Charoset

There are about a million different recipes for charoset. Most include a base of apples, sweet wine, and nuts. Some involve fruits such as raisins, cranberries, cherries, dates, chopped dried apricots, figs, pears, grapes, pomegranate, ginger, and many include walnuts, almonds, pecans, chestnuts, sesame seeds... any and all of the above. Some get quite involved.

Charoset is an important part of the Seder plate and meal, representing the bricks and mortar the slaves built Egypt up with. It is delicious mixture used to build hillel sandwiches. Some also believe it has Biblical roots, refering to a list of fruits and nuts listed in the Song of Songs. One charoset version (which I'd like to make some day) includes all of the listed ingredients... all 40+ of them.

My mother-in-law's charoset was the first I ever had, and the one I prefer. It is more of the Ashkenazi or Easter European version of charoset. It has few ingredients that shine when balanced properly.

In addition, some will turn charoset into a paste. If you like it that way, don't worry so much about the dice on your apples, and dump the mixture into a food processor at the end.

You will need:

2 large or 3 medium apples - I used braeburn. Use a heartier variety, such as gala, pink lady, empire, mcintosh... stay away from mealy, less sturdy apples such as golden or red delicious, which tend to disintigrate. If you like a little tartness, use 1 or 2 granny smiths.

Manishevits sweet red wine (about 3 TBS)

1/2 tsp cinnomon (this might be conservative, as I don't measure... try this, and if you want more, add more)

1/2 TBS honey

1/2 cup finely chopped almonds (more or less... I didn't measure these either. Use the food processor to make them teeny. I like a lot of almonds.)


Mix your wine and honey in a deep bowl. Peel, dice, and mix your apples in one at a time, so that they don't brown waiting to be chopped up.
Get as fine of a dice on your apples as you can. I did this by cutting the apple into 8 pieces. I took each piece and sliced it into 3 or 4 slices, stacked the slices (to look like the wedge they once were), and cut them vertically (3 or 4 times the long way) and then horizontally. Once you get the hang of it, this won't seem so arduous. After each wedge is diced, mix into the wine to prevent coloring.

Once all your apples are diced, add in the cinnomon and almonds. Refrigerate. This can be made the day before, and only gets tastier sitting in the wine and cinnomon.