Charoset is a dip for Matzah (Unleavened Bread) and Marror (Bitter Herbs) eaten during Passover Seder. It is not mentioned in the Bible, and it originated during the Temple Period, although it is not clear exactly when and why. Since the medieval times it has been a sweet pasty dip, made from nuts, apples, dates, and wine and its contents have been connected to various symbols in the story of Exodus from Egypt, such as the mortar or the straw from which the Israelite slaves built Egyptian store houses. However, the origins of Charoset are very different than what it is today. In order to reconstruct the original Charoset recipe from the Temple Period and identify what kind of dish it was, we need to turn to its earliest descriptions in the Rabbinic literature from the Land of Israel, namely, the Mishna and the Tosefta (quotes from 1st – 2nd centuries CE), and the Jerusalem Talmud (quotes from end of 2nd beginning of the 3rd centuries CE). The earliest comment about Charoset in the Babylonian Talmud (Pesachim 116a) is made by Rabbi Assi, who lived already at the end of the 3rd, beginning of the 4th century CE and was much further removed from the latest statements in the Jerusalem Talmud by close to 100 years. Hence, it is clear that by then living memory of real reasons of the creation of Charoset has faded and new, more esoteric reasons were invented.
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[When] they have brought in front of him [during the Passover Seder] vegetables and Chazeret (a bitter dip), he dips [the vegetables] in the Chazeret until he reaches [in the Seder procedure to the] bread hors d’oeuvres. [Following that] they have brought in front of him Matzah (unleavened bread), Chazeret, and Charoset, even though there is no [obligatory] commandment [to eat] Charoset [during Passover Seder]. Rabbi Eliezer Bar Tzadok (1st century CE) says, [there is an obligatory] commandment [to eat Charoset during Passover Seder]. And in the [Second] Temple [in Jerusalem], they would also bring in front of him the flesh of the Passover Sacrifice. |
הביאו לפניו ירקות וחזרת, מטבל בחזרת עד שהוא מגיע לפרפרת הפת. הביאו לפניו מצה וחזרת וחרוסת, אע”פ שאין חרוסת מצוה. רבי אלעזר בי רבי צדוק אומר מצוה. ובמקדש מביאין לפניו גופו של פסח. |
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Mishna Pesachim 10:3 (and parallel in Tosefta Pesachim 10:7) |
משנה פסחים י:ג (דומה בתוספתא פסחים י:ז) |
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We do not put flour [on Passover], not into Charoset and not into mustard. However, if he already put [flour] into it, he should eat it right away [in order for the flour not to become leavened due to the moisture of the dip]. Rabbi Meir (end of 1st – beginning of 2nd century CE) forbids [eating Charoset with flour in it on Passover, even right away]. |
אין נותנין את הקמח לא לתוך החרוסת, ולא לתוך החרדל. ואם נתן, יאכל מיד. רבי מאיר אוסר. |
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Mishna Pesachim 2:8 |
משנה פסחים ב:ח |
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The sons of the house of Isi [Ben Yehudah] said in the name of Isi (their father) (3rd century CE), “Why was it (i.e. Charoset) called [in the local dialect of Palestinian Aramaic] Rubah [as opposed to the Hebrew name Charoset]? Because it (i.e Charoset) was [making it] tough (Rabbah) for him [to make it].” Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi (3rd century CE) said, “It (i.e. Charoset) must be made thick (Rabbah) [and not liquid (Rabeh – moist)].” He said, his reason was that it is a commemoration of the mortar [used in Egypt by the Hebrew slaves to build store houses.] There are those that teach in public that it should be liquid. They said their reason is that it is a commemoration of the blood (in the first plague in Egypt and blood spilled by the Israelite slaves who were killed). |
בני בייתיה דאיסי בשם איסי, ולמה נקרא שמה רובה? שהיא רבה עמו. רבי יהושע בן לוי אמר צריכא שתהא עבה. מילתיה אמר זכר לטיט. אית תניי תני צבריה שתהא רבה. מילתיה אמר זכר לדם. |
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Jerusalem Talmud Pesachim Chapter 10, Halacha 3 |
תלמוד ירושלמי פסחים פרק י, הלכה ג |
From these three excerpts we learn the following things about Charoset:
- Normally, Charoset had flour added to it, but it was not recommended or even forbidden to be done on Passover.
