I’m not allowed into the kitchen a few days before Pesach… But I really wanted to prepare a Haroset that would resemble the new recipe I learned from reading Maimonides a little more seriously than previous years.
According to Maimonides, the Haroset is made with dry fruits (figs, dates, or raisins) and wine vinegar and tebalin. The color and texture of mud, a sour flavor , and “tebalin”, an herb or a spice that looks like straw.
Following Maimonides I prepared without any difficulties a paste with dry dates, dry figs, and vinegar.
Then, the most challenging element to figure out was the tebalin. Something to be put into the Haroset that would visually resemble the “teben” or straw.
I went shopping. Looking for something long that would resemble straws. Following the advise of my wife, Coty, I went to a Chinese supermarket. I checked alfalfa and other exotic sprouts. Then, I thought “eureka” , I found the “straws”: Kosher certified “Japanese Enoki Mushrooms”: long, white and thin. Perfect for the visual effects. I bought a small bag. But my wife wasn’t happy with Japanese mushrooms in the Seder. I had to pick a side between my wife and Maimonides…
And then, I went to “Everfresh” to look for an alternative. Cinnamon sticks, perfect shape , but too dark, too similar to the color of the Charoset. And we need the special effects of the contrasting colors of mud and straw. I looked into other staff like orange dry peels, but they were too short. “Frozen Zucchini Spirals”, but they too much like spaghetti. Lemon-grass was my next choice. Or lavender branches. They looked cute but not perfect. It should be something edible, she reminded me.
I came home with a few items: edible, non edible, frozen and i was still, undecided what I could use. Then, a small miracle happened! Coty brought me a small package of Rosemary Leaves to check if they were Kosher for Pesach. And when I was looking at them, I had a “vision”. Rosemary leaves are short, that’s why i would not have considered them in the first place. But their color is perfect. Light, between white and yellow. They were herbs like Maimonides required, and not Japanese mushrooms, and they were edible, like my wife required. As I’m looking as these leaves and how not to get them inside the Haroset I had an epiphany: I visualize the Moroccan Charoset, prepared with the shape of small balls, the size of falafel or meatballs. In my vision, I saw the rosemary leaves mixed with the Haroset balls. And I saw the mud with the straws!
Dedicated to my Monday Night class students
