Songs.
Wine is so central to the celebration of Jewish festivals that grapes are the only fruit that have their own special blessing. “Every sacred meal begins with a glass of wine,” said Miriyam, “But the wine of our ancestors was very different from ours. They had to dilute it, because it was like a thick syrup. Today Israel has really reclaimed and developed beautifully the wine industry, so all these new and really fine wines are coming out of there. Many people associate kosher wine only with the thick, sweet wine that used to exist 75 years ago, but today they have the finest and a wide variety.”
Grapes are one of the Seven Species of the Bible, the special foods that best portray the land and its traditions, a list which also includes wheat, barley, figs, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.
“Seven is a magical number, mystical number in the Jewish tradition,” observed Miriyam. “The world was created in six days and on the seventh day G-d rested. The Seven Species are all over the tradition. We see them as evoking the whole spiritual path from the fulfilling of the basic needs of a human being, wheat and barley, to the sweetness of honey. We believe that they map a whole spiritual process.”
These ancient foods are not merely ingredients on a holiday table. They are edible links to the land, the Bible and generations of Jewish life.
The Best Honey Cake Yet
Makes one 12-inch loaf or two 9-inch loaves
One of the Seven Species of the Bible, honey symbolizes the wish for a sweet New Year. “Inspired by the Romanian-Jewish honey cake – which is light rather than dark – this version is light as a feather and really delicious,” write Phyllis and Miriyam Glazer.
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups honey
6 large eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of ground cardamom
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 12-inch loaf pan or two 9-inch loaf pans. Line bottom and sides with parchment paper to facilitate removal after baking. Set aside.
2. Place chopped nuts in baking pan and roast in oven for 10 minutes, shaking pan occasionally. Remove from oven and let cool.
3. Lower heat to 300°F.
4. In bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat oil, honey, egg yolks, and spices. Sift flour and baking powder and blend into honey mixture until smooth.
5. In separate bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, continuing to beat until egg whites are stiff. Fold small amount of egg whites into honey mixture, then fold in the rest gradually, mixing gently each time until incorporated. Stir in nuts.
6. Carefully pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake on middle shelf of preheated oven for 60 to 75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center pulls out almost dry. (It will have fine crumbs stuck to it.) Place baking pan(s) on wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes before turning out on rack to finish cooling.
Variations: Add 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger to batter instead of nuts or add 1/2 cup finely chopped candied citron to batter instead of or in addition to nuts.
Georgian Chicken In Pomegranate And Tamarind
Yield: 5 to 6 servings
This richly flavored fragrant chicken dish from Georgia on the Black Sea is traditional among Georgian Jews for Rosh Hashanah and the festival season. Traditionally made with chicken thighs, it can also be made with a combination of thighs, legs, and breast. Both tamarind paste and pomegranate molasses are available in Middle Eastern groceries.
10 chicken thighs
2 cups diced onion (about 4 medium)
4 cups diced red onion (about 4 medium)
2 cups chopped fresh cilantro
10 garlic cloves, sliced or pressed
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons tamarind paste
1/2 cup pomegranate molasses, diluted in 1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Seeds of 1/2 pomegranate, for garnish (optional but spectacular)
1. Remove skin from chicken thighs, rinse, and pat dry. In large Dutch oven or pot with cover, mix diced onions, 1 1/2 cups cilantro, the garlic, and spices. Blend in tamarind paste, diluted pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, and salt. Add chicken thighs and ladle sauce on top.
2. Cover and cook on medium high heat for 10 minutes, then lower heat and cook until meltingly tender, about 45 minutes or more depending on the size of the chicken parts.
3. Transfer chicken and sauce to serving platter and garnish with remaining 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top and serve hot.
Source: “The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking” by Phyllis Glazer with her sister, Rabbi Miriyam Glazer
Jlife Food Editor Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” (Workman) and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook” (an e-book short from Workman), a columnist and feature writer for the Orange County Register and other publications and can be found on the web at www.cookingjewish.com.
