Adventures in etrog jam

One traditional thing to do after Sukkot is to make etrog jam. During non-pandemic years I can ask my friends after services if they are willing to give me their etrogim which have outlived their ritual purpose. This year I posted my request on Facebook.

A dear friend responded with alarm. She noted that etrogim are sprayed with lots of pesticides because their only job is to look pretty. She was worried that eating the etrog jam might be a risky thing to do. I thought about what my wise friend said and I thought about old etrog jam recipes. They usually have you soak the etrogim in water, and changing the water for several days before making the jam.

Two friends gave us their etrogim. I put all three etrogim into a big bowl with water. I noticed that

the water smelled a little like gasoline and not citrussy. I changed the water every time I walked past the bowl. The water smelled like gasoline for several days. I figured that the bad stuff was leaching out of the etrogim and into the water. After five days the etrogim no longer smelled like a gas station but instead had that wonderful familiar citrus scent. I made a small batch of jam and gave away a jar each to my friends who had donated their etrogim to the cause.

Last week I stopped by West Side Judaica, our local Judaica shop. Right by the door, they had a big cardboard box about half-filled with etrogim. Before Sukkot, those etrogim were being sold for serious money. After Sukkot, they were being sold for two bucks apiece. I purchased five. The owner of the store had a long chat with me about making etrog jam and the value of soaking the etrogim in water as well as frequent changes of the water.

The etrogim I brought home were huge. I needed to use a bigger bowl.

It took a few more days for the gasoline smell to dissipate.

After soaking the etrogim they are cut up and are boiled five times in water and then the water is drained off after each boil. I figure that between all of the water changes all of the bad stuff that had been sprayed on the etrogim has probably been poured down my sink.

My old cookbooks usually tell you to weigh the peels and then add the same amount of sugar to the pot and then there is some sort of a calculation about how much water to add. I did no such calculations. There were a ton of cut up etrog peels. I added four cups of sugar and a bunch of water. I simmered the mixture until it was thick.

If I were a fussier cook I would have picked out all of the seeds. The seeds are a little bitter which I actually don't mind.

I scalded my jars and the lids with boiling water and then added the still-hot jam and closed the lids. I store the jam in the fridge and I usually finish off the last bit on Tu B'Shvat, the new year of the trees.

I had given away two eight-ounce jars from the earlier batch. This is my stash of etrog jam. The large jars are 32 ounces each.

The mustard jar holds 16 ounces and the small jar about four.

I love that the taste of Sukkot will last us until the very beginning of spring.

Connecting with the past

A few months ago I had a craving for my father’s chicken fricassee. If my father were still alive I would have called him up and he would have talked me through the process of making it. My father is no longer alive so I turned to my cookbooks and the recipes I found for chicken fricassee were nothing at all like the stew of chicken necks, gizzards and wings in a watery sweet and sour tomato sauce that I enjoyed as a kid. I assumed that the dish was an invention of my father’s. I then attempted to replicate the dish from my memory of it and failed. A couple of weeks ago I saw an article on the internet, and I can’t remember where, that talked about Jewish fricassee and it sounded an awful lot like the dish I was hankering after. This afternoon I went to the butcher and picked up all of the chicken elements of the dish, a couple of packages each of wings, necks and gizzards. My father never cooked directly from a cook book. He used to re...

The light themed tallit has been shipped!!!

I had begun speaking to Sarah about making her a tallit in the middle of August. It took a few weeks to nail down the design. For Sarah it would have been ideal if the tallit were completed in time for her to wear it on Rosh HaShanah., the beginning of her year as senior rabbi of her congregation. For me, in an ideal world, given the realities of preparing for the High Holidays I would have finished this tallit in the weeks after Sukkot. So we compromised and I shipped off the tallit last night. I would have prefered to have more time but I got the job done in time. This tallit was made to mark Sarah's rise to the position of senior rabbi but it was also a reaction to this year of darkness. She chose a selection of verses about light to be part of her tallit. 1) אֵל נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה God of awesome deeds ( from a yom kippur Liturgical poem) 2) אוֹר חָדָשׁ עַל־צִיּוֹן תָּאִיר May You shine a new light on Zion ( from the liturgy) 3) יָאֵר יְהֹ...

A Passover loss

My parents bought this tablecloth during their 1955 visit to Israel. It is made out of linen from the first post 1948 flax harvest. The linen is heavy and almost crude. The embroidery is very fine. We used this cloth every Passover until the center wore thin. You can see the cloth on the table in the background of this photo of my parents and nephew My Aunt Sheva bought my mother a replacement cloth. The replacement cloth is made out of a cotton poly blend. The embroidery is crude and the colors not nearly as nice. The old cloth hung in our basement. We used the new cloth and remembered the much nicer original cloth. I loved that my aunt wanted to replace the cloth, I just hated the replacement because it was so much less than while evoking the beauty of the original. After my father died my mother sat me down and with great ceremony gave me all of her best tablecloths. She also gave me the worn Passover cloth and suggested that I could mend it. I did. Year after year ...

sarah in nyc

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