Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

The Edible Etrog

The following recipes make practical use of the traditionally symbolic etrog, infusing flavors of Sukkot into sweet treats perfect for meals under the sukkah.

Etrog Jam

1 etrog
1 orange
sugar
water

1) Wash the etrog and orange and cut them in half lengthwise, and then very thinly slice them.

2) Remove seeds.

3) Soak the fruit overnight.

4) Change the water to cover the fruit, and bring to a boil.

5) Change the water again, and bring to a boil once more.

6) Pour off the water.

7) Weigh the fruit, and add an equal weight of white sugar.

8) Cook over a low heat for about 45 minutes until the jam begins to jell.

The above recipe was taken from “Jewish Cooking for Pleasure” (P. Hamlyn) by Molly Lyons Bar-David. The book is currently out of print.

Etrog Cake

1 etrog
juice of a lime
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 3/4 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon orange juice

Glaze
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon reserved citrus mixture
1 tablespoon orange juice

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9-inch tube pan with oil.

2) Grate the etrog peel, and then juice the lime, lemon and whatever juice you can squeeze from the etrog. (Strain to remove membranes and seeds.)

3) Reserve one tablespoon for the glaze.
4) Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Cream margarine with sugar. Add citrus mixture, and blend.

5) Add eggs, and beat well. Alternate, adding half of flour mixture with half of orange juice, beating well after each addition.

6) Place batter in pan, and bake about 45 minutes or tested done.

7) Blend together remaining tablespoon of citrus mixture, confectioner’s sugar, tablespoon of orange juice and teaspoon of vanilla. 8) Remove cake from pan, and drizzle glaze over warm cake.

This recipe was taken from www.jewishrecipes.org.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.