It’s said that Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, ate only raw fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds after she was taken to King Ahasuerus’s palace. That’s how she managed to eat only kosher foods in her captivity. At her uncle Mordechai’s command, she kept  her Jewish identity  secret until the day when she made her dramatic accusation against the villain, Haman. For these reasons, Jews serve hamentaschen, pastries with hidden fillings, and particularly enjoy foods featuring  fruit and nuts on Purim.

See Hannah’s post explaining the holiday here, and Karin’s description of the holiday’s mitzvas here.

Jewish custom requires every family to send baskets of goodies around to neighbors and friends on Purim day. We posted about Purim baskets here. Our green Purim baskets feature home-made bread, salads, and spreads like hummus – but we can’t neglect candy. Try these easily made chocolate fruit-nut clusters, made, naturally, with fair-trade chocolate. We know you’ll like them. Our neighbors say they look forward to them every year.

Chocolate Fruit-Nut Clusters

Ingredients:

200 grams – 7 oz. bittersweet chocolate

60 grams – 2 oz. butter or margarine

300 grams – 10 oz. mixed dried fruit and nuts. Especially nice in the mix are candied citrus peels.

Melt the chocolate and butter (or margerine) in a double boiler or in the microwave. Stir gently and constantly until the mass is smooth and glossy.

Add the fruit and nut mixture to the melted chocolate. Mix thoroughly.

Spoon the mixture into small paper cupcake cups by tablespoons, or onto a sheet lined with baking paper. There will be some liquid pooling at the bottom of the pot. Spoon it up and drizzle it over the clusters, filling up any empty spaces. It’ll get hard again, so use it all up.

Freeze the clusters for 1/2 hour before serving. If making them ahead of time, keep them in the refrigerator or freezer.

Enjoy!

More Purim ideas on Green Prophet:

• Gehorabeya Cookies For Purim
• Make Your Own, Green Purim Costume
• Make Green Noise This Purim
• Purim and Building A Good Society

The post DIY chocolate fruit-nut clusters for Purim baskets appeared first on Green Prophet.

Designed to commemorate the long years that Israelis spent in the desert after escaping slavery in Egypt, the sukkah (sukkot plural) became the living room, study, dining room and even bedroom for many observant Jews throughout the Sukkot holiday.

And while there are many different interpretations of the design, there are a few set requirements that have to be observed in order to be considered kosher. These include material choices, height (at least three feet tall) and a partially-open roof.

Four years ago, 16-year-old Levi Duchman decided to build a mobile sukkah on the back of a tricycle, according to Chabad.org.

“In 2009, I saw a pedi-cab and was inspired to build the first pedi-sukkah,” he told the group. “In 2010, I rented 10 tricycles, and we had a fleet. In time for Sukkot 2011, I purchased 10 tricycles of my own, and we doubled our numbers. Now, there are between 30 and 40 pedi-sukkahs in places like Portland, Oregon, and as far away as Brussels, Belgium.”

The teenager’s original design, which was made with heavy timber mounted on the back of those rented tricycles, has since evolved into a more ergonomic mobile booth.

Now the youngster is cooperating with Wayne Sosin, president of Worksman Cycles, to build Pedi-Sukkahs made with a canvas mesh material that is not only significantly lighter than the first generation timber, but they are also better ventilated since air can pass easily through the material.

The most challenging aspect of the design involved creating a wheeled sukkah that was steady enough for people to climb on and off it. Worksman Cycles overcame that challenge by building a step at the base of the platform, according to Chabad.org, ensuring a comfortable, sturdy wheeled structure.

Unlike most homegrown sukkahs that are packed away at the end of the holiday, the Pedi-Sukkah is a multifunctional “mitzvah-cycles.”

“On Chanukah, they can pull a menorah; before Passover, they hold matzah for distribution; at other times, they convert into tefillin booths,” writes Chabad.org.

“Duchman says they’ve even been used as a Chabad on campuskosher hot dog stand.”

:: Chabad.org

The post Israeli Teenager Designs Mobile Pedi-Sukkah on a Tricycle appeared first on Green Prophet.

Matzah balls, the only Eastern European food that crossed over to Sephardic cuisine.

While Ashkenazic Jews have enthusiastically adopted the spicy foods of Israeli’s Sephardic communities, there hasn’t been much culinary exchange from the other direction. Ordinarily, Sephardic Jews (Middle Eastern and North African origin) wrinkle their noses at the foods of Eastern European Jewry. Too bland, too sweet, too overcooked! We know this isn’t always so, but admit that  Sephardic cuisine fits into Israel’s hot, dry climate perfectly.

