Tzimmes

Ashkenazi sweet carrot stew with honey and dried fruit: a dish of sweetness and hope

Origin: Poland / Ashkenazi Jewish Europe

From the journey of Carrot.

Tzimmes (also spelled tzimmis or tsimmes) is one of the most symbolic dishes in Ashkenazi Jewish cooking (a slow-cooked stew of carrots braised with honey, dried fruits, and warming spices. It is served at Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, where its sweetness carries explicit ritual meaning: the carrot, sliced into rounds, evokes coins and prosperity; honey and dried fruit represent hope for a sweet new year. The Yiddish word 'tzimmes' has passed into common parlance meaning 'a big deal' or 'a fuss', suggesting the dish's cultural prominence) to make a tzimmes of something is to make an elaborate production of it. The dish developed in the Jewish communities of Poland, Germany, and the wider Pale of Settlement during the medieval and early modern period, where carrots were among the most affordable and storable winter vegetables. Ashkenazi Jewish cooking is characterised by the use of sweeteners (honey, sugar, dried fruits) in savoury preparations: a tradition that distinguishes it from most of the surrounding European cuisines and reflects both religious symbolism and practical adaptation to cold-climate agricultural conditions. Tzimmes in its most elaborate form includes meat (beef brisket or flanken) braised with the carrots and fruit; the simpler pareve (non-meat) version is served as a side dish alongside roast chicken or brisket.

Ingredients

Carrot

  • 900 g carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm rounds

Sweet

  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp light brown sugar

Fruit

  • 100 g dried prunes (pitted), halved
  • 80 g dried apricots, halved

Fat

  • 2 tbsp schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) or neutral oil

Spice

  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 0.25 tsp ground ginger

Seasoning

  • 0.5 tsp fine salt

Liquid

  • 200 ml water or orange juice

Acid

  • 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas 4.
  2. In a large, deep oven-proof skillet or Dutch oven, heat the schmaltz or oil over medium heat. Add the carrot rounds and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until slightly softened and just beginning to colour.
  3. Add the honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Stir to coat the carrots.
  4. Add the prunes, apricots, water (or orange juice), and lemon juice. Stir to combine. The liquid should just cover the bottom of the pan: not submerge the carrots.
  5. Bring to a simmer on the stove, then cover tightly and transfer to the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.
  6. Remove the lid and return to the oven for 15–20 minutes more, until the liquid has reduced to a syrupy glaze and the carrots are very tender and deeply amber-coloured.
  7. Taste and adjust the balance between sweet, salt, and acid. The dish should be richly sweet with a definite background savouriness. Serve warm.

Notes

For the meat version (the more elaborate holiday tzimmes): brown 1kg of beef brisket or flanken first, then braise it with the carrots from the beginning, adding the fruit for the last hour only. The beef will become fall-apart tender after 3–3.5 hours total. Tzimmes can be made 1–2 days ahead and reheated; the flavours deepen beautifully. The use of orange juice instead of water produces a brighter, more citrus-forward tzimmes (popular in American Ashkenazi cooking. On the Rosh Hashanah table, the circular shape of the carrot slices is symbolic) a wish for a circular, unending year.

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