Hanukkah, which begins Sunday evening, is an eight-day holiday commemorating the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem after the small army of Maccabees defeated the Syrian-Greek enemy. As one tale goes, wrote Gil Marks in his “Encyclopedia of Jewish Food,” “the priests found only a single small vial of ritually untainted olive oil, enough to burn in the Temple’s seven-branched candelabra for barely one day.” It burned for eight days, which allowed enough time to find more fresh olive oil of the purest quality to keep the candelabra continuously lit. (The candelabra is called a hanukkiyah by Sephardim and a menorah by Ashkenazim.)
To excavate history, I enlisted Shmuel Veffer, an Orthodox rabbi who owns Galilee Green, a small olive oil business in the Lower Galilee region in Israel. Their olives are pressed from the orchards in Kibbutz Degania Alef.
“According to Torah law,” Vesser emailed, “it is preferable to light the Hanukkah menorah with shemen zayit zach pure olive oil. Many people both in Israel and in the diaspora choose to use olive oil for their hanukkiyah.” It produces a clear flicker-free flame.
“But another universal custom in Jewish homes around the world is to eat foods made with olive oil,” Shmuel continued. “It’s another way to commemorate the holiday.” Although Jewish people have celebrated the miracle of the oil for centuries by deep-frying various doughs and batters — in Israel sufganiyot; in Spain and Mexico bunuelos; in India jalebi — it is the olive oil, not the cooking method, that is honored.
But, you say, the latke is my traditional Hanukkah fare. Traditional? No. It is relatively new! The Maccabees never saw a potato, much less a potato pancake. And that potato? It didn’t even appear in Eastern Europe until the late 1800s. Only then, with the mass migration of Ashkenazi immigrants who fled Eastern Europe, did the potato latke arrive at our shores.
But let’s shift the culinary narrative back to the oil, because Hanukkah is not about the cooking method. It is about the olive oil, which is why this year we are offering recipes that highlight it.
A few years ago, the folks at the University of California-Davis were predicting a bumper crop of olives, so I volunteered at Margaret and Jim Foley’s Petrichor Vineyards, outside Santa Rosa, California. Surrounding the thousands of vines of grenache and syrah grapes that were already harvested — the real business of Petrichor — there was an olive orchard of organic manzanillo and mission trees. It’s a tedious farm job: Every olive is picked by hand; it takes three to four hours of labor to fill one bin. Then, the entire crop is rushed to a nearby mill to be quickly pressed into a thick, golden elixir, which is sold mostly in bulk gallons to restaurants.
Olives, no matter manzanillo or mission, start out green and then mature. In their prime, they are black. The black olive is simply the ripened green one. The Foleys choose the precise time when the crop is about 60% green before it’s picked, along with the mature black, and pressed in batches. The timing of harvest is the mark of any grower’s palate — theirs was tangy and peppery.
Test olive oils for yourself at boutique food shops that stock extra-virgin varieties from different countries. Down a shot of different oils, and read through the geeky tasting notes. Is it round and fruity with gentle hints of unripe almonds? Grassy? Or perhaps bold with artichoke notes?
Hanukkah lasts for eight days, plenty of time to prepare your Ashkenazi gold standard latke and recall your ancestors. But try following a newer culinary path that focuses on foods that highlight the oil.
You can drink from both wells.
Peggy Wolff is a freelance writer.
Lemon olive oil cake
Prep: 20 minutes
Bake: 25-30 minutes
Makes: 10 servings
This Hanukkah cake recipe is light and mouthwatering, imparting a blast of lemon that partners well with extra-virgin olive oil. The recipe is adapted from one that Yael Wiesenfeld, a fashion designer in Israel, submitted to Jonathan Katz’s website flavorsofdiaspora.com. Always use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil. If you don’t like the flavor for dipping bread or drizzling on salads, you won’t like it in your baked goods. If you grease the pan with olive oil, place a baking sheet under the pan while baking, in case any oil leaks.
Cake:
3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons (to sprinkle inside pan)
1 ? cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3 to 4 lemons, zested
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Syrup:
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1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Whipped-cream topping:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
1. Put a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 350 degrees. Spray the inside bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with olive oil spray. (Alternatively, grease the pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil.) Sprinkle bottom and sides with 2 tablespoons sugar.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a stand mixer — or using a hand mixer — beat the eggs, 3/4 cup sugar and zest until thickened and pale in color. Blend in the vanilla extract and lemon juice until the mixture is thicker and bright yellow, about 30 seconds.
4. With the mixer on medium-low, drizzle 1 cup olive oil around the edge of the bowl; mix until the oil is incorporated, stopping once to scrape down the sides, about 2 minutes. Mix in the flour mixture until combined. Transfer the cake batter to the pan.
5. Bake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the syrup. In a small pan over low to medium heat, stir the lemon juice with the powdered sugar until the sugar dissolves and the glaze thickens into a syrup, about 10 minutes.
7. Take the cake out of the oven and immediately poke holes all over with a toothpick. As soon as it pulls away from the sides, remove the ring. Place the metal base on a platter; drizzle the glaze over the top.
8. For the topping, whip the cream in a bowl until stiff, adding 1 teaspoon of sugar at a time for desired sweetness.
Nutrition information per serving: 409 calories, 28 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 69 mg cholesterol, 38 g carbohydrates, 22 g sugar, 4 g protein, 220 mg sodium, 1 g fiber
Olive tapenade
Prep: 25 minutes
Makes: ? cup to 3/4 cup
This recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s “Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook” is a blend of olives, garlic and herbs — with citrus and anchovies as boosters. Do not sub anchovy paste packed in a tube or your dish will be killer salty. Use a canned anchovy, it will add another layer of flavor. You can refrigerate the tapenade in a well-sealed jar for at least three days. Stir before using and serve with plain crackers, plain crostini or a sliced baguette.
3/4 cup (113 grams) packed, pitted, oil-cured black olives, coarsely chopped
1 oil-packed anchovy, drained, coarsely chopped
1/4 garlic clove, germ removed, coarsely chopped
Grated zest (about 1 teaspoon) and juice of 1/2 lemon (about 5 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, or more to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper, or more to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
1. Using a blender or a food processor — a mini works great — put all the ingredients in the bowl; process, scraping down the sides frequently, until the olives and garlic are pureed. Make the tapenade chunky or smooth — the choice is yours.
2. If it is too salty for your taste, stir in an additional teaspoon each of fresh lemon juice and olive oil.
Nutrition information per serving: 42 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g carbohydrates, 0 g sugar, 0 g protein, 82 mg sodium, 0 g fiber