This is a Passover candy that Eleanor Elbaum, whose family is from Siberia, grew up with. It’s made from Siberian nuts and honey, the precursor to our commercial peanut brittle and fruit-and-nut bars. I have seen similar candies in other Jewish homes made with radishes, carrots, and beets; no matter how different the mixture, it always includes honey and ginger. You can also add cranberries, chocolate chips, chopped apricots, whatever you want. I love old recipes like this; they give a hint at what life before the commercialization of so many food products.
Nuts in Honey and Sugar
March 21, 2021
Ingredients
- ¾cup sugar
- 5tablespoons honey
- 1teaspoon ground ginger, or to taste
- 1pound walnuts, roughly chopped
- matzoh meal for sprinkling
Yield: about 36 one-inch squares
Preparation
- Step 1
Mix the sugar, honey, and ginger together in a large saucepan. When it is bubbling and syrupy, remove from the heat, add the walnuts, and quickly mix to coat the nuts in the syrup.
- Step 2
Wet a wooden cutting board slightly to prevent sticking. Spread the nuts on the board in a rectangular shape and use another moistened board to push down on the nuts and pack them tightly. As the bars cool, sprinkle with matzoh meal. Once they’ve cooled, cut bars into 1-inch squares.
Note: The matzoh meal will stop the bars from sticking to each other when stacked for serving.
