Ari’s Pick: Hamantaschen from the Bakehouse

Celebrate Purim with Paul’s favorite pastry product

If you didn’t already know, Erev Purim starts on the evening of Monday, March 6. Although the actual holiday is only that evening and the following day, the truth is that Hamantaschen taste great any time! They’ve been Paul Saginaw’s favorite pastry for as long as I can remember!

overhead view of a selection of hamantaschen on a marble surface

Celebrating Purim

Purim is the Jewish holiday celebrating the occasion of the Persian Jews outwitting the wicked minister Haman who was out to annihilate them. Haman was going to have all the Jews put to death, but the Jewish uncle of the queen (whose name was Mordechai) found out about Haman’s evil intentions. He passed word to his niece (Queen Esther), who in turn told the King, who decided to put Haman to death instead of the Jews. The triangular shape is said to be taken from the tricorn hat that Haman wore. An alternative origin story is that they were made by central European Jews based on the German mohntaschen—“mohn” means “poppyseed,” “tasch” means “pocket.”

A Pastry that Gives Back

sheets of hamantaschen on a speed rackLike many Jewish holidays, Purim is a tale of impending tragedy that is turned into salvation. The Purim story—where the wicked minister almost comes out on top but ends up losing seemed fitting for what we hope will happen in Ukraine this year. From which we decided to donate from the sale of each Hamantaschen to humanitarian relief funds for the millions of innocent victims of the violence in Ukraine.

Haman and Vladimir Putin are hardly the same person, and the Purim story is not the same as that of the horrific Russian invasion of Ukraine. But in both cases, a single leader with evil intentions assumes the power to destroy the lives of so many others. In the Purim story, the “happy” ending is that Haman’s efforts were stopped and the Jews of ancient Persia were saved. In Ukraine, many thousands have already died and the destruction is beyond what I can imagine, and, unlike the Purim story, there’s not yet any end in sight. A year ago, out of despair at being unclear on what we could do from so far away, I wrote this piece about applying the revolution of dignity—honoring Ukraine’s ejection of the Russian-sponsored leader in 2014—to our daily lives here in the safety of southeastern Michigan.

Modern-Day Traditions

The modern-day tradition around Purim calls for kids to dress up in costume, traditionally as Queen Esther, Mordechai, Haman, etc. The night Purim begins, Jews gather at the synagogue to read the Megillah—the story of Purim. Every time Haman’s name comes up in the reading, kids swing old-fashioned noise makers. The best thing of all about Purim from a culinary standpoint, is most definitely, Hamantaschen.

Hamantaschen are beautiful little triangularly shaped, all-butter cookie dough crust pockets. We stuff them with an array of fillings—all are excellent. Choose cream cheese (from the Creamery) and vanilla bean, apricot, Hungarian prune with walnuts, or Paul’s top pick—Dutch poppy seed. Eat them as is or visit the Roadhouse for a Hamantaschen Sundae. Enjoy a scoop of the Creamery’s great vanilla bean gelato, topped with an apricot hamantaschen (like Haman’s hat), and drizzled with some delicious chestnut honey! It’s a Jewish tradition to bring gifts at Purim, so a box of Hamantaschen dropped off at the office or your neighbor’s house would be a great way to do that. 

HUNGRY FOR MORE?

Ari headshot
Ari Weinzweig
Co-Founding Partner at Zingerman's | + posts

In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.

Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.

Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.

One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.

Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.

Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments