Charoset

Charoset (khah-ROH-set) is a sweet apple mixture made with dates, nuts, and honey. This symbolizes the mortar used in Egypt for making bricks.

CAUTION: The following recipe contains nuts. If you are concerned about an allergy to nuts, you can omit them from the recipe. One suggestion is to make two batches, one with nuts and one without.

Ingredients:

4 red apples (finely chopped)
1 cup chopped walnuts (finely chopped)
½ cup chopped dates (finely chopped)
¼ cup of honey
½ cup sweet red wine or grape juice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Peel and grate the apple.
2. Mix in the nuts, dates, honey and spices.
3. Add the wine or juice and mix well.
4. Refrigerate until serving. The mixture will turn brown.

Yield: 10 to 12 portions

Meet the Chef

Mitch was raised in a traditional Reform Jewish home near Boston. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Massachusetts and focused on a culinary career. Mitch worked at some of the finest kitchens in Boston including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Parker House and Le Meridien, achieving his goal of cooking with the best chefs in the world. In 1982 Mitch moved to San Francisco and cooked at some of the top restaurants on the West Coast as well. Mitch had a chance to work with other top chefs who introduced a new and lighter style of cooking to America, which became known throughout the United States as New American Cooking.

His destructive lifestyle, however, was detrimental to his career and he could no longer keep up with the high demands and pressures of cooking at the top. He was eventually fired from his job at Stars, once a top restaurant and one of the most creative kitchens in the country. He realized that his life was a wreck and prayed to God for the first time in years. The next day, he quit smoking and drinking. As Mitch began to trust God for the first time in his life, he talked with a Christian co-worker about the Bible and finally began to grasp the Gospel message. Mitch accepted Yeshua (Jesus) into his life in 1987.

Mitch now serves as Vice President of U.S. Ministries for Chosen People Ministries and oversees all recruitment, training, mentoring and leadership of the entire U.S.-based missionary staff. Mitch is married to Kina, a second-generation Jewish believer, and they have two daughters, Kaelee and Alana, and a son, Joshua.