Getty Images

(JTA) — A few weeks after Ben & Jerry’s founders indicated that marijuana-infused ice cream may one day join its product line, the company’s kosher-for-Passover charoset flavor has been generating buzz.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

In case your memories of last year’s seder are blurred by too many cups of wine, charoset is the fruit-and-nut puree that symbolizes the mortar Hebrew slaves used when making bricks to construct Egyptian cities. In making its charoset flavor, which, sadly, is distributed only in Israel, Ben & Jerry’s opted for the Ashkenazi tradition of apples and walnuts, rather than the chunky Sephardic style featuring nuts blended with assorted dried fruits.

Ashkenazi charoset is great, but why stop at one Passover flavor? If we could have 10 plagues, why not 10 ice creams? Here’s some Passover flavors we’d like to see:

1) Sephardic Charoset

Think rum raisin, but with lots of spices and other dried fruits like dates and figs.

2) Manischewitz Madness

Sure, it’s not yet legal to put marijuana in the ice cream, but why not this potent and intensely sweet wine? We envision it as a sorbet with a kick that could replace the four cups of wine and double as a palate cleanser.

3) Chocolate-Covered Matzahs and Cream

Think cookies and cream, but crunchier and kosher for Passover.

4) Macaroons and Cream

Ice cream with chunks of macaroon, and the possibility of almost infinite sub-categories of flavors, mixing different types of macaroon with different types of ice cream.

5) Pure Macaroon

Forget the chunks of macaroon and instead just infuse the almond and coconut that form macaroons’ base into the ice cream itself.

6) Fruit Jellies Jamboree

The iconic gooey fruity candies mixed into vanilla ice cream or fruit sorbet offers a nice mix of textures.

7) Rocky Road out of Egypt

Wouldn’t those 40 years in the desert have been nicer with this confection of chocolate ice cream mixed with kosher marshmallows and nuts.

8) Red Sea

You won’t want to part with this red-velvet rich chocolate.

9) Tzimmes

Sweet potato base with chunks of dried fruit. If you don’t think a tuber can go in ice cream, remember this: pumpkin pie is an accepted ice-cream flavor and sweet potato pie tastes a little like pumpkin pie, so why not?

10) Dayenu

All (or maybe just some) of the above flavors combined into one more-than-satisfying flavor.

Incidentally Ben & Jerry’s, Passover is not the only Jewish holiday. When you finish with the Pesach line, we’re hoping to see some Rosh Hashanah (apples-and-honey), Hanukkah (jelly doughnuts and/or gelt, anyone?) and Shavuot (cheesecake) confections.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount