# What is "haroseth"? And how/why do you eat it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 7, 2026, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101 "2026-04-07T19:55:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2026, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/21 "2026-04-08T00:38:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > My mom made it like a Waldorf salad minus the lettuce and mayo, plus cinnamon The first time I heard of Waldorf salad I thought “it’s _goyishe_ charoset!” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/22 "2026-04-09T16:34:20Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > My mom made it like a Waldorf salad minus the lettuce and mayo. A Waldorf salad contains lettuce? 🤨 [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3SQGTufqOBQ/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHeAoAChgKKAgwIABABGGUgVShFMA8=&rs=AOn4CLB6U_wSsAefmvklptBMGmQyx2KQrw "I Want a Waldorf Salad!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SQGTufqOBQ) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/23 "2026-04-09T16:43:24Z")
It’s often served on a lettuce leaf bed. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/24 "2026-04-09T23:55:22Z")
That’s how my grandmother always made it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/25 "2026-04-10T05:04:09Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > A side note to the thread - for those of the tribe participating, do you eat matzoh any other time of the year? Yes, but mostly because it’s left over from passover. The 5 pound package costs about the same as 2 pounds, so when i host i buy 10 pounds, which is a lot then I’ll need. (But 5 pounds might not be enough. In fact, this year we went through a little more than 2 pounds even not hosting.) I like it as breakfast cereal. (Break into not sized pieces. Or into a bowl with some blueberries. Add milk.) I enjoy charoset, but never eat it outside passover. I’ve never seen it served like bonbons, only as a spread to put on matzo. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/26 "2026-04-11T01:32:55Z")
We sometimes have a matzo brei for dinner. And matzo with soft butter is divine. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/27 "2026-04-11T02:24:09Z")
This talk of matzo is reminding me of an Egyptian food called rokak. If you look it up on Google, it will tell you it refers to a meat pastry made with sheets of unleavened dough, kind of like big crackers (or matzo). But when I lived in Egypt and bought “rokak,” I was just buying the sheets. You could do all sorts of good things in the kitchen with them, just as you can with matzo. I’m sure a food historian could trace the connections. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/28 "2026-04-11T08:01:41Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I’m sure a food historian could trace the connections. I think rokak is just another variation on phyllo dough, part of the lingering Ottoman culinary influence on its former empire. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/29 "2026-04-11T18:02:49Z")
Looking it up - _much_ older than that. Ancient. Probably was the inspiration for the matzah story. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/30 "2026-04-11T19:58:40Z")
Really? Because [this](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/95/a1/1d/95a11d0ac614d5144663c9b666586436.jpg) rokak pastry looks a lot like something from the [borek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B6rek) family. But then, the Egyptians do have their own thing going, food-wise. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/31 "2026-04-11T20:27:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Because [this](https://i.pinimg.com/474x/95/a1/1d/95a11d0ac614d5144663c9b666586436.jpg) rokak pastry looks a lot like something from the [borek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B6rek) family. Hmm, it’s been years since I lived in Egypt so my memory could be wrong, but while the photo shows a delicious-looking dish that is plausibly part of Egyptian cuisine, that’s not how I recall rokak looking - the photo is a more phyllo-like dough whereas I recall buying rokak that was like a giant, round cracker closer to a matzo or saltine. The word “borek” is also not ringing a bell with me. But, I spoke almost no Arabic, and it’s been decades (I lived in Egypt from about 2002 to 2007). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/32 "2026-04-11T22:16:24Z")
The basic concept is that flatbreads of various sorts, unleavened and leavened, used in various ways, go back to the earliest days of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent. Phyllo is relatively a modern variant. > **[Traditional flat breads spread from the Fertile Crescent: Production process...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235261811830009X)** > > The “flat” breads include a multitude of bread types different from each other but are always relatively thin, ranging from a few millimeters to a few… The debate of matzah actually before the modern era is actually a bit interesting… [https://hakirah.org/Vol17Zivotofsky.pdf](https://hakirah.org/Vol17Zivotofsky.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101/33 "2026-04-11T23:32:46Z")
There’s another delicious Egyptian dish made with leavened flat bread (pita, essentially, though the local word is “aish”) called fatteh. People say it was invented as a way to use up stale bread, although you can make it with fresh aish if you toast it. It doesn’t sound very good - it’s basically a casserole of yogurt layered with aish, spices, and chickpeas. But made properly, it’s yummy. I have yet to make it at home as I’m not sure I could pull it off, but there was a restaurant we used to go to in Cairo where it was sublime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-haroseth-and-how-why-do-you-eat-it/1029101.md?page=1)