Medjool date charoset

My favorite food at the seder is this medjool date charoset. Date charoset is a staple for Passover in Sephardic and Israeli/Mizrachi communities. The flavors are similar to apple and walnut charoset, but I find the sticky yet spreadable consistency much more enjoyable to eat — and it also stays put once you add it to matzah.

You can prepare this a day or two ahead of the seder and it doesn’t take much effort to put together. The only tools I use are a saucepan, a large chef’s knife and a cutting board, so it’s a great choice if you have limited kitchen tools for Passover. You can pulse the cooked dates through a food processor if you have one, but I love the texture when it’s simply chopped by hand.

Ingredients:
1 pound medjool dates
5 tablespoons orange juice
⅓ cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons red wine
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

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Slice each date in half to remove the pit and hard stem from each piece.

Put all the dates into a medium-sized sauce pan and cover with about 1 inch of water.

Bring the mixture to a soft boil before reducing the heat to simmer for about 1 hour or until the dates are soft, plump and most of the water has evaporated.

Add 5 tablespoons of orange juice (fresh squeezed is fine) and continue to simmer until the orange juice evaporates.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.

I prepare the dates a day before the seder, cover with plastic wrap and mix with the rest of the ingredients a few hours before the seder, which allows the flavors of the wine and cinnamon to soften and to meld together with the dates. I prefer a strong but sweet red wine for this recipe but you can use a dry red wine if that’s what you have on hand. There is enough sugar in the dates so you don’t need sweet wine to make it palatable.

Grind or hand-chop the walnuts.

Mix the nuts into the dates before adding the cinnamon and wine to the bowl, mix well and cover with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving and cover any leftovers well for the second seder.

This recipe makes about 3 cups of charoset, so if each person uses about a half cup at the seder, this recipe will serve 6. You can easily double the recipe if you are having a larger crowd.

Chag kasher v’sameach — enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.