To Bean, or Not to Bean?

There’s a lot more to the Passover holiday than just the Seder dinner. For most Israelis, preparations for the Festival of Freedom started at least a month ago.

Passover celebrates the ancient Israelites’ liberation from slavery in Egypt. Beginning at sundown on a Saturday, it has been celebrated by Jews for more than 3,000 years. The actual holiday lasts eight days, but Israelis actually start to think about it in March.

The Bible tells us that during the Passover holiday no leavened bread should be found in our homes. Even cookie crumbs are prohibited. That means a thorough spring cleaning that can start with dusting off the books and end with renovating the entire house. It’s spring, after all, and the chances of rain are getting slimmer. In fact, sales of cleaning products skyrocket to their annual peak just before Passover.

For the observant, there’s getting out of storage that other set of dishes, flatware, cookware, bake ware and utensils reserved especially for the holiday, then rinsing and switching it with its secular counterparts. But only after first carefully cleaning out and relining the cabinets. Even the car gets a royal cleaning.

Since spring has obviously sprung, an entire country is putting its winter clothes away, unpacking its warm-weather wardrobe, and suddenly realizing that every family member needs something new to wear to the Seder. Add to that the fact that it’s customary in Israel to exchange gifts on Passover, and you can imagine the preholiday sales, crowds, traffic jams and last-minute crush, especially in the supermarket.

Along side roads and in backyards, orange blossoms are open and fragrant, and in the markets it’s the season for purple-skinned garlic, fennel, melons and strawberries, black radishes and asparagus, all providing us with a far greater selection than our ancestors could have imagined.

But there’s another side of Passover I doubt those ancestors would have totally approved-the new-age Passover pasta, Passover self-raising flour, Passover wafers, cake mixes, breakfast cereals, and other Passover food clones, all made of matzo. Today, even Fido can eat kosher-for-Passover.

And I don’t imagine they would really comprehend how one people managed to divide itself on the subject of beans. Here’s how it happened:

In the beginning, there was the prohibition against possessing flour or eating leavened bread during Passover, made back then with wheat and barley. Rice, arriving in a later era, was permitted, but other grains mentioned in the Bible, like spelt, were also considered off-limits. But everybody ate beans, which mostly meant garbanzo beans, fava beans and lentils.

Some say it dates back to the Babylonian exile, others attribute it to the Middle Ages, but at some point, the Jewish people divided into two groups: Ashkenazic (living mostly in central Europe) and Sephardic (living around the Mediterranean). And when they did, they divided on the subject of beans.

The rabbis on the Ashkenazic side decided to outlaw beans on Passover. The way they figured it, merchants always recycled the same burlap bags used to store both grains and beans, and since they could get mixed with each other and lead you to sin, it was better to be safe than sorry. Ditto for rice, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and peanuts, and anything, even oil, soap or toothpaste, made with them. The Sephardic rabbis made no such ruling.

It might never have posed a problem if the descendants of those same Sephardim and Ashkenazim didn’t have to spend Passover together in Israel today, the former ochlei kitniot (legume eaters) and the latter not. The result is confusion.

“Most of the time, hotels go according to the Ashkenazic tradition on Passover” says Haim Spiegel, corporate food and beverage manager for the Dan Hotel chain in Israel. “We don’t serve beans, and we’ll serve beef or chicken rather than lamb. If we get a large group of Sephardim, we reorganize the menu, adding lamb, beans and rice to our holiday dishes.”

Then there are manufactured food products. At major manufacturing rivals Osem and Elite, competition for the kosher for Passover trade is fierce, since sales also rise sharply during the holiday period. “A few years ago, we decided to make our chocolates kosher for ochlei kitniot on Passover,” says Ronen Zohar, marketing manager for the chocolate division of Elite. “What a mistake! We got so many complaints from Ashkenazim that we decided that we’d have to find a solution for everybody. Now there’s no problem; we even have wafer cookies made of potato flour.”

At Osem they’re always cooking up something new for Passover, like last year’s matzo-based self-rising flour, made for both Ashkenazim and Sephardim. They too have learned that while only 20% of the Jewish population is ultra-orthodox and 20% secular, a full 60% consider themselves masorati, or traditional, and for the traditional Ashkenazim, there are no beans, no seeds, no mustard, no corn oil, no regular mayo-and nothing that says ochlei kitniot.