There’s one Ashkenazic food that everyone in Israel loves, though, and that’s matzah balls. Come Passover, you can walk into a Yemenite or Moroccan housewife’s kitchen and see, floating in the soup pot, a batch of matzah-based dumplings made from a recipe that any Polish grandmother knows by heart. Your haroset may be based on dates or on fresh apples; you may chose to drink toxic kosher-for-Passover coke  or healthy Syrian mint lemonade – your very matzah may look and taste different from your neighbors’ – but matzah balls are pretty much the same all over.

How to make matza balls

This version uses olive oil instead of the traditional fat, shmaltz – rendered chicken fat.

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 scant cup matzah meal

1/4 – 1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger (optional)

Combine the beaten eggs, oil, and matzah meal.

Add 1/4 cup water, salt, and ginger.If the mix seems stiff enough to roll into a hard ball, add more water by tablespoons till it’s a stiff batter, not a firm dough.

Cover the batter and put it in the fridge for 2 hours. This step is important if you want light matzah balls. The batter can rest, refrigerated, up to 8 hours or overnight.

Have a medium pot with plenty of boiling, lightly salted water ready. With wet hands, form walnut-sized balls of dough, and drop them in.

Cover and cook the matzah balls over a medium flame for 30 minutes. Lower the heat so that the water simmers after the initial boil.

Remove the matzah balls from the water and either set them aside for later or put them in your soup right away. They may be drained and frozen.

Matzah balls may be cooked directly in the soup, but the result is heavier.

Enjoy!

Eco-Passover hints on Green Prophet:

• 10 Tips For Greening Your Passover
• Avoiding Food Waste On Passover
• Jewish Passover And The Environment

The post Traditional Passover Matzah Balls Recipe appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Jewish version of Arbor Day Tu B’Shevat is more relevant today than ever. Transformed from a general agricultural holiday into a dedicated arboreal conservation initiative in the early 1900’s, this celebration takes place towards the end of January during the Hebrew month of Shevat.

This holiday addresses the travesty that trees previously revered by indigenous people around the globe have become nothing more than commodities in our modern consciousness, something to be grown, skinned, chopped and used in building projects.

But there are so many other reasons to value trees. Not only are they beautiful sentries that transform a flat and dusty landscape, and gracious hosts of important bugs, birds and sometimes mammals too, they also perform a variety of crucial environmental services that most of us don’t see. Followed is a list of five.

1. Trees Absorb Carbon Dioxide

It is relatively well known that trees absorb carbon dioxide. This environmental service also known as a “carbon sink” has become better understood as the discussion about climate change has gained momentum. Trees capture the same CO2 that is spewed from the exhaust of a car and factories and store it in their roots, bark and leaves, diverting harmful emissions from the atmosphere. If it weren’t for trees, life on earth would be significantly hotter, and yet in the last few decades we have managed to decrease forest cover by more the half. Researchers at the World Resources Institute predict that global demand for wood will double by 2050, putting trees (and therefore us) at deadly risk.

2. Trees Help Us Breathe

In addition to sucking up the pollution we unleash, trees produce the oxygen that we need to breathe. According to a website devoted to forestry, one tree produce the same amount of oxygen in one season that ten humans use in an entire year. And why does oxygen matter? Consider this: if we cut off the supply of oxygen to the brain for just a fraction of a second, we start to lose consciousness. In the prolonged absence of oxygen, we will experience respiratory failure and even death.

3. Trees Clean the Soil and Scrub the Air

In addition to absorbing CO2 and using it for food, trees scrub harmful pollutants from both the soil and the air. Remarkably resilient in the face of our pollutant blitz, they absorb pollutants in the soil and either store them or convert them into something useful and treat air pollutants in a similar manner. A world without trees would be hotter and smoggier.

4. Trees Prevent Water Runoff

As climate change escalates, global sea levels are expected to rise as much as 6.5 feet by 2100, according to the National Geographic, though some scientists believe that if the Greenland ice sheet melts, seas could rise 23 feet. If this happens, London and Los Angeles will vanish. In less dramatic circumstances, trees can absorb water runoff and prevent flash floods from destroying crops, homes and soil erosion. One Colorado Blue Spruce can absorb as much as 1,000 gallons of water, according to forestry experts.

5. Trees Block Wind and Noise

Have you ever driven down a busy highway with houses on either side of it and noticed some homeowners have planted either one or two rows of tall trees along the length of their property? Here’s the trifold logic behind such a choice: trees create a natural boundary and provide some privacy, but they also ward off noise pollution and act as a windbreaker. The latter quality can reduce heating bills by up to 30 percent and reduce snow drifts in northern latitudes.

We have barely skimmed the importance of trees in this post and not one of them has anything to do with profit; suffice to say that life without trees is no kind of life at all. So go plant one or two or three this Tu B’Shevat; your very existence is directly tied to theirs.

