Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9409010040
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The two-day celebration begins on the first day of Tishrei, the first month of the Jewish lunar calendar. This year, the first day falls on Sept. 6 of the common solar-based calendar.
Honey has always been an important Rosh Hashanah symbol, inspiring sweet thoughts, prayers and festive meals. Honey was the chief sweetener during biblical times, and the Bible frequently uses honey as a metaphor for purity and goodness. The promised land was to be "flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8), and the savior Immanuel was "to eat butter and honey ... that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good" (Isaiah 7:14).
Many Jews begin their Rosh Hashanah holiday meal with apples dipped in honey, a gesture that signifies their hopes for a sweet New Year and the bounty of God's creation. Often a prayer is said over the fruit followed by this request: "May it be your will to renew for us a good and sweet year."
The first course of many Rosh Hashanah meals is fish. Frequently, the fish is served with its head on to emphasize the hope that our "heads, the source of reason, will guide us through the coming year." Rosh Hashanah also means "head of year."
Gefilte fish is a popular choice for the New Year menu, but so are sweet and sour preparations because they provide another opportunity to use honey in the meal. The recipe for sweet and sour fish included here also uses carrots - another favorite Rosh Hashanah food because of their sweetness and their name. In Yiddish, the word for carrot is merren, which also means "increase," and any increase in the sweetness of the year is obviously desirable.
Rosh Hashanah tzimmes are often made with carrots and honey, but sweet potatoes, yams, apricots and prunes are also popular ingredients for these sweet stews. The word tzimmes means "fuss" in Yiddish. Beef and sweet potato tzimmes is a hearty, but delicately sweet New Year's main dish that is well worth the "fuss" of preparation.
Sweet kugels are another fixture of the Rosh Hashanah table. For everyday meals, kugels are most often savory. For the New Year, however, the recipes return to their roots in Germany and Eastern Europe, where kugels were made with apples, raisins and other sweet things. The recipe for honey noodle kugel calls for dried cranberries, a lovely and delicious new twist to this time-honored casserole theme.
To finish a Rosh Hashanah meal, honey cake is a must. Every grandmother, mother and aunt has her own version of this classic Jewish dessert. Start your own tradition with hazelnut honey cake made elegant with dry red wine and a touch of lemon peel. It's sure to be a hit, even though it doesn't taste exactly like Aunt Rose's.
Rosh Hashanah, with its emphasis on sweet foods, is naturally a very popular holiday with children. Tayglach, cookies drenched in honey and dotted with almonds, are usually prepared only for Rosh Hashanah. Tayglach provide sweet opportunities to remind children about the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and its importance in the Jewish year.
Just in time for this New Year, the National Honey Board announced the winners of a contest sponsored for the second consecutive year in conjunction with Hadassah magazine, a Jewish publication. More than 175 honey-based entries were received from members of the international Jewish women's volunteer organization, Hadassah.
The first-place winning chiffon honey cake from the Beverly Hills (Calif.) chapter garnered a $2,000 donation in the chapter's name to Hadassah. The La Jolla, Calif., chapter's meatless pasta sauce earned a $1,000 donation, and the honey apricot rolls got a $500 donation on behalf of the Shenango Valley, Pa., chapter.
Roanoke chapter President Gloria Weckstein said the local group of about 100 members did not enter the honey recipe contest, but is very active in other ways to help Hadassah.
"Right now, most of our funds are going to support a new maternity clinic at the Hadassah hospital in Israel," Weckstein said. "We recently had a fund-raising supper to help buy layettes."
Among Hadassah's numerous pursuits, Weckstein listed medical care, youth rescue and education, career and vocational training and forestation of desert lands.
She said that the Roanoke chapter of Hadassah did, in 1969, compile an impressive 400-plus page cookbook called "Tastefully Yours" that includes favorite recipes from some of the area's best chefs, as well as chapter members. She said the book, which sold for about $15, hasn't been reprinted mainly because it seems like such a massive undertaking, but she was fairly certain that a few copies are still available.
Upon further consideration, Weckstein admitted that with new technologies, reprinting the book might not now be as daunting as it once seemed, and it might make a good fund-raiser. She promised to mention the idea at the next chapter meeting.
In the meantime, the honey board publishes a very good 92-page collection of honey-based recipes for $2.50. Request "Sweetened With Honey the Natural Way" from the National Honey Board, Dept. CB, 421 21st Ave., Suite 203, Longmont, Colo. 80501.
\ CHIFFON HONEY CAKE
GAIL'S MEATLESS PASTA SAUCE
BESS' HONEY APRICOT ROLLS
APRICOT GLAZED CHICKEN
DUCK BREAST WITH TANGY HONEY SAUCE
HONEY NOODLE KUGEL
TAYGLACH
BEEF AND SWEET POTATO TZIMMES
SWEET AND SOUR FISH
HAZELNUT HONEY CAKE
\ Please see microfilm for recipes.
by CNB