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Sephardi charoset

Sephardi charoset in bowl with matzah

Sephardi charoset

Name: Sephardi charoset
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 100ml-120ml sweet dessert wine red wine or grape juice; 110g raisins; 55g medjool dates or regular dates, finely chopped; 55g dried apricots finely chopped; large pinch of cinnamon plus extra to taste (optional); 60g whole almonds toasted

Victoria Prever

Published: March 25, 2021 at 3:28 PM

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Serves 4 - 6

Easy

Prep: 5 mins

Cook: 10 mins

plus cooling

A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.2 ratingsRate

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Traditionally, Sephardi charoset is made to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover. The dessert wine, sweet dates and fragrant cinnamon give it a festive feel

Gluten-free

Vegan

Vegetarian

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Ashkenazi charoset

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Matzah brei

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Charoset (or haroset) is a symbolic food used in the Jewish Passover celebrations. It’s said to represent the mortar used by the slaves to build the pyramids of Egypt.

There are endless recipes (and spellings) for it, with ingredients differing with the country, city or even village of origin. Jewish people around the world fall into either categories of either Ashkenazi or Sephardi — describing where their families originated. Ashkenazi people came from Eastern Europe and Sephardi, predominantly from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa.

Ashkenazi Jews make their charoset from walnuts, apples, red wine and cinnamon. The Sephardi version tends to be made from a wider range of sticky, dried fruit and sometimes tropical fruit like bananas.

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

100ml-120ml sweet dessert wine

red wine or grape juice
110g raisins
55g medjool dates

or regular dates, finely chopped
55g dried apricots

finely chopped
large pinch of cinnamon

plus extra to taste (optional)
60g whole almonds

toasted

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Nutrition: per serving

kcal188
fat6g
saturates0g
carbs25g
sugars24g
fibre2g
protein4g
salt0.05g

Method

step 1

Heat 100ml wine or grape juice in a pan. Bring to a simmer and add the dried fruit and cinnamon. Simmer gently until the liquid is syrupy and the fruit tender, about 5-6 mins. If the liquid evaporates before the fruit has softened or starts to dry out, add another 20ml of wine or grape juice. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
step 2

Tip the toasted almonds into the small bowl of a food processor and pulse until you have larger and smaller pieces, but no whole nuts. Tip them into a mixing bowl, then spoon the cooled fruit mixture into the food processor and pulse until it starts to form a paste, but still has some bigger lumps of fruit remaining.
step 3

Scrape the fruit into the mixing bowl with the nuts and stir to combine. Add a pinch of salt and taste, adding more cinnamon and salt to taste, if you like. Will keep for several days in an airtight container.

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A star rating of 4.5 out of 5.2 ratings

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