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2 MIN READ

Silan Date Honey: A charoset for all year-round?

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Yesterday I was reviewing my Passover food interviews from Iraqi Jews, and found it interesting that in all of them the individuals described their charoset as not so much of a date purĆ©e, but of one resembling molasses. This thick syrup (called silan) was sometimes mixed with chopped walnuts, almonds, or pistachios. At their Seder, they would either drizzle it on the matzah or dip the matzah (as well as bitter herbs) directly into it. In my interviews with Iraqi Jews that had at some point moved on to other countries in Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia (such as India, Bornea, Singapore, or Iran), the description was the same, but instead ofĀ silan they called it halĆ©k/halech. I have been trying to find out the origin of both of these words and see if there is any specific meaning (such as “honey,” “syrup,” “molasses,” or “jam”), but I have not been so far successful. It sounds very much like an Arabic word but perhaps from an ancient dialect?

What is also interesting is how timely my research is on this particular subject. While speaking with a Yemenite Israeli yesterday (the same day I had been researching silan), the first thing that she asked me was, “Jennifer, have you ever heard of something called ‘silan’? I just returned from Israel and it is such a craze over there now. They are doing everything with it!” She went on to tell me how one friend mixed it in with tahini to make some kind of nutty sweet, and how chefs in restaurants were putting it in and on everything. I too had found that the trend was hitting over here in the U.S. In my searches online for “silan”, all kinds of recipes were popping up, including a cauliflower dish that called for it drizzled on top. In fact during this recent Passover I was able to find a jar of it in my local kosher market, which I bought right away and still have.

So my questions still remain:
What is SILAN and how is it different from and/or related to HALEK?
Does anyone out there (who is NOT from the Iraqi community) also call their charoset
by one of these names, and if so, where are you from?

Tags
Baghdadi
Charoset
date syrup
halech
halegh
halek
Haroset
Iraqi
molasses
Seder
silan
syrup

4 Comments

on Silan Date Honey: A charoset for all year-round?.
  1. nnasrallah
    December 1, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
    -

    Hi Jennifer,
    I am an Iraqi food writer, author of Delights from the Garden of Eden, and am responding to your question about silan (I have just seen it).

    Technically, silan in Arabic refers to date syrup produced by the cold press method, i.e. date syrup is extracted by weighing down piles of ripe dates and collecting the oozing syrup (and hence the name: silan/seyelan= oozing). The more common method applies heat. apparently Iraqi Jews used the word silan to designate date syrup regardless of method. Is the Indian word for it.

  2. Jennifer Abadi
    December 2, 2013 @ 8:48 am
    -

    Thank you for your interesting information regarding Silan, Nawal!

  3. Hilda
    August 1, 2015 @ 7:11 am
    -

    Halek! I’ve been describing it to my American friends for years. Is halek is the Indian word? I’d never heard the word Silan before…Thanks for the info.

    Hi, Jennifer. So happy to have stumbled open your website. I come from what was a very small community of Sephardic Jews in Singapore – my parents, my sister and I were also born in Singapore, my mum’s parents from Bombay(then), India (and perhaps Iraq) and my father’s from Bagdad. Our food was a mix of Indian/Malay/MiddleEastern-Jewish-Arabic/English…. I miss my mum’s cooking so much! We had halek at Passover and when we moved to America, my mother used to get the date syrup in bottles (on Fairfax in LA where we used to live or from Israel). It’s really hard to eat apples with raw cinnamon when you’re used to having yummy halek instead:)
    Thank you for your blog. I don’t know any Singapore Jews here in NYC and I’m sure I’ll enjoy hours going through all your posts and comments. Is it alright to ask you and your readers about some foods I’ve not heard or read about in America as I go along? Like, shwanda?

  4. Jennifer Abadi
    August 1, 2015 @ 9:15 am
    -

    Dear Hilda, Thank you so much for submitting a comment to my blog! I’m glad to connect with you and would love to hear more about your cultural stories, especially with regards to food. I never grew up with Halek but discovered it while doing research for my Passover cookbook and blog, and I was both fascinated as well as hooked, and it seems that in the last 5 years or so date syrup has become a bit of trend starting in Israel, which is also interesting. (The Iraqis were on to something even centuries ago!) Please stay in touch with the blog and feel free to email me or post a comment or question to anyone in the community on my blog at any time. I would love to learn more about the food and traditions, and enjoy the feedback and comments others might contribute.

jenniferabadi

A beautiful day for the annual Greek Jewish festiv A beautiful day for the annual Greek Jewish festival on the Lower East Side, organized by Kehila Kedosha Janina synagogue. Nice to see Sarah Aroeste and Susan Barocas at the Savor table and nosh on sesame candies. I even got to sign a few copies of my cookbooks « A Fistful of Lentils » and « Too Good To Passover » at the cookbook table!

Find out more and order the whole package of music, recipes and videos at savorexperience.com. 

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Join me and other women chefs from around the worl Join me and other women chefs from around the world for the ā€œSavor: A Sephardic Music & Food Experienceā€ virtual release party on SUNDAY, APRIL 23.

This is a multisensory way to learn about and experience Sephardic culture and history. Ten songs about food on the latest album by singer Sarah Aroeste are paired with recipes and cooking videos by women chefs from around the world including me. I'm so proud to be part of Savor! 

Find out more and pre-order the whole package of music, recipes and videos at savorexperience.com. 

REGISTER FOR FREE! 
at bit.ly/SavorRelease.

ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ and ā€œA Fistful of Lentilsā€ cookbooks available on Amazon.

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Just because Passover is over doesn’t mean that Just because Passover is over doesn’t mean that we have stopped celebrating! In North African Jewish communities special breads are prepared to mark the end of the 8-day bread ā€œfastā€ during a festival called Mimouna. 

Here is an example of a Libyan yeast bread with olive oil and fennel seeds called La Mimuna (like the name of the holiday itself). The hard boiled egg in the center represents fertility, the cycle of life, and new beginnings. The breads are reminiscent of special braided breads prepared for Easter by neighboring Christian communities. 
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ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook available on Amazon.

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #mimouna #libyanfood #breads #eggs #fertility #mufleta
What we all look forward to: matzah brei for break What we all look forward to: matzah brei for breakfast! Need to buy more eggs…
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ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook available on Amazon.

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #matzahbrei #matza #matzah #kosherforpassover
The best crafts are ones you can eat later.
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ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook available on Amazon.

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #matza #granola #matzah #kosherforpassover
Open-faced Hillel sandwich. . . ā€œToo Good To Pa Open-faced Hillel sandwich. 
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ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook available on Amazon.

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #matza #granola #matzah #kosherforpassover #hillelsandwich
Passover 5783 has arrived. . ā€œToo Good To Passo Passover 5783 has arrived.
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ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook available on Amazon, and if you are in New York City you can pick up a signed copy at @kalnyc Kitchen Arts & Letters cookbook store on Upper East Side!

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #matza #matzah #sedertable
Matzah farfola? Kosher for Passover granola. ā€œ Matzah farfola? Kosher for Passover granola. 

ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook available on Amazon, and if you are in New York City you can pick up a signed copy at @kalnyc Kitchen Arts & Letters cookbook store on Upper East Side!

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #matza #granola #matzah #kosherforpassover
Macaroons made ahead and frozen for Passover! Fr Macaroons made ahead and frozen for Passover! 

From ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ cookbook:

Syrian pistachio macaroons with orange blossom water (page 396)

Italian almond-pignoli macaroons (page 616)

Books available on Amazon, and if you are in New York City you can pick up a signed copy at @kalnyc Kitchen Arts & Letters cookbook store on Upper East Side!

#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #moyenorient #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #macaroons #amaretticookies #pignoli #almonds #pistachios #italianpastries
Vicki still has her great-grandmother Vida’s ori Vicki still has her great-grandmother Vida’s original burmelos pan from Monastir (today the city of Bitola) in the Republic of Macedonia. Her great-grandmother was Greek from Salonika (now Thessaloniki) but moved to Monastir to marry Vicki’s great-grandfather and join the Ladino-speaking Sephardic community. At the time the city was a part of the Ottoman Empire.

For a Passover burmuelos/bimuelos/bumuelos recipe check out my cookbook ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ and look for the Greek, Turkish, and Bulgarian chapters!

Link in bio to my new website for upcoming Passover prep lessons and to purchase my cookbook.

ā€œToo Good To Passoverā€ is available on Amazon in the U.S. Canada, Europe, and Japan.
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#passover #seder #sépharade #nourriturejuive #kascher #méditerranéen #toogoodtopassover #jenniferabadi #afistfuloflentils #kosherfood #jewishfood #sephardicfood #middleeasternfood #arabicfood #conversion #syrianfood #virtuallearning #virtualcookingclass #personalchef #privatechef #passover2023 #passoverrecipes #sephardiccommunity #turkishfood #monastir #macedonia #bitola #ottomanempire #bunuelos #greekfood
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Jennifer Abadi | Silan Date Honey: A charoset for all year-round?