Shana Tovah!

On Rosh Hashanah, which begins tomorrow at sundown, Jewish people will begin our annual period of spiritual renewal. It’s a beautiful holiday, as is this whole season. In my childhood Rosh Hashanah was, after Passover, my other favorite Jewish holiday, but I’ve lived long enough, and through enough, that it has become my number one. In spite of my not having a local community to celebrate with, I always find a way to observe it.

Last week I gave you a story about apples. Today, a few brief words about plums, another traditional fruit at this time of year.

My grandmother and great grandmother didn’t cook fruit in cakes and tarts because it wasn’t the way they baked in Rhodes. If you’ve eaten fresh Mediterranean fruit, it’s easy to understand why; most of it is so sweet, it already tastes like dessert. But they were no strangers to cooking fruit, plums among them. Plums are native to Turkey as they are to Eastern Europe, and it was my who aunt always made sure there was plum cake on the table, at Rosh Hashanah and throughout our family’s autumn celebrations.

If tomorrow there’s no room on your table (or time in your schedule) for my own plum tart, there’s always the day after. The holiday lasts two days and so does its festive table.

Shana Tovah, anada buena, dulse i alegre. I wish you a beautiful, sweet and prosperous New Year.

This way to the recipe.