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It seems like there are more recipes for charoset than there are countries in the world. This year I figured I'd shake things up by mixing it up a bit. It always includes fruit, nuts and wine, but these vary with the part of the world. The apple was a nod to my family's eastern European heritage, the dates and raisons to Sephardic culture, the apricots from Turkey and the figs from Yemen. Some countries use pistachios or pinoles, but I find that walnuts contribute a bit of astringency and almonds a bit of crispness. Those recipes which use dried dates generally hydrate them by simmering in water for 20 minutes to two hours. My contribution was to chop them and "hydrate" them in wine overnight.
The results were pretty spectacular if I say so myself :-)
Jeff