- The majority of the Rabbis were of the opinion that there is was no obligation to eat Charoset during the Passover Seder. Hence, originally it was merely a custom and seemingly originally had no specific reason, which is why the Rabbis from the Temple period do not state any reasons for it being eaten. The earliest reasons appear in the 3rd century CE, over 150 years after the Temple’s destruction in the year 70 CE.
- Charoset was called Rubah due to a play on words, between the words Rabbah (strong, tough, thick) and Rabeh (moist) and could be made thick or liquid despite the same recipe for both options. This implies that its texture could be controlled by mere amount of some key ingredient added to it.
- Charoset was tough to make, requiring excessive labor.
- By the 3rd century CE, new reasons connecting Charoset to the Biblical Exodus story began to be put forward, because all memory of its origins was gone.
From the above list we can identify what Charoset really was originally. It was the Greek dip called in Greek, Thyestos (θυεστος), and in Latin, Moretum, both of which mean “made in a mortar”. The Hebrew word Charoset is a technical term which means “made like clay” or “clay like” and it was called that, because clay was mashed in a mortar just like Moretum was. Hence, the word Charoset in Hebrew is a direct translation of the Greek word Moretum.
Moretum recipe, contemporary to the end of the Hasmonean period (165 – 37 BCE), came down to us from an anonymous author, usually referred to as Pseudo-Virgil, in the form of a poem, written in a collection of poems called Appendix Vergiliana. Moretum, written in 124 hexameter lines, describes the preparation of a meal by a poor farmer, Simylus. Waking up before dawn, he starts the fire, grinds grain and all of the ingredients in a mortar, while singing and talking to his African slave Scybale. Simylus makes his Moretum from garlic, cheese, and herbs. Then he eats, and goes out to plow the field.
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Moretum Iam nox hibernas bis quinque peregerat horas Latin text from Fairclough, H. Rushton. Virgil with an English translation in two volumes. Volume II. Aeneid VII-XII, The Minor Poems. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard University Press, 1918. |
Moretum Already night had passed ten of its winter hours and the bird that wakes English translation from Kenney, E. J. “The Ploughman’s Lunch: Moretum.: A Poem ascribed to Virgil.” Bristol Classical Press, 1984. |
Mashing ingredients using a mortar and pestle requires a lot of physical strength and therefore it was tough to make. Moretum was usually made with cheese, but sometimes with nuts instead of cheese, into pasty balls and was wet and clay like, but not liquid. However, it could have been made liquid simply by adding more olive oil and wine vinegar to it, which was a key ingredient. Moretum normally had flour in it, but on Passover that ingredient was removed. Cheese was removed as well, since it could not be eaten together with meat, which was the main focus of the Passover Seder during which multiple goat and/or sheep sacrifices were eaten. Hence, nuts were used instead of cheese.
Moretum was used during the Passover Seder simply, because it was a classic dip eaten at a Greek Symposium and the Passover Seder was modeled based on the Greek Symposium during the Hasmonean period, incorporating most of its elements, procedures and foods. There was no specific Jewish reason why Moretum was eaten at the Seder, and therefore no reason was stated by the early Rabbis. Once, all memory of the original Symposium in the Rabbinic circles was gone and the form of the Passover Seder became an exclusively Jewish affair, the Rabbis came up with new reasons connecting Charoset to the Biblical Exodus story.
