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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

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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