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EveryMasala

Next: 5 to 12 Dec 2026

Hanukkah

Eight nights of lights and oil, with latkes, sufganiyot and spiced treats such as cinnamon doughnuts.

Lighting of the giant menorah by Chabad-Lubavitch International. Rostov-on-Don Jewish community is celebrating Hanukkah חֲנֻכָּה Jewish festival in the centre of Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Spices for Hanukkah

Hanukkah foods are cooked in oil. Ashkenazi families fry latkes, potato pancakes with onion, black pepper and perhaps nutmeg, served with applesauce and cinnamon; in Israel jelly doughnuts (sufganiyot) are dusted with sugar and cinnamon. Sephardi families make bimuelos and zalabia, syrup-soaked fritters scented with orange blossom, and some North African homes fry sfenj. A spiced cake (lekach) or ginger cookies appear in some European traditions. The festival lets you taste how oil carries spice.

The spices

CinnamonDusting for doughnuts and apple topping.NutmegA traditional touch in potato latkes.Black pepperSeasons the latke batter.
About this page

Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Hanukkah" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.