Passover 2025: A Celebration of Freedom

Passover 2025: A Celebration of Freedom

April 12, 2025 though April 20, 2015 this year, Jews worldwide will begin celebrating the religious holiday of Passover commemorating the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. 

The beginning of the holiday is celebrated with a ceremonial meal known as the Seder, where families and friends join together and read from the Passover Haggadah which retells the ancient biblical story from slavery to freedom.

A Seder plate is placed in the center of the dinner table displaying 6 symbolic foods to help tell the Biblical story.

1. Maror (Bitter Herbs) – Usually horseradish which represents the bitterness of being slaves .

2. Charoset – A sweet mixture of apples, nuts, wine, and spices, symbolizing the mortar used by Israelite slaves to build for Pharaoh.

3. Karpas (parsley or celery) – Represents springtime and renewal; However, it is dipped in saltwater to symbolize the tears of the many years of slavery.

4. Z’roa (Shank Bone) –symbolizing the Paschal (Passover) lamb that was sacrificed and eaten before the Israelites left Egypt.

5. Beitzah (Egg) – cycle of life and renewal.

6. Chazeret (Second Bitter Herb) – Often romaine lettuce, reinforcing the bitterness of slavery.

   
   

   

   Throughout the holiday, unleavened cracker-like "matzoh" is eaten instead of leavened regular bread because the Israelite's bread did not have time to rise when the Israelites were liberated from Egypt.

Many Jewish families attend synagogue prayer services and participate in festive Passover meals during the 8 days. 

The holiday is an opportunity to reflect on themes of gratitude, freedom and renewal, drawing connections between the ancient past and present-day struggles for justice and equality. 

Charoset recipe Ashkenazie and Sephardic

The Taste of Tradition: Our Family Charoset Recipes

There are certain traditional holiday foods that instantly transport me back to my childhood, and charoset is one of them. Every year when I was young, as Passover approached, our kitchen would fill with the sweet aroma of apples and cinnamon as we prepared the ritualistic foods for the Passover Seder.

I can still picture my mother at the kitchen table, carefully chopping the apples and walnuts by hand, insisting that the texture had to be just right before she added the spices, honey and drops of sweet Manishewitz wine. (For the children she added grape juice).

Charoset is one of the 6 symbolic foods on the Passover Seder plate. 

It is a symbol of our ancestors’ hard work and resilience passed down from generations before us. No Passover Seder is complete without it, and to this day, I still make it the same way my family always has using the same worn recipe card passed down from my mother. 

Every delicious bite of this Eastern European recipe carries the warmth of tradition, the comfort of home, and the reminder that no matter where life takes us, our traditions always go with you.

This year, I want to share our family’s easy charoset recipe with you, so that you, too, can bring this sweet tradition to your own table.

Basic Recipe:

6 red apples, washed, cored, and finely chopped (diced small is good)

2 cups finely chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

4 tablespoons of sweet red kosher wine (such as Manishewitz)

or substitue kosher purple grape juice

Optional: 4 tablespoons of honey to hold the mixture together  

Directions: 

Mix chopped apples, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and wine (or grape juice) in a large bowl and mix well. (Add honey if you want it to stick together more). Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Enjoy on matzah. 

My Notes: 

1, The beauty of Charoset (or sometimes pronounced Charoses) is that it is gluten-free and plant-based.

2. Recipes for Charoset differ from country to country. Jews from Middle countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, and North Africa are often referred to as Sephardic Jews (as opposed to Jews of Eastern European origin who are referred to as Askenazi Jews). 

My husband is originally from Egypt and their Charoset is made entirely differently using dates, raisins, nuts, etc. I is more of a paste, spreads beautifully on matzah and is really delicious.

 

My late Mother-in-Law, Toni's, Sephardic Charoset Recipe

Ingredients: 

2 cups dark raisins, soaked overnight
2 cups pitted dates, soaked overnight
Gound walnuts for a topping (optional)

Directions: 
Soak raisins in a bowl overnight 
Soak pitted dates in a bowl overnight 
Drain well in the morning
Put raisins and dates in a food processor and process a few times until mixture is well mixed and forms a paste. 

Top with optional ground walnuts 
Eat on matzah 

My little Passover Humor : 

This is a great recipe to help keep everyone "regular" during the eight days of Passover matzah eating. Matzah can be very constipating and brings a whole new meaning to the Hagaddah phrase of "let my people go" 

Sephadic Choroset made of dates and raisins is a great equalizer.

Passover is celebrated this year April 12-April 20 2025

IN MY KITCHEN - APRIL 2025

It's the first of the month and time to give you a peek at what's in my kitchen where I will join other bloggers at sherry's monthly IMK blog share. 

I'm going to be taking a vacation in Europe in May. Being gluten-free and vegetarian/vegan makes it difficult to sometimes find good meals. I'm looking into protein bars to keep as a back up. So far I've tried these three bars. I think I'll be buying a case of the no cow bars. They are vegan, taste good, and lowest in calories but high in protein. 

I've been making organic asparagus which I get in a large bag at Costco. 

I love adding pine nuts to my salads and quinoa dishes.         

Palmini looks like spaghetti strands but is actually made from hearts of palm. I love to eat it with tofu and roasted vegetables. Very low in calories and a nice alternative to spaghetti. 

I made a potato kale soup that was hearty and warming. 

These little yellow balls are called golden berries. They are sweet and delicious. They grow in Florida and other warm countries such as Colombia. 

I made this tofu filling for lettuce wraps. (recipe link)

My Mugs 

I bought some Passover macaroons on sale for the Passover holiday in which begins in 10 days. We will be driving home to Pennsylvania to be with family, leaving our car and then flying back to Florida. Our transatlantic cruise starts in Florida to Barcelona and then we will fly home to Pennsylvania. I'll be writing about our BIG vacation in future posts. 

I'm still getting flowers from the flower man who comes to our condo 

every week.