38 | DECEMBER 22 • 2022 

G

ut yontef! Happy Chanukah! As 
we kindle our menorahs for the 
Festival of Lights, we also fire up 
our frying pans to honor the miracle of the 
oil with plates full of fried potato latkes.
Much has been written in both Jewish 
and non-Jewish publications 
about the mystery of the 
potato latke. How is it that 
a 2,200-year-old holiday is 
celebrated so universally 
with food made from South 
American tubers that weren’t 
known to most Jews until 
some 1,700 years into the 
holiday observance? 
Latkes have not always been potatoes, 
nor are they always served with sour cream 
or applesauce, or both. Traditions are as 
numerous as there are candles lit each 
night of Chanukah, and they grow and 
multiply just the same.
Early versions of latkes, levivot, seem 
to center around curd cheese, which is 
an excellent way of preserving milk that 

would otherwise spoil awaiting other uses. 
Shtetl Jews in the Middle Ages would have 
had access to such cheese and the flour 
could be milled from whatever grains 
they farmed. Pairing cheese with fruit is a 
natural choice and, at this time of year for 
Northern Hemisphere Jews, that means 
some kind of preserves.

CHEESE LATKES WITH 
CHERRY PRESERVES
Yield: 20-40 latkes, depending on size; 
1 pint of preserves

Latke Ingredients

16 oz. large-curd cottage cheese

1½ oz. (by weight) honey 

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla paste

9¾ oz. (by weight) all-purpose flour

3 oz. (by weight) granulated white sugar

2½ tsp. baking powder

Canola oil for frying
Preserve Ingredients

1 lb. frozen pitted cherries (or fresh cherries, 

pitted, and weighed out to 1 lb. of cleaned 

cherries)

½ cup Granny Smith apple (about 1 medi-

um-sized apple), peeled, cored and chopped

½ cup honey

¼ cup water, plus more as needed
 
Preserve Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a sauce-
pan large enough to hold them over 
medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, 
reduce to a bare simmer and cook until 
the mixture is very syrupy and the juic-
es have cooked down at least by half. 
Mix frequently to prevent scorching 
and burning as the sugars cook down 
and periodically mash with a potato 
masher or similar utensil.
2. When the liquids have reduced 
significantly, dip a clean metal spoon 
into the pot to see how thickly the 
preserves coat the back of the spoon. 
Can you make a clean swipe through 
it with a fingertip and leave a line with 
no liquid or does it run right in again? If 

Chef Aaron 
Egan

FOOD
FROM THE HOME KITCHEN 
OF CHEF AARON

Latke-Palooza!