The post 5 reasons to love Trees on Tu B’Shevat appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s true, a few days before the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat occurs, the almond trees in Israel begin to shake blossoms out along their branches. Travelers along the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem highway can spot the occasional cloud of pink or white flowers among the olive groves and green fields along the way. Enjoy the beauty of mid-winter in Israel, because soon enough summer’s hot winds will change the landscape to something much drier and sere.

Strolling on ground covered with almond blossom is a lovely thing to do, and the milky new almonds, sco0ped out of their fuzzy green shells, are delicious eating. In a few weeks, you’ll be able to buy sacks of them in the open-air markets. Another way to celebrate the gracious almond tree is by picking up the best and freshest of those fallen blossoms and making almond blossom liqueur.

The Jewish new year of the trees determines which agricultural year their fruit belongs to, as explained in this post. The day is also called a new year because, as for humans, Heaven determines each tree’s fate that day. How much water will it receive? (Some of that has to do with not wasting water ourselves.) Will it survive to fruition one more year, or not?

A song Israeli kindergartners sing on Tu B’Shvat:

The almond tree is blooming
The golden sun is shining,
Whistling birds atop each roof
Bless the day’s oncoming.

We eco-conscious treehuggers can also ask ourselves how active our commitment to  stewardship has been this past year – what we’re doing to prevent a scenario as depicted by this artist, in a world with no trees.

Tu B’Shvat gained special mystical importance in Safed’s 16th century kabbalistic traditions. The great Rabbi Isaac Luria instituted a Seder for the holiday in which participants eat thirty kinds of fruits and drink four colors of wine, stopping to meditate on the symbolism of each variety. It’s also great fun; remember, you’re expected to drink four cups of wine!

Read our post on the Tu B’Shvat seder, which includes a link to downloading instructions on how to conduct one. For some recipe ideas, follow the links below. And remember safety for your little ones under age five: cut hard fruit like apples into small pieces; likewise cut grapes in half; and either don’t allow them nuts, or break nuts up into small, un-chokable pieces ahead of time.

Some recipes that celebrate the native fruits of Israel:

• Almond Torte with Pomegranate Molasses
• Carob Nut Balls
• Cool and Hot Arabic Almond Milk
• Warm Freekah, Feta, and Fig Salad

Images of almond blossom and green almonds via Shutterstock.

The post Tu B’Shvat is Jewish New Year For The Trees appeared first on Green Prophet.

Hannukah is one of the most fun holidays in the Jewish calendar, maybe because for a full eight days there’s a feeling of celebration in the air. Family folks often quit work early to be home in time for the candle-lighting ceremony, games with the kids and festive dinner. Adults also get together at least once during the week, often making a pot-luck meal with drinks.

But children and adults all expect to eat something fried. Fried foods are almost mandatory on Hannukah. They are meant to remind the happy eaters of the Hannukah miracle, when the Maccabees rededicated Jerusalem’s Holy Temple after the Syrian-Greek war. The menu often features savory potato latkehs and jam-filled sufganyot (jelly donuts). Everybody loves those, but the conscientious cook sometimes likes to put something lighter and healthier on the table.

I suggest these zucchini-based latkehs, a more sophisticated version of the eternal potato latkeh. And a small boon – since there are no onions in the recipe, there won’t be the odor that usually pervades the house after a session of latkeh-frying.

Zucchini Latkehs

Ingredients:

1.5 kg. – 3 lb. zucchini, washed but not peeled

1 tablespoon salt

1- 1/3 cups whole-wheat bread crumbs, ground fine

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

oil for frying

The post Zucchini Latkehs Hannukah RECIPE appeared first on Green Prophet.

Primarily a Sukkah, which is a special kind of tent built to commemorate the long and arduous journey from Egypt to the Holy Land, Embryonic Canopy has another function as well.

The natural latex balloons are filled with different kinds of seeds, such as strawberry, different kinds of herbs, or vegetables such as cucumber or tomato. They are also filled with helium, which is admittedly in decline, so that the balloons can potentially up and float away.

But natural latex is biodegradable, so if and when the balloons pop, they are like giant seed bombs. Either the seeds root in place or some crafty animal discovers the seeds and enjoys a lovely meal.

If the balloons don’t float away, they can be planted at the end of the Sukkot holiday in preparation for the following year’s harvest.

Meanwhile, the cedar mulch-filled core platform that promotes contemplation and reflection is completely reusable. We’ve seen some really interesting Sukkah’s in our time, but this has to be one of the coolest.

:: Arch Daily

The post Embryonic Canopy is a Giant Floating Seed Bomb appeared first on Green Prophet.

Dates and goat’s cheese, a classic Middle Eastern combination that works as an appetizer, nosh, or dessert.