And yet, as the younger generation grows up, the picture is changing. Even though Israeli-born Ashkenazim and Sephardim have remained polarized throughout the years, the last decade has seen a rise in intermarriage. And many Ashkenazim, such as Russian immigrants, have begun to soften their stands, even to the point of eating garbanzo bean-based hummus for the holiday. Says one salad oil manufacturer: “Their kids feel that to be Israeli is to be able to eat hummus at any time of the year.”

Herbed Rice With Currants in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Active Work Time: 30 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

A Persian recipe by Israeli chef Hanoch Bar Shalom. (Kosher for Passover only for Sephardim.) Bar Shalom suggests making a double amount of the currant mixture to save for garnishing salads, meats and poultry. That part of the recipe is kosher for everybody.

SEASONED CURRANTS

1 cup currants

1 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped thyme

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Freshly ground pepper

Mix the currants, vinegar, oil, thyme and garlic. Season with a generous amount of pepper. Let stand at least 4 hours before serving.

*

HERBED RICE

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 tablespoons oil

2 cups rice

3 cups water

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Salt, pepper

3 tablespoons finely chopped dill

3 tablespoons finely chopped mint

3 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley

3 tablespoons Seasoned Currants

Toast the pine nuts in 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet over low heat until lightly browned, 2 minutes. Watch them carefully; they burn easily.

Cook the onions in oil until golden, stirring often. Add the rice and cook, stirring, an additional minute. Add the water and season with salt, pepper and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook covered over low heat until the water is absorbed, 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Stir in the rest of the ingredients with a fork. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and garnish with Seasoned Currants.

6 servings. Each serving: 265 calories; 55 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 13 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 34 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams protein; 1.70 grams fiber.

Marinated Fennel in Olive Oil and Herbs

Active Work and Total Preparation Time: 20 minutes plus 3 hours standing

Everyone knows matzos are hard to digest. The key to getting through the holiday is keeping it simple-eating more basic foods and fresh vegetables and fruit-and not a lot of it. These fennel “pickles” make a deliciously different condiment on the Passover table, and a nice accompaniment to hot and cold dishes and salads. They’re even a fiber-rich snack throughout the week, and perfect for pasta throughout the year.

1 large or 2 small whole fennel bulbs with stalks

1 onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, sliced

2 lemons, washed and sliced crosswise (unpeeled)

4 sprigs thyme

2/3 cup vinegar, optional

Dash of sugar dissolved in 1 teaspoon water, optional

Salt

Coarsely ground pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil, to cover

Cut off the fennel stalks and slice the bulbs widthwise into thin strips. Mix the stalks and slices in a bowl with the onion, garlic, lemon and thyme. Mix in the vinegar and sugar-water, if desired.

Season with salt and pepper, transfer to a 1-quart jar, and cover with olive oil. Make sure that the olive oil covers the fennel. (Use the bottom of a bowl or other weight to press the vegetables down under the olive oil.) Wait several hours before serving. Store in a closed jar in the refrigerator. More fennel may be added to the same marinade throughout the week.

1 quart. Each 1/2-cup serving: 45 calories; 43 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 0 saturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 15 grams protein; 0.79 gram fiber.

Tarragon-Scented Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Active Work Time: 25 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 2 hours

Delicious as a main course at a vegetarian Seder or, served chilled, for a quick lunch or dinner during Passover week. Suitable for Ashkenazim and Sephardim.

2 cups matzo meal

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted butter

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

21 ounces fresh goat cheese, at room temperature

15 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/3 cups sour cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves only, coarsely chopped or 2 sprigs fresh thyme

Generous grind of freshly ground pepper

In a bowl, blend the matzo meal, melted butter and walnuts together with a wooden spoon. Press the mixture into the bottom and slightly up the sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Chill while preparing the filling.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor or using an electric mixer, blend the goat and cream cheeses together. Mix in the eggs, followed by the sour cream, salt, tarragon and pepper, beating well.

Pour the mixture into the chilled crust and place the pan on a baking sheet. Bake until the center is set, 50 to 60 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cake remain in the oven for 30 minutes. If serving warm: Cool down to just warm, carefully remove the outer ring, slice with a knife dipped in ice water and serve, or cover with plastic wrap and chill till firm.

Note: To avoid last-minute heartache if serving the quiche warm, do not attempt to remove the bottom circle of the pan from the quiche, unless it has been previously lined with a circle of parchment paper. The bottom can be more easily removed as the quiche chills.

15 first-course servings or 10 main-course servings. Each of 15 servings: 471 calories; 491 mg sodium; 151 mg cholesterol; 38 grams fat; 24 grams saturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 15 grams protein; 0.72 gram fiber.