Homentashen History

You’ve heard of many different kinds of Jewish foods and dishes; Matzo, potato latkas, chopped liver, gifilte fish. But a Jewish favourite pastry will always be the homentash!

To celebrate the Jewish holiday Purim, the homentash (המן־טאַש, homentash, also spelled hamentasch, literally meaning “Haman pockets”) is a triangle shaped pastry with a filling of the baker’s choice, be it jelly or chocolate.

Homentash symbolize Haman, the villain of the story of Purim, who was a fascist man set out to convince King Ahasuerus to exterminate all Jews, only stopped by queen Esther, who was Jewish born and raised. We bake the homentash in triangles to represent Haman’s triangle hat.

INGREDIENTS
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
Date-Orange Filling, Honey-Nut Filling, Poppy Seed Filling, or 1½ cups jam or preserves

Special Equipment
3½”-diameter cookie cutter

Why talk about this? Well, homentashen have made their way to main stream media! In the hit 2018 cartoon series, The Dragon Prince, homentashen take the form of one of the leads’ favourite pastry; jelly tarts. A triangle-shaped, jelly-filled delicious pastry definitely worth taking from under the nose of the baker!

Image result for the dragon prince jelly tart

yeah jelly tarts are based off them !
— The Dragon Prince (@thedragonprince) September 10, 2018

Confirmed by the official twitter themselves!

Why is this important though? Due to today’s political climate, there’s an increasing stigma against different religions. While it’s mainly happening towards Muslims, it hits hard to Jewish folks like myself, as discrimination, such as what’s shown in the villain Haman, is well acquainted with the Jewish people. Right now, any good piece of representation to de-stigmatise other religions in media is a very important step in ending discrimination! And since food brings us all together, it’s perfect to start there!