Tu Bishvat Recipes
An annual new year for trees was established by Talmudic rabbis so that Jews could calculate the age of trees and know when they could be harvested. This tree birthday is called Tu B'Shvat, which literally means "Day 15 of the Hebrew month of Shvat."
Jews today celebrate the festival of Tu B'Shvat in a variety of ways. Some learn about the environment. Some plant trees in Israel. Many serve dishes containing fruit and grains mentioned in the Bible, either for a regular meal or for a Tu B'Shvat Seder ceremony.
When making a meal for Tu B'Shvat try to include the seven species (shivat haminim): wheat, barley, grapes, fig, pomegranate, olive and date.
What follows are several recipes that include the 7 species
Whole Wheat Bread:
Ingredients
- 3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup honey
- 5 cups bread flour
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
Continue reading.
Tu Bishvat Cake
Making a cake for my daughter’s gan (preschool) Tu Bishvat celebration, I came up with this festive decoration. It’s extremely easy to do and was a big hit with the kids and teachers alike!
You’ll need:
1 dried date
1 dried fig
2-3 dried apricots
2 dried raisins
Vanilla frosting
Fresh mint
Decorating gel
Directions:
- Frost your cake with the vanilla frosting. (I made a banana-coconut cake, keeping in tune with the theme of fruits from trees!)
- Cut the dried date lengthwise into 4 pieces. This will form the trunk and branches of the tree.
- Cut the apricot into rays for the sun, and petals for the flowers.
- Cut the bottom of the fig for the shell of the snail, and use it to create the neck and head of the snail.
- Arrange the dried fruit pieces to create the tree, flowers, snail and sun. Cut four small pieces of the stem from the mint for the antennae of the snail and the stems of the flowers. Use mint leaves for the leaves of the tree and flowers.
- Make eyes for the snail and sun with the decorating gel. Written with decorating gel, the words in Hebrew spell Tu Bishvat Sameach, or “Happy Tu Bishvat”.
Betayavon!
Dried Fruit Biscotti
This Tu Bishvat recipe makes approximately 50 biscotti
Ingredients:
120 grams (1 cup minus 2 tablespoons) whole wheat flour
120 grams (1 cup plus 1½ tablespoons) sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 packet vanilla sugar (10 grams)
Grated orange peel
150 grams (1 cup) dried fruit
1 cup mixed nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews, etc…)
4 eggs
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF.
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, aside from the eggs. Then add the eggs and mix well.
- Form two loaves and place them on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, leaving a space between them. With the baking paper, create a barrier between the loaves so they won’t stick together while baking.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until the loaves dry a bit but are still soft in the center. Remove them from the oven and lower the temperature to 140ºC/275ºF.
- Cool the loaves completely, and then slice them thinly. Slice them on the diagonal for longer biscotti.
- Arrange the slices closely together on a baking rack, with the cut sides facing up.
- Return to the oven and bake until they are golden brown. Cool and store in a jar.
Betayavon!