We all have those memories of holiday foods that stick with us well into our adult years. Sometimes all it takes is one bite, a scene, or a simple smell to bring us back. 

 

With Pesach coming up, we figured now is the perfect time to get nostalgic and think about the foods that meant Pesach was coming. Was it a certain brand of powdered sugar-coated cookies your parents always brought home? Or maybe it was the smell of fresh dill simmering away with matzoh balls that Bubbe was making in the kitchen.

 

Below is what our staff had to say!

 

Naomi Nachman (Sunny Side Up):

 

 

We actually went away for Pesach. My dad started the first Pesach program in Australia when I was 13. I always looked forward to Pesach and being at the hotel with the same group of friends.

 

In Australia at the time there were not a lot of Kosher for Pesach ingredients. I remember it was a huge deal when they got Coca Cola imported from Israel. I remember my dad hiring my grandmother to help make the gefilte fish for the hotel because no chefs can make gefilte fish like a Jewish bubby. She made it from scratch, and I’m so sad I didn’t learn her technique. She was amazing at making it, and I can still remember her making it in the huge mixing bowls. To this day I really love gefilte, but never tasted anything like hers.

 

Rorie Weisberg (Living Full ’n Free):

 

Eggs with salami for supper made me with love by my dad! We loved it!!!

 

Esty Wolbe (Easy Does It):

 

 

Definitely the Pesach lokshen!! My aunt would patiently cook up dozens of thin egg crepes to be sliced and served in chicken soup, but we’d always sneak a few and just gobble them right up.

 

Chanie Nayman (Kosherdotcom Editor-in-Chief):

 

Ladyfingers, which we opened and munched on as we cooked and baked, and the unopened box of Pesach cereal (imitation Cheerios or whatever) that no one ever ate!

 

Raquel Malul (Kosherdotcom Marketing Assistant):

 

 

When I would see 2 big bowls of raisins soaking overnight, I knew Pesach was coming. My mom’s Charoset recipe is passed down from her great-grandmother and her family has been making it for generations. It is a Sephardic recipe made of raisins, dates, and ground nuts. Anyone that tries it instantly falls in love with it. My mom always makes extra and shares it with all our family and friends.

 

Renee Schwartz (Kosherdotcom Recipe Editor):

 

Bulging bags of Terra Chips, potato sticks, and marshmallows (sometimes toasted on the foil-covered stovetop) as we kids noshed our way through the long erev Pesach no-man’s-land or, some years, the long drive to our cousins’ house.

 

I remember rolling matzo ball batter between my palms alongside my mother at the kitchen counter and carefully, carefully dropping them into the boiling pot. The crisp smell of fresh parsley always takes me back to Seder nights. And, of course, Kedem grape juice!

 

Rachel Kor (Kosherdotcom Editorial Assistant):

 

Growing up, whenever my parents brought home spaceship-shaped chocolate lollipops and lemon sorbet it felt like Pesach was coming.

 

Another memory that meant Pesach was coming were my grandfather’s Pesach bagels sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and special Sephardi date charoset he brought all the way from Brooklyn. There was nothing like a shmear of cream cheese on those warm bagels. Yum!

 

Jenna Grunfeld (Kosherdotcom Managing Editor):

 

 

There was always a sponge cake baking or just baked, ready for Yom Tov breakfasts. We were also super partial to those packaged jelly rings, which I tried to eat all the chocolate off of. My aunt also always made a roast with potatoes, and her cooking always makes me think of Pesach.

 

Nechama Fink (Kosherdotcom Back End Management Assistant):

 

When my parents would come home with chocolate covered orange peels and half-moon jelly fruit slices from the supermarket, that was a sign that Pesach was on the way.

 

Not long after that my mom would start preparing her Pesach kishke, Pesach rolls, sorbet, her signature charoset and one of her best appetizers which was Stuffed Mushrooms special for Pesach. I can still remember waiting for some of these foods all year long!