by Gil Marks
The shape of the etrog variety favored for the Sukkot ritual is a matter of tradition. Some prefer a migdal ("tower" in Hebrew), narrower on the top than the bottom. Others look for the lev (heart), wider on the top than the bottom. Some Chasidim opt for a variety slightly indented around the middle alluding to the gartel ("belt" in Yiddish) they wear. Besides the original oblong citron, there is the fingered citron (also called Buddha's hand), a pulpless variety that is unsuitable for Sukkot, named after the deep finger-shaped grooves along its length.
A very ancient variety, perhaps the original one brought from India to Persia, is the Cedruna. Its fruit is roundish or obovoid in shape, furrowed, and a dark yellow in color. The Cedruna was once widely grown in the Mediterranean, especially Calabria and Campania, but was supplanted by Greek and Italian varieties.
A unique variety is the Yemen (Temoni or Taimani) citron, which is completely pulpless and juiceless, with the seeds resting in a strip in the core of the albedo. According to Yemenites, the lack of any pulp is proof that it is not a hybrid with a lemon. It is also edible raw. Yemenites prefer etrogim rather large, the result of having remained on the tree for more than one season. In the late nineteenth century, Yemenites arriving in Israel planted this variety of etrog.
A sweet citron is the Moroccan, which retains its pitom. The very elongated Assads cultivar has deep ribs and narrows slightly in the center, a feature than some Chasidim find appealing. It is frequently seedless.
The predominant variety in medieval Greece and Turkey was the Greek variety (botanically classified as "Etrog"), which is ellipsoid with a prominent tip and bumpy, ribbed peel and looks somewhat like a large lemon. The Greek variety of citron is sometimes called Pitima because of the fruit's tendency to retain its pitom. The Romaniotes (Jews who have lived in Greece since before the destruction of the Second Temple and once had large communities on the Ionian Islands) claim that they have used this variety since the time of the Second Temple. After the expulsion of 1493, Sephardim who settled in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean generally adopted the Greek etrog. The Greek citron is the typical variety used today by many Ashkenazim.
The most popular citron in the early medieval period among Ashkenazim was the Diamante from Calabria on the southwestern tip of Italy, which was called Yanover or Yanova (meaning "Genoa," the northern Italian port from which it was shipped). The elongated Diamante is elliptical with square shoulders and the peel is rather smooth and only faintly ribbed. The pulp is very sparse and the albedo quite thick. Most Diamante lack a pitom, as it tends to dry up and fall off during the initial few weeks of growth. The Italian citron is similar to the Diamante, but slightly bumpier, with more pulp and a thinner albedo.
The Yanover has long been particularly prized by eastern Ashkenazim, especially members of the Lubavitch sect of Chasidim. Rabbi Schneer Zalman of Ladi (1745—1812), founder of the Lubavitch movement, even claimed that Moses, after the Exodus from Egypt, used the Yanover etrog from Calabria for the first Sukkot. Lubavitchers contend that the Yanover etrog has been protected from grafting, although actual inspections have revealed that many of the citron trees of Calabria had been grafted.
When grafting became a common practice in Italy and Greece in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ashkenazim looked for alternative sources of etrogim. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the island of Corsica was the most sought after, by both Jews and bakers (by this point, candied citron had become widely popular in Europe and America, and citron crops were the major source of income for several Mediterranean locales). The Corsican citron is among the sweet varieties. The large fruit is ovoid and quite lumpy. The pulp is substantial, although not very juicy.
However, in the early nineteenth century, the political instability engendered by the Napoleonic wars led to the stifling of the Corsican etrog market. In its place, the Greek island of Corfu and nearby Ionian Islands, such as Naxos, which were then part of the Ottoman Empire, which grew the Greek citron, emerged as the foremost etrog producers. In 1785, when Corfu began shipping to eastern Europe, Ashkenazim, accustomed to the Yanover etrog, were initially extremely suspicious of the newcomer from Corfu. However, within a few decades, the Yanover became unavailable and Corfu subsequently dominated the European etrog market. Consequently, Sephardim and Ashkenazim became accustomed to etrogim with an attached pitom and balked at those without. In addition, etrogim were thereafter sold with rabbinic identification, stating "kosher with no concern of being grafted."
