This year, Hanukkah started on Sunday, November 28th; the Jewish Festival of Lights is celebrated by lighting a menorah for eight days and exchanging gifts with loved ones. It’s also observed by eating delicious, mouth-watering food, much to the delight of celebrants around the world. From jam-filled doughnuts to chocolate coins, sumptuous potato latkes, and more, the food that’s served during Hanukkah is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the jubilant festival.

The traditional foods consumed during the Hanukkah holiday are symbolic of the events being celebrated. Most of these traditional foods are fried in oil, symbolic of the oil that lasted eight days. Also, in his quest to conquer Judea, the general Holofernes besieged the town of Bethulia, cutting off its water supply. Though the town elders were ready to surrender, hoping to avoid starvation, the Hasmonean Judith was not. The beautiful widow was able to talk her way into Holofernes' tent. Once inside, she fed him cheese -- salty cheese. The cheese made him thirsty, so she gave him wine to quench that thirst -- lots of wine. Which of course made him drunk — and sleepy, allowing the general to be defeated. In honor of Judith's courage, we incorporate cheese into our Hanukkah menus. 

Perhaps one of the more well-known Hanukkah foods, a sufganiyah, or sufganiyot for plural, is a round, deep-fried doughnut typically filled with strawberry jam and topped with powdered sugar that's eaten on Hanukkah. In recent years, Jewish people in Israel and around the world have become more experimental with their sufganiyot fillings. We here at Bellisari’s think that’s a stellar idea and have put our own tasty twist on these delectable doughnuts: https://bellisaris.com/pages/jelly-stuffed-donuts. Using either our popular Blistered Jalapeno & Fig Spread  or our newest product, Harvest Ginger Peach Spread for the filling, whoever gets to try these will love the modern updates!

Since some version of latkes are one of the most adored Hanukkah dishes around the world, our recipe incorporates not only using oil for frying, but we add in our Blue Cheese, Honey & Shallot Spread to bring in extra flavor and the symbolic cheese element as well. https://bellisaris.com/blogs/how-to-videos/how-to-make-bellisaris-blue-cheese-latkes?_pos=2&_sid=c668eeeb1&_ss=r 

There are dozens of Hanukkah recipes to make during the eight-day celebration, but making some of the most traditional Hanukkah foods with our easy-to-use Bellisari’s gourmet sauces and spreads is a simple yet delicious way to add a modern twist that loved ones will be delighted to taste. Happy Hanukkah from all of us at Bellisari’s!