An Ashkenazi charoset recipe or Ashkenazic charoset recipe consists of the most basic ingredients of all charoset recipes. The word "charoset" comes from the Hebrew word "cheres", meaning "clay", however, some Jewish scholars have claimed that the word "cheres" was mentioned in the writings of the Rashbam, the acronym for Rabbi Shmuel the son of Meir (1085-1174, born near Troyes, France), a biblical commentator and Talmudist and a grandson of the great Jewish scholar Rashi, but was misread as "charoset".
Charoset symbolizes the mortar with which the Hebrews used as slaves of the Pharaoh (King) in ancient Egypt to make bricks in building store-houses and cities that served as supply centers such as Pithom and Ra'amses in ancient Egypt. Just about all Jewish communities try to use ingredients for charoset that will make the color of charoset as close as possible to the color of the mortar that was used by the Hebrews. In fact, Jews in Salonika, Greece will even add a pinch of ground brick into their versions of charoset to make the charoset contain actual mortar! (Yummy!)
An Ashkenazi charoset recipe or Ashkenazic charoset recipe (also transliterated into English from Hebrew as: Ashkenazi charoses, Ashkenazi haroset, Ashkenazi charoseth, Ashkenazi haroseth, Ashkenazi haroses or Ashkenazic charoses, Ashkenazic haroset, Ashkenazic charoseth, Ashkenazic haroseth, and Ashkenazic haroses) refers to the Ashkenaz (short form for the both the plural form "Ashkenazim" and the singular form "Ashkenazi" and the descriptive adjective "Ashkenazic") and their versions of the charoset recipe. Who are the Ashkenaz, or Ashkenazim? The Hebrew name "Ashkenaz" was first mentioned in the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible as the designation of a son of Gomer and a grandson of Japheth (Genesis 10:3). By the early Middle Ages, with the settlement of Jews in the Early and Middle Ages initially occurring in the Rhineland area of Germany and France in Central Europe, the name "Ashkenaz" became identified with Germany. Thus, the term "Ashkenazim" in the geographic sense literally means "Inhabitants of Ashkenaz" or "Inhabitants of Germany", meaning the Jews who lived in Germany and German-controlled areas in the Middle Ages. Many Ashkenaz eventually migrated from Central Europe to Northwestern and Eastern Europe, and so the cultural and religious influence of the Ashkenaz in Germany eventually extended in scope to the Jews who lived in Northwestern and Eastern Europe, so much so that the term "Ashkenaz" was extended as well to include Jews who lived in these areas. In the broader sense of the word, the term "Ashkenaz" is applied to the entire complex of Ashkenazi culture, legal concepts, mores, religious traditions, etc., as well as to the Jews who adopted them. Today, the name "Ashkenaz" in the narrowest sense of the word refers to either "Germany", to "German-Jews", or to a "German-Jew" in Hebrew, but in the geographical sense of the word, "Ashkenaz" refers to the German-ruled jurisdictions where Jews lived or currently live as well as to the Jews who lived or currently live in those areas (German-Jews or "Ashkenazim" in Hebrew; singular form: "Ashkenazi" or "German-Jew" in Hebrew). In addition, in the cultural sense of the word, the term "Ashkenaz" today refers to Jews who lived in or currently live in Central, Northwestern, and Eastern European countries who were influenced by and hence adopted the entire complex of Ashkenazi culture, including the prayer rites ("nusach", "nusah" or "nusakh" in Hebrew), legal concepts, mores, religious traditions, etc. of the German-Jews or Ashkenazim. As a result, the names "Ashkenaz", "Ashkenazi", "Ashkenazim" as well as the descriptive adjective "Ashkenazic" today refer not only to the German-Jews, but also loosely refer to the Jews who lived or currently live in Central, Northwestern, and Eastern European countries as well as to the Jews whose ancestors came from Central, Northwestern and/or Eastern Europe but who were influenced culturally and religiously by the German-Jews or Ashkenazim as they spread across Central, Northwestern, and Eastern Europe, migrating from different areas of Germany and France in the Middle Ages to Poland, Russia, Hungary, England, Romania and many other European countries.
An Ashkenazi charoset recipe will reflect the ingredients that were available to Jewish families in the cities and countries where Jews resided in Central, Northwestern, and Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages onward. There will also be Ashkenazic charoset recipes that will take into account one's religious philosophy, and symbolisms will be attached to various ingredients to reflect that philosophy. An example would be an Ashkenazi charoset recipe for the Chassidic (or Hassidic) sect known as the Chabad-Lubavitch, where mystical intepretations will be attached to specific ingredients. The most basic form of an Ashkenazi charoset recipe consists of nuts (usually either walnuts or almonds), wine, cinnamon, honey, and apples. I imagine one can refer to it as the "original" Ashkenazi charoset recipe. The following Ashkenazi charoset recipe is the most basic version.
2 apples, unpeeled
1 cup ground walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons sweet Passover wine
honey or sugar to taste
Instructions for the Ashkenazi Charoset recipe:
Serves 10 to 12.