Sholem Aleichem, in his short story "The Esrog," wrote a tale of a boy whose father waited year after year to purchase his own etrog. Here is the exchange between the father and the seller:
"But is it from the island of Corfu?" My father asked, examining the esrog from every angle as one does a diamond, his hands trembling with excitement.
"What do you think?" the cap [the seller] replied, shaking with laughter. "Nowhere else but from Corfu!"
The boy, overwhelmed by temptation, takes a bite of the expensive fruit, rendering it unfit for the upcoming Sukkot holiday.
As the Jewish population of eastern Europe exploded in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the etrog trade became a large, lucrative business. Throughout the nineteenth century, controversy repeatedly sprang up, usually engendered by a merchant insisting that only his source was kosher. In 1845, a merchant representing Parga, in the northwest along the Ionian Sea, claimed that Corfu etrogim came from grafted trees. Various Sephardic rabbis testified to the validity of some or all of the Greek etrogim, while some Ashkenazic authorities banned them all and others accepted them all. These disputes came to a head after 1875, when the Corfu growers banded together, dumping thousands of their citrons into the sea and dramatically escalated the cost of the remainder. In an attempt to undercut the monopoly and the exorbitant prices, Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor of the Volozhin Yeshiva banned all Corfu etrogim. Then in 1891, a ritual murder accusation against the Jews of Corfu led to the massacre there of 139 Jews; in protest, Ashkenazim and Sephardim boycotted the Corfu etrogim. Today, citrons are no longer grown commercially on Corfu.
In the 1950s, a Satmar rabbi visited orchards in Calabria, where he was freely allowed to inspect the trees and fruit, and orchards in Greece, where he was denied entry. Consequently, most Satmars and some other Chasidim switched back to the Yanover citron from the Greek citron, but they use only citrons picked under the supervision of representatives who ensure that they come from trees that have not been grafted.
Around 1850, Moses Montefiore sent seeds from Corfu citrons to settlers in Israel; they were planted by Sephardim along the central coastal region, especially near Jaffa. However, these newcomers did not fare well in Israel and required widespread grafting for survival. Consequently, many growers began grafting Greek branches onto Israeli Balady citron rootstock, which was permissible. Within a short time, Israeli etrogim emerged as the predominant choice for much of the world. In the twentieth century, the person most influential on which etrog varieties were used by many Jews was Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, known as the Chazon Ish. After arriving in Israel from Lithuania in 1933, he searched until finding a Balady tree near Safed. Karelitz gave etrogim from that tree to associates to grow acceptable trees. Two of these emerged as important cultivars: Chazon Ish-Halperin and Chazon Ish-Lefkowitz.
Today, about 70 percent of all Israeli etrogim are grown by the Central Israel Etrog Company, owned by the Ludmir family, on a seventy-four-acre spread outside Bnei Brak. During the shemitah year (seventh year when agriculture in Israel is forbidden), however, the company ceases operations, with Italy, Greece, and California taking up the slack. Before the onset of the shemitah year, green etrogim can be picked and sent, but none can be harvested for another year after Rosh Hashanah.
The citron tree only arrived in the United States in the middle of the nineteenth century. For nearly four decades, California's citron production thrived, until a severe frost in 1913 decimated the state's citron orchards. Today, there
is only one large commercial grower in America, John Kirkpatrick of Lindcove, California, who has 250 trees from five varieties Braverman, Kivelvitz, Chazon Ish-Lefkowitz, Halperin and Yemenite. Kirkpatrick's orchards annually produce about 3,000 etrogim acceptable for the Jewish ritual; some 9,000 remainders are sold to processors.
The popularization of sugar in the medieval Arab world led to an increased culinary use of the etrog, most notably in jelly, candy, and candied rinds. The thick rind of citron is suitable for candying, and candied citron is typically found in fruitcakes. There are also several brands of citron liqueur. Among Jews, these treats usually appear following Sukkot and are made from the etrogim used to celebrate the holiday. Some people have the custom of saving a jar of etrog preserves (dulce de etrog and esrig eingemanchts) or candy to serve at the Tu b'Shevat meal. There is also a custom in some households of sticking whole cloves all over an etrog and using it for the spice for the Havdalah ceremony.