Another Moretum recipe with variations is brought down by the Roman writer Columella, in his work, On Agriculture, written in 60-65 CE:
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Addito in mortarium satureiam, mentam, rutam, coriandrum, apium, porrum sectivum, aut si id non erit viridem cepam, folia lactucae, folia erucae, thymum viride vel n epetam, turn etiam viride puleium, et caseum recentem et salsum: ea omnia pariter conterito, acetique piperati exiguum, permisceto. Hanc mixturam cum in catillo composueris, oleum superfundito. Aliter. Cum viridia, quae supra dicta sunt, contriveris, nuces iuglandes purgatas, quantum satis videbitur, interito, acetique piperati exiguum permisceto, et oleum infundito. Aliter. Sesamum leviter torrefactum cum iis viridi bus, quae supra dicta sunt, conterito. Item aceti piperati exiguum permisc eto, turn supra oleum superfundito. Aliter. Caseum Gallicum vel cuiuscunque notae olueris minutatim concidito et conterito, nucleosque pineos, si eorum copia fu erit, si minus, nuces Avellanas torrefactas adempta cute, vel amygdalas aeque supra condimenta pariter misceto, acetique piperati exiguum adicito et permisceto, compositum que oleo superfundito. Si condimenta viridia non erunt, puleium aridum vel th ymum vel origanum aut aridam satureiam cum caseo conterito, acetumque piperatum et oleum adicito. Possunt tamen haec arida, si reliquorum non sit potestas , etiam singula caseo misceri. Columella, De Re Rustica, Book XII, LIX. Latin text from Forster, Edward S., and Edward H. Heffner. “Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella: On Agriculture X–XII. On Trees.” Volume III (1955). pp. 334-336. |
Put into a mortar savory, mint, rue, coriander, parsley, leeks or, if you have no leeks, a green onion, leaves of lettuce and of rocket, green thyme or calamint. Also green pennyroyal and fresh and salted cheese: pound them all together and mix a little peppered vinegar with them. When you have put this mixture in a bowl, pour oil over it. When you have crushed the green stuffs detailed above, rub into them walnuts, well cleaned, in what seems a sufficient quantity, and mix in a little peppered vinegar and pour oil on the top. Crush up some slightly parched sesame with the green stuffs detailed above; also mix in a little peppered vinegar and then pour oil on the top. Cut Gallic cheese, or any other sort you like, in minute pieces and pound it up; take pine-cones, if you have plenty of them, but, if not, toasted hazelnuts after taking off their shells, or almonds and mix them in the same quantity over the herbs used for seasoning and add a little peppered vinegar and mix it in, and pour oil over the compound thus formed. If there are no green seasonings crush dry pennyroyal or thyme or marjoram or dried savory with the cheese and add peppered vinegar and oil; but any one of these herbs when dry, if the rest are not available, can also be mixed by itself with cheese. Columella, De Re Rustica, Book XII, LIX. English translation from Forster, Edward S., and Edward H. Heffner. “Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella: On Agriculture X–XII. On Trees.” Volume III (1955). pp. 335-337. |
My recipe below is based on Columella’s and Pseudo-Virgil’s Moretum recipes of thick Moretum, with the cheese substituted by hazelnuts.
Bibliography:
- Kaufman, Cathy K. Cooking in ancient civilizations. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, p. 146.
- Grant, Mark, and Jane Smith. Roman cookery: ancient recipes for modern kitchens. Interlink Publishing Group Incorporated, 1999, p. 68.
- Dalby, Andrew, and Sally Grainger. The classical cookbook. Getty Publications, 1996, p. 104.
- Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford at Clarendon Press, 1863. p. 680, entry θυεστος.
Rubbah Charoset from the Temple Period - רובה חרוסת - Moretum
Ingredients
- 50 g Garlic Fresh Cloves
- 200 g Hazelnuts
- 1 tbsp Coriander Ground
- 30 g Celery Stalks
- 0.5 tsp Salt Large Granules, Kosher
- 6 tbsp Wine Vinegar
- 8 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Peel about 1 head of garlic and measure the cloves to weigh 50 grams.
- Put the garlic, hazelnuts, coriander, celery and salt into a food-processor and keep pulsing until all of the ingredients have been chopped up well and the mixture is smooth. Alternatively, for a more authentic experience and texture, you can crush all of the ingredients in a mortar, but it will take a very long time, probably close to 1 hour.
- Add olive oil and wine vinegar to the mass and keep pulsing the food-processor until you obtain a consistent mass. If you are using a mortar, then simply add the olive oil and wine vinegar to the crushed solid ingredients and mix in a bowl.
- The Classic Moretum should be rolled up into a ball and eaten together with bread in one bite. It can be served either at room temperature or after being chilled in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Wine vinegar from Spain, either Sherry or Sweet Moscatel, which have a stronger taste, or Sweet Pedro Ximenez vinegar, which has a milder taste. All of the above mentioned vinegars are made based on recipes closer to what the Romans would have used. A very good brand of Spanish wine vinegars is Los Villares, which can be purchased in Whole Foods Supermarkets throughout the US.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Greece, especially Crete. Just like wines, olive oil taste varies based on the variety of olives used and the region where they were grown. The Romans imported the majority of their olive oil from Greece, which was considered to be of the highest quality. A few different brands of Greek olive oil can be purchased in Whole Foods Supermarkets throughout the US.
You know, the mention of pine cones must mean pine nuts. But if you substitute pine nuts for hazelnuts, what you wind up with is…pesto! This may be the earliest written description of the making of pesto! Pesto would, of course, include cheese—that being the main difference, then, between Charoset and pesto! I love your research—and thanks for including the languages! Please keep it up!
Thank you. You are correct about pesto. Some cookbooks have mentioned that already, that Moretum is the original version of pesto.