Stately date palms grace many streets in the Middle East, giving the landscape an unforgettable silhouette.  In Israel,  municipalities prune their date palms and give out the big, rustling leaves gratis to those who like to roof their succot with them. Many families decorate their succah with an entire bunch of fresh yellow dates.

And for easy recipes appropriate to Succot, try the combination of moist Medjool dates with a chunk of salty goats cheese, preferably one with blue veins running though it.

I’ve already almost given you the first recipe. Little remains but to drizzle the combination with silan, Middle Eastern date honey, and olive oil. But here’s the procedure for:

Goat’s Cheese and Dates

Ingredients:

As many chunks of goat’s cheese as servings needed, plus more for stuffing extra dates

3 Medjool dates per serving

1 tablespoon silan date honey, mixed with 1 teaspoon olive oil, per serving

Remove the pit from each date.

Arrange each chunk of cheese on a plate and place one date on top.

Stuff about a teaspoon of cheese into each of the other dates. Place them attractively around the cheese.

Drizzle the silan/oil mixture over the cheese and date. Drizzle a little more over each date on the side.

Serve, and enjoy.

Dates Baked With Goat Cheese

recipe via Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
2  tablespoons fine dried bread crumbs
24 Medjool dates
125 grams – 1/4 lb. soft goat cheese

The post Goat’s Cheese And Dates For Your Succot Holiday, TWO RECIPES appeared first on Green Prophet.

“We’re one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Israel,” says Kfar Saba mayor Yehuda Ben Hamo.

In Israel, each municipality raises a Jewish holiday temporary tent called a succah for the benefit of local workers and visitors. This year, the very first succah illuminated by solar energy will go up in the central-region town of Kfar Saba. This showcase project will hopefully stir popular enthusiasm, especially in view of the government’s lagging investment in solar energy.

Mayor Yehuda Ben Hamo said, “The city of Kfar Saba is a city that was established on a green agenda.  A green and energy-saving succah operating on solar energy is only appropriate.”

Maybe soon every succah will be able to follow Kfar Saba’s example, using DIY solar panels made of grass – which would be really fitting to this week-long harvest holiday.

The post First Solar Succah Goes Up In Kfar Saba, Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur is a day of introspection and prayer. In Israel, it’s a day of closed business and empty streets. The great soul-searching that began on Rosh HaShana climaxes at sunset on this holiest of days, when we seek to connect  to the Creator as closely as  humans can. We put physicality aside for an entire day, refraining from life-sustaining and life-creating activities as an expression of faith and reliance on the one who made the world.

Which is not to say that Jews don’t love, and celebrate, life’s good things: Le-chaim! is the toast that Jews say when raising a celebratory glass of wine. It means: to life! And as life is a precious gift rooted in the spiritual world, it’s people’s job to release the spiritual spark in everything that lives.

Sounds so esoteric, right? How in the world do you manage that? The answer is: by honoring and protecting creation. Spiritual comes down to the physical. For example, even if you don’t fast,  here are some suggestions on how to repair your eating habits. And others on atoning for environmental sins.

Prayer may not be your thing. But you can review your spiritual account by using familiar objects that, whether you’re conscious of it or not, compose a running commentary on your life and reflect your ecological footprint.

1. Read what your credit card statement says. Does it show lots of expenditure on take-out food? A home-made meal is tastier, healthier, and a better maker of quality time with the family. What impulse purchases appear there whose price might have been given to needy people? How much gasoline are you buying? You might consider walking, biking, or taking public transportation more often.

2. How about your electricity, gas and water bills? Your utility bills reflect your usage of the planet’s precious, and dwindling, resources.

4. Search your fridge. Got any dying veggies in there, yogurts way past expiry date, something moldy in the back of the  shelf? Resolve to buy less and reduce waste. A good rule of thumb: cook everything you buy, and eat everything you cook.

5. Search your closets. Most of us hang on to clothes in good condition that we’ll never put on again. Unless a long-unused garment has sentimental value –  I myself keep a certain little flowered dress that all my daughters have worn – donate it to a cause you respect. And if you have clothes languishing for attention that need only a button replaced or a few stitches, take the minutes to repair them, and start wearing them again. You might have more cool threads than you thought.

6. Time how many minutes or hours you typically spend with techno-toys. Surfing the Net, watching TV, chatting online with strangers while family or friends would love to spend some time with you. Maybe you can find more life-affirming ways to unwind, like reading, taking a walk, or getting together with someone you keep thinking of but haven’t made time to contact. Tafline gives us some powerful ideas about going offline on Yom Kippur.

I wish you a meaningful Yom Kippur.

More thoughts that hover between the spiritual and the material:

• Yom Kippur Fast Food, Before And After
• Green Your Repentance

The post 5 Ways Yom Kippur Can Green The World appeared first on Green Prophet.