(See also Citrus, Date, and Eingemacht)
F
Falafel
Falafel is a deep-fried croquette of ground, raw chickpeas and/or fava beans.
Origin: Probably Egypt
Fava beans and chickpeas have been cultivated in southwest Asia since at least the onset of the Neolithic Age. At some unknown point and location much later, cooks began deep-frying croquettes of ground raw dried legumes, transforming a common, long-keeping protein source into a quick-cooking, tasty, nutritious foodstuff. The first known presence of legume fritters in the Middle East appears to be in medieval Egypt, where they were made from dried white fava beans (ful nabed) and called tamiya/ta'amia (from the Arabic for "nourishment"); these fritters were a light green color inside. Many attribute tamiya to the Copts of Egypt, who practiced one of the earliest forms of Christianity. They believed that the original state of humankind was vegetarian and, therefore, mandated numerous days of eating only vegan food, including tamiya.
Others believe legume fritters originated on the Indian subcontinent, a region where deep-frying was more common than in Egypt, and were brought westward by Arabs or Turks. Still others contend they came from Yemen. In the Levant and Yemen, chickpeas were substituted for some or all of the fava beans in the fritters, and they became known as falafel, the plural of the Arabic word for pepper, as well as an adjective denoting something fluffy, filfil. Initially, the raw legumes were mashed in a mortar and pestle, a time-consuming and strenuous effort. The advent of the mechanical meat grinder in the 1860s eliminated the tedious process of preparing the legumes by hand, transforming falafel into an easier, more common food.
Middle Eastern Jews have been eating falafel for centuries, the pareve fritter being ideal in a kosher diet. However, many Jews inherited G6PD deficiency or its more severe form, favism; these hereditary enzymatic deficiencies are triggered by items like fava beans and can prove fatal. Accordingly, Middle Eastern Jews overwhelmingly favored chickpeas solo in their falafel. Falafel was enjoyed in salads as part of a mezze (appetizer assortment) or as a snack by itself. An early Middle Eastern fast food, falafel was commonly sold wrapped in paper, but not served in the familiar pita sandwich until Yemenites in Israel introduced the concept.
The ideal falafel is extremely crisp on the outside and moist and airy inside. To make classic falafel, the raw chickpeas are soaked, never cooked; this technique produces the proper crunchy texture and leaves the fritters relatively dry, which allows them to hold together during frying without the addition of eggs. The fritters are frequently bound by adding a little flour, bread, or bulgur. The amount of cumin and the inclusion of other spices varies. Green falafel contains a large amount of parsley and/or cilantro. Some mix in a little baking soda to help lighten the texture. Many professional falafel and tamiya makers, as well as some home cooks, use an aleb falafel, a special brass scooping device with a plunger down the middle, to mold flat disks and propel them into hot oil. Some cooks make variations, typically torpedo-shaped, by inserting cooked fava beans or a hard-boiled egg inside the falafel.
In the late nineteenth century, Ashkenazic immigrants in Israel found many of the foods from their homelands inappropriate in their new environs. In addition, many of these Zionists were socialists who stridently rejected their European traditions, including foods, and looked toward the regional fare of the Levant for inspiration. Among the items that fit the bill were two inexpensive chickpea dishes, hummus and falafel. Yemenite immigrants in Israel, who had made a chickpea version in Yemen, took up falafel making as a business and transformed this ancient treat into the Israeli iconic national food. Most importantly, Israelis wanted a portable fast food and began eating the falafel tucked into a pita topped with the ubiquitous Israeli salad (cucumber-and-tomato salad). Lilian Cornfeld, food columnist for the Palestine Post, a Jerusalem English-language newspaper, wrote several articles about the food in 1939, including one entitled "Filafel Comes into Its Own," noting its transformation from "Oriental" fare to a common Israeli food and quick meal. An article from October 19, 1939 concluded with a description of the common preparation style of the most popular street food, "There is first half a pita (Arab loaf), slit open and filled with five filafels, a few fried chips and sometimes even a little salad," the first written record of serving falafel in pita.
