Dip the Apple in the honey;
There will be challah on it too;
Shannah tova umituka;
Have a sticky new year;
So the song is corny, but oh so true.
Out of all the different honey applicators used this Rosh Hashanah, I noticed the only semi-efficient one was the regular old bottle. The first night was a fancy honey tray made of silver that over flowed and made everyone’s cups stick to the table cloth and everyone’s challah become glued to the spot on the side of their plate where they kept it, regardless if they had ever dipped their challah into the overflowing honey tray. The little spoon to dispense it was basically a spoon for high society babies to eat from their smashed peas with a fancy silver spoon. It did not have the capacity to hold enough honey for more then one piece of bread, if that.
Then the second day, the family had this “Rosh Hashanah Honey Jar”, I guess companies make loads of money when trying to market kavodicka honey jars. Well this honey jar would have been a good product for A.D.D. children who tend to take too much honey. Since the jar was glass and the hole to dispense it was very small, the jar took on the glass Heinz ketchup jar effect, except in this case the hole was too small for a knife to be shoved up in frustration to free the slimy mess from its cocoon of stickiness. Children with ADD would have given up and just spiked their sugar high with tzimis or apple kugel instead. While us adults were frustrated at having honey free challah and no humus to provide some sort of dip.
Many families had and continue to have the classic honeycomb commercial honey jar, which has the stick that was specifically made for getting honey all over your hands, the table cloth and any children who happen to be within ten feet of the always arduous and sometimes extremely pissed off task of deposited some honey on each piece of challah while trying to keep the honey away from your suit, and the children’s faces which will no doubt come in contact with the carpet and couch cushions.
“But dear it said it was made specifically for honey?” Will be the common out cry from the wife who foolishly walked into one of those “As Seen On TV” stores in the mall, trying to find a clever way to dispense honey to the challah and pathetically failing to see that the traditional squeeze bottle is in fact the best way.
Granted the squeeze bottle itself becomes a mess of old challah crumbs, apple peels and anything that stood in the ay of an 8 year old wielding the bottle over everything that could handle honey, but those bottles work way better than any other honey dispenser I have seen.
I wonder if some Jewish fellow with the same issues as the guy who invented the wine fountain that serves 8-12 cups at once will be pressed to find a solution to the honey fiasco that takes place in Jewish households around the world at this time of year. Imagine having ten hungry guests after a long shachris waiting for your sorry ass to get all the challah pieces properly honeyed. I think you would also wonder why someone could not produce a honey fountain. Imagine what a honey fountain would do, it could provide those who hate having to use salt all year to reduce their shabbos sodium intake and use honey instead. Instead of having a sweet 2 weeks of the year we could have it sweet all year, even water challah would be marketable, since you could mask its nothing taste with honey.
Too true.
We use the good ole’ honet bear squeeze bottle.
I’ve never tried to think of a solution to the problem but perhaps next year we should all go out and get those individual honey packs like the syrup you get when you go for franch toast or pancakes. (To each their own mess!!!)
Spoon works fine for us. And there are two bowls and everyone puts on their own honey. More efficient.
But you’ve inspired me to go into chemical engineering to develop a teflon-type substance that will not stick to honey to create the said honey dispensing fountain. Look for it in your local Judaic store in around 4 years.
There are actually some honey dispensers similar to syrup dispensers that you pull a “trigger” and the honey drips from the bottom of the container. They are pretty cool and very clean to use. Just Google honey or syrup dispenser to find it. No frum home is complete without it.
I guess most people don’t much care, although there could be a great market if someone could do what the wine fountain guy did. Or the guy who just created that thing that allows you to use “warm” water on shabbos.
If no frum home is complete without it, we have some sort of epidemic on our hands don’t we?
We each have our own indavidual bowl thingy with honey. We dip when we want and there is no mess! Just some bits of challah left over in the bowl if you dont smooth your challah out first. I dont know if a honey fountain will work cuz it could get pretty sticky and form clusters which could clog up the whole contraption! But hey, you neva know-it just might work!!!! Good luck with that pples!!!
You might be able to mask the nothing taste of the water challah but it will still always be shamed before its heavyweight brethren. The poor water challah will never be able to hide its inherent lightweight airy nothingness. That is only something a few eggs will remedy. Before it is baked.
How about challah with honey filled crust, somewhat like cheese filled pizza crust?
Denver has the best challah I have ever tasted, and most of the community members use cinnamon in their challah recipes
it’s great that you are able to find such humour in the annoying honey situation. I generally am too wiped out from the 7 hour davening to pay attention to anything. how ’bout this for an idea;
Pre-honeyed challah. jest cut and eat
Trust me there were certain situations when I wanted to strangle the hamotzi maker and just tell him to give me my damned bread and stop making such a big deal over the honey.
I wrote a post a while back all about how I think someone has to do something about the whole hefsik between washing and actually making the bracha.
lol! also i should mention that if u search leah kleim on you tube you get a bunch of videos-she has her own channel. she also has videos of “chulent” which apparently is a nice place for more laid back/hippie/rebel older people to hang out.
i used a beehive for honey not too stickey…
I hate when the kids at the table take all the challah that had honey on it and so your only left with the dry piece of challah and too embaressed to ask for the honey so you can throughly soak your piece of challah in delicious honey.
I guess I am one of those kids, I think the honey situation tends to do the opposite of what holidays are intended to do. Its every man for himself in many places. Screw the family!!!
I put cinnamon and honey in the egg wash that I brush on my challah before I bake it. Does that qualify as “Pre-honeyed challah”, common sense jew?
Sara, you ask a deep question. Yes, the superficial answer is. However, For generations, our zeides and bubbes fulfilled the sacred task of the Joining Of Challah And Honey. Your method breaks from tradition, potentially causing a deep rift in the mesorah. I have given this deep thought over Y.K., and the consequences of my irresponsible suggestion have tortured my soul. But seriously, that sounds delicious.