September 18 marked the beginning of the Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. A comforting, slow-cooked beef stew with sweet potatoes, carrots and sometimes prunes, tsimmes is a traditional dish served at this time of year.
The word tsimmes (pronounced SIMM-es) comes from German and then Yiddish, where it came to mean "a fuss." In the Middle Ages, it was first eaten in Germany as a meat stew with parsnips and turnips. Later, when carrots became readily available in the 15th century, the carrots were cut in cirles like coins, which came to signify a wish for success in the new year. As Jews migrated to Poland and Russia, potatoes were added in the 19th century, as were honey, plums and apricots.
When tsimmes traveled across the ocean to America in the late 19th century with mostly Eastern European Jewish immigrants, it became still sweeter with the introduction of sweet potatoes. Over time, sweet potatoes were completely replaced by white potatoes. Today, the tsimmes served in homes around the nation reflect what your "bubby"(grandma) made. Some regions topped their tsimmes with a kugel crust, others served the stew in a pumpkin. When you get down to it, tsimmes is just beef stew, and the seasonings, sweet or savory, depends on where your family came from.
It's the perfect dish to make to celebrate the Jewish New Year, and even if you're not Jewish, who doesn't like beef stew?
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