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We observed a certain ritual. Easter [Passover] was observed with great care because the food was tasty. Sponge cake made from matzah flour! I can make it to this day. You make it the same way as with ordinary flour. And it’s best to make the flour yourself – grind the matzah.
That’s what’s called paschal cake, and with that we drank raisin wine, which was homemade. We bought the raisins, the raisins were pickled – just soaked in warm water – I don’t know if you added sugar – and after a few days that made this drink, which we called raisin wine; it perhaps had a trace of alcohol, but a very meager one.
Everything on that table was traditional: eggs, brine, some kind of meat. The matzah was round. In my time there was never square, factory-made matzah, only hand-baked matzah, round, baked wonderfully, unevenly, with an incomparable taste. Better than the Hungarian matzah that was imported into Poland after the war.
That’s what’s called paschal cake, and with that we drank raisin wine, which was homemade. We bought the raisins, the raisins were pickled – just soaked in warm water – I don’t know if you added sugar – and after a few days that made this drink, which we called raisin wine; it perhaps had a trace of alcohol, but a very meager one.
Everything on that table was traditional: eggs, brine, some kind of meat. The matzah was round. In my time there was never square, factory-made matzah, only hand-baked matzah, round, baked wonderfully, unevenly, with an incomparable taste. Better than the Hungarian matzah that was imported into Poland after the war.
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Interview
Julian Gringras
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