Aaron Weiner, Founder of Aaron’s Haroses, wants to make haroses – aka charoset – a year-round treat.
“Passover is often a potluck,” Weiner, who is also a commercial real estate broker, told the Journal. “In my adult years I always seemed to land the job of bringing the haroses, because I was the one person willing to peel core chop apples all day long.”
He used his grandma Goldie’s simple Ashkenazi recipe, which was always very popular.
“As I made it from year to year, I would always keep a little for myself,” Weiner said. “It dawned on me: Where’s the law that says you can only eat haroses at Passover?”
That was when Weiner’s dream of bringing haroses to the masses was born.
Weiner teamed up with Amy Levy from Amy Levy Public Relations, who he met through ProVisors networking group. She brought on Larry Cohen of Glyphix to do graphic design and branding, web designer Iris Marreck of What A Great Website and food scientist Mark Haas of Helmsman Group.
“Aaron is going on a journey like we Jews went through the desert during Passover,” Levy, who also serves as project manager and number one fan, told the Journal. “It’s been so much fun because we really do like the product.”
The first run of Aaron’s Haroses — the kosher for Pesach version — was manufactured in the kosher kitchen at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino last Monday and Tuesday. It then becomes part of the congregants’ Passover seder catering packages.
“All we did was translate Aaron’s original recipe to bring it as close as possible to the traditional culinary version,” Haas told the Journal.
Aaron’s Haroses contains apples, walnuts, honey, cinnamon and concord grape juice. The original recipe calls for Manischewitz wine; the rest was pretty much the same.
“We sourced the commercial ingredients and made certain that the specifications were clear,” Haas said. “And now it can be produced at any facility that has the capability.”
The next step will be producing and distributing the regular version, and not just to Jewish markets but to regular grocers and restaurants.
“There’s an organic ingredient in the [non-Passover] version that will take it to mainstream, and that extends the shelf life to about 90 days,” Haas said.
The other difference between Aaron’s and other similar recipes is that Weiner spells haroses with an H. That’s how it was spelled on his grandmother’s recipe card.
“There are countless recipes on the Internet, and it’s always spelled charoset,” said Weiner, who asked Cohen if he should change it. “Larry said, ‘No, that spelling is a little unusual; let it be yours.’”
The spelling and branding are all part of giving Aaron’s Haroses a broader appeal. After all, why not make haroses the new hummus?
“Hummus is traditional Middle Eastern, but it infiltrated the American market and did very, very well,” Cohen said.
Salsa had a similar journey.
“When I was growing up, nobody ate salsa; we had catchup and mustard,” Cohen said. “Suddenly, salsa took over, and then hummus took over. We’d like to introduce this as just another wonderful condiment.”
“For those people who don’t know what haroses is, it also really brings home the fact that this is a very natural food with no preservatives.”
– Iris Marreck
“For those people who don’t know what haroses is, it also really brings home the fact that this is a very natural food with no preservatives,” Marreck said. “How many foods today can really say that? So we think that’s a really important selling point of the product, besides its deliciousness.”
The team agrees: Aaron’s Haroses is good on everything. Weiner likes to eat it on ice cream; it’s like an upside-down gluten-free apple pie. Cohen pairs it with chocolate.
“Together we created a way to mainstream this favorite Passover dish to become a year-round apple tapenade-type dish for Jews and non-Jews to enjoy,” Levy said. “We like it out of the jar, but it’s great on waffles, it’s great on oatmeal, it’s great on a plate when you might be having applesauce. … It’s a very nice, sweet confection.”
For more information go to AaronsHaroses.com or ask for it at your local store.
