Delicious
Memories LINDA MOREL | JE FOOD COLUMNIST
4 APRIL 4, 2019
MOROCCAN CHAROSET | PAREVE
Yield: 25 charoset balls
½ cup pitted dates
½ cup raisins
½ cup blanched, slivered almonds
½ cup walnuts
1 tablespoon grape juice
Lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry
Small squares of matzah
Place the dates into the bowl of a food processor fi tted with
the metal blade. Process the dates until they are broken into
tidbits the size of raisins. Add the raisins, almonds, walnuts
and grape juice. Process until the nuts are fi nely ground and the
mixture clumps together. Th is may take several minutes.

Remove a heaping teaspoon of the mixture at a time. Using your
palms, roll the mixture into balls about an inch in diameter. If your
hands get sticky, rinse them under cool water and dry them with
paper towels.

Serve the charoset balls wrapped in lettuce leaves, or make
matzah-charoset sandwiches by placing charoset balls between
two squares of matzah.

JEWISH EXPONENT
See Memories, Page 6
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“WHAT WOULD YOU like to eat on Passover?” I asked my
granddaughters. “I’ll make anything you want,” opening a folder
stuff ed with favorite Pesach recipes.

”I like eating matzah,” 10-year-old Nicole said.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll have plenty of matzah.”
“I want the Moroccan charoset — those bite-sized balls of
fruit,” 12-year-old Juliette said.

“Here is that recipe,” I said, pulling out a stained card. I’ve
sprinkled some Sephardic dishes into my repertoire.

“What about the salad with oranges and strawberries?” she
continued. Th at’s always on my Passover menu because it’s a harbinger
of spring, along with my chicken recipe, brimming with parsley.

“I love the almond cookies dipped in chocolate,” Nicole said.

I was gratifi ed the girls requested foods I serve at Passover
instead of clamoring for marshmallows and Nutella. For several
years, I’ve tried to foster Passover food memories.

While my granddaughters love reciting the Four Questions,
fi nding the afi koman and singing songs at the end of the seder,
I’ve found preparing certain foods only at Passover is a meaning-
ful way to instill attachment to Pesach. I could bake the almond
cookies dipped in chocolate all year round, but when Passover
rolled around, the girls wouldn’t look forward to them.

I was delighted there are foods my granddaughters crave
at Passover. When they’re older, I’m hoping they’ll ask for
my recipes.