Fried chickpea croquettes with all the fixings, are Israel's favorite fast food.
During World War II, when chickpeas were scarce in Israel, white beans were sometimes substituted. However, as soon as possible, Israelis switched back to chickpeas. The quality and variety of Israeli falafel increased with the mass arrival of Middle Eastern Jews in the wake of the founding of the state in 1948. Falafel proved the ideal street food for an impoverished young country. As contact with Arabs in Israel decreased in the face of growing hostilities, many Israelis lost track of falafel's origins and began thinking of it as Israel's alone.
Falafel is now peddled by street vendors and sold at kiosks and small shops throughout Israel. Typically the vendor inserts a number of hot falafel balls in each pita, then allows the patron to select from various toppings, most popularly Israeli salad and sour pickles, and a sauce: diluted tahini (sesame seed paste), Maghrebi harissa (red chili paste), or Yemenite s'chug (green chili paste). Other options include grilled eggplant, grilled bell peppers, sliced onions, shredded pickled beets, pickled turnips, and whole pickled green chilies. The condiment choices vary among consumers, with Europeans typically preferring mild toppings and Middle Easterners favoring harief (fiery). Some vendors add French fries to the falafel, calling it chipsalat. A whole pita, the top slit off and containing five to six falafel, is the most common version, but the sandwich is also offered as a chatzi-manah (half portion), with less room for toppings. Besides pita, many consumers wrap the falafel and condiments in laffa, the round flatbread introduced by Iraqi Jews, although the pocket pita version remains more common.
Since falafel is so inexpensive to buy few cooks make it at home. Most Israelis purchase their falafel in stores or stands, and many have a favorite. Some Israelis maintain fierce loyalty to a specific shop and argue vehemently over which vendor makes the best falafel.
The first known record of the word in an American source was in the December 16, 1949 issue of The Jewish Criterion (Pittsburgh). It said: "Falafel, most nearly described as an 'everything but the kitchen sink plus red pepper' sandwich." In the early 1950s, the English spelling crystallized as falafel. In Israel Diary in 1950, Bernard Bloomfield wrote, "I must make some notations on the falafel which, to Israel, is what the hot dog is to us. This creation is really something. We first discovered falafel while waiting for a bus outside a little street kiosk on a corner in Haifa."
In the 1960s, Israelis and Jews who had visited Israel began spreading the chickpea version of this Middle Eastern dish to Europe and America, and falafel in pita emerged as an international food. Kosher pizza stores began selling falafel as a standard item, while a few Israelis in New York City peddled the cumin-accented chickpea ball sandwiches fr
om pushcarts on street corners; some initially gave away free samples to introduce the new food to potential customers. Eventually, mainstream American supermarkets stocked packaged falafel mix and tahini. Consequently, in much of the West, falafel became associated with Israeli cuisine. In response, some Palestinians created a controversy, accusing the Jews of "stealing their culture." In 2002, a pro-Palestinian group at Montreal's Concordia University accused the Hillel organization of "cultural theft" for serving falafel at its table during orientation week. Of course, food and culture cannot be stolen—they have been borrowed and shared throughout history. (Besides, falafel was probably initially an Egyptian Coptic or Indian innovation.) Thus falafel is another classic instance of Jews transforming and transmitting a food.
Middle Eastern Chickpea Croquettes (Falafel)
makes about 24 small balls
[PAREVE]
8 ounces (1¼ cups) dried chickpeas, soaked in water to cover in the refrigerator for 12 hours and drained
1 medium yellow onion or 4 scallions, chopped
2 to 3 large cloves garlic
About 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 slice white bread soaked in water and squeezed, or 6 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or cilantro
About 1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 to ¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)
1 teaspoon baking powder or ½ teaspoon baking soda (optional)
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
1. In a meat grinder or food processor fitted with a metal blade, grind together the chickpeas, onion, and garlic. The chickpeas should not be totally smooth, but have a slightly coarse consistency. Stir in the flour, parsley, cumin, salt, pepper, and, if using, the optional cayenne, and/or baking powder. The mixture should be moist enough to just hold together. Chill for at least 1 hour.
