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Tzimmes is a Jewish dish of stewed fruit and vegetables traditionally served as a side dish on Rosh Hashanah. The ingredients are cooked slowly over low heat, making a thick compote. Recipes vary across regions and even different families, giving each dish its own twist.
Tzimmes is a Jewish dish of stewed fruit and vegetables traditionally served as a side dish on Rosh Hashanah. The ingredients are cooked slowly over low heat, making a thick compote. Recipes vary across regions and even different families, giving each dish its own twist, but a traditional tzimmes is usually made with carrots, honey, dried fruit, and sometimes brisket, adding sweetness to a New Year’s meal.
Recipes can vary greatly and may bear little resemblance to each other. Carrots are often the main ingredient, but sweet potatoes have sometimes been substituted. Additional vegetables may be included, especially root vegetables such as potatoes, and meat such as brisket is optional.
Different combinations of raisins, plums, apples and other fruits could be included. Spices like cinnamon or nutmeg could also be added. Other recipes are made using only fruit.
Including tzimmes on Rosh Hashanah is an ancient tradition dating back to Germany and Eastern Europe. Honey-sweetened foods were traditionally included in Jewish New Year celebrations throughout the region. Winter root vegetables such as carrots and dried fruits were also readily available in this cold climate, bringing together the main elements of this dish.
The ingredients used in tzimmes, especially carrots, also have symbolic meaning. The Yiddish word for carrot is merren, a word that can also mean “to increase,” a reminder to diners to do more in the coming year. Some also note that sliced carrots resemble gold coins and suggest they could also represent a wish for prosperity in the new year.
Spelling variations are common, and the dish is commonly referred to as tsimmes, tsimmis, or tsimmis. The word tzimmes is Yiddish, and as well as referring to this sweet dish, the word could refer to a mess, mess, or nuisance. “Don’t play big jokes” is a common Jewish phrase and a way of telling others not to mess things up.
The name of the dish could be a reference to the complexity of the recipe and the work that goes into preparing the fruits and vegetables, or it could refer to the way this dish stews until the ingredients dissolve into a homogenous “mess”. It could also be derived from the German words zum essen, meaning “to eat,” or a variation of the English word “to simmer.” It’s possible that more than one of these factors came together to give the recipe its name in a bit of a pun.
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