Shaindel packs a suitcase filled with apple strudel for her and for Elta to eat on the voyage to America-

Sherry Ostroff’s
The Wall at the Sugar Factory

I had no answers for Elta. None that would be truthful, anyway….. I knew that we needed a home. My daughter needed to live in a place where she wouldn’t have to live in constant terror. A home where she wouldn’t have to be fearful that murderers might come for her in the middle of the night. Where people didn’t hate her…..”

So thinks Shaindel, a main character in Sherry Ostrioff’s excellent historical novel, The Wall At The Sugar Factory, based on her own family’s history.  Shaindel and her daughter survived a pogrom, a government or military orchestrated violent attack on Jews. Shaindel’s husband and most men in her village were murdered by the Russian and Ukrainian military. Women and girls were raped and murdered, homes looted and burned. Fear was in the air. Shaindel had hoped that a mother and child would not be targets. But she knew better.

 

 

Part of my family was from the Ukraine, coming to the US in the 1880’s. None had a good memory to share.

Shaindel’s home was destroyed, her husband murdered at the wall at the sugar factory. She and her 3-year old daughter were homeless, afraid and uncertain of their future. When her daughter, Elta, asked when they will go home, Shaindel didn’t know what to answer. They had no home.

Author Sherry Ostroff shared, “Think about my grandmother, Shaindel (on whom the  character Shaindel is based). She was born around 1880. The pogroms started in Russia in 1881 with the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Shaindel probably heard about pogroms her entire life, but it wasn’t until the murder of her husband, when she was in her early 40’s, did she realize it was time to get out. She almost missed the boat – literally.”

The narration was mostly divided between Shaindel and her search for a safe home, and her sister Chava, who had already immigrated to New York.  Life in the US wasn’t always the goldene medina, the land of golden opportunity, as it was rife with prejudice against the Jews and other immigrants. However, one’s life was not threatened daily, as it was in Eastern Europe.

This was an era of burgeoning nationalism movements. The Nazis (National Socialist Workers Party) and the Marxist groups of Lenin and later, Stalin were part of this trend. European borders changed from the smaller Medieval and Renaissance boundaries, reformed after WWI into new territories. New countries were configured, as Pakistan was carved out of India and Israel and Jordan from the Palestine of the Ottoman Empire.

Socialism was on the rise. The Russian Tsars fell with violence, the socialist revolutionaries promising freedom and equality. Neither was delivered. The history of countries that were or are communist or socialist are studies in governments that have taken away civil rights, voting rights and economic rights—few choices in one’s life.  The choices available were uncertain at best and most often dangerous.

Sherry told me about the strength of her mother, grandmother and aunt. “In regard to The Wall at the Sugar Factory, writing the book, allowed me to understand how truly strong my grandmother, mother, and my aunt were. …[T]hey were all immensely determined woman, and I am grateful for each. We have a saying in Judaism that if you save a life, you save a world. My grandmother, mother and aunt saved my world.”

America gave choices and freedoms for Sherry’s family and characters and for millions who came legally to these shores.  In her concluding remarks, Sherry mentioned that some historians date the Holocaust’s beginning to 1918 or earlier because of the many pogroms that occurred in Eastern Europe. One wonders whether the violence of Hamas against the Israelis, mostly Jewish, some Muslim and Christian, on October 7 and the subsequent rise in hatred against Jews is predictive of a Jewish future fraught with danger and violence, as the pogroms were at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century were a dark omen for the Holocaust.

Sherry wrote to me, “I think the October 7th massacre in Israel was definitely a pogrom. We, the present living generation, who only heard about pogroms from our mother’s and grandmother’s laps, now got to see one in real time. It was scary as hell.

“I’ve read many books on the pogroms from 1918-1921, and the parallels are all there: the debasement of women, the torture of forcing families to watch their relatives attacked and murdered, the disregard for age and sex. It’s all the same play-book….

“For historians, and I consider myself one, it is frighteningly frustrating.”

Shaindel packs a suitcase filled with apple strudel for her and for Elta to eat on the voyage to America. What would be more appropriate for the recipe to accompany this novel?


Apple Strudel in Puff Pastry

Flaky pastry surrounds sweet apples and raisins. While rolling out strudel dough from scratch is time consuming, making it with puff pastry is a snap. Apples are readily available all year round. I use golden raisins in most of my baking—pretty and fabulous tasting. Soaking the raisins in Amaretto plumps them up and adds a wonderful subtle flavor. Partially precut for ease of slicing up into individual portions. I have drizzled a confectioner’s sugar glaze on top. You can also try melted marmalade or another jam on top for a sweet and pretty touch. This strudel can be frozen so make ahead for a special occasion. The recipe easily doubles or make one puff pastry for the strudel and make the other for the Deli Roll, another hit at my house!

 

Puff pastry

1 Strudel is about 12 pieces

Apple Strudel

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed but still cold

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 tablespoons amaretto or other liqueur

2-3 large apples peeled, cored and diced (depends on size)

1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons breadcrumbs, finely ground

Eggwash

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk of choice, such as Almond Milk

GLAZE

1/3 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk of choice

1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

  1. Thaw puff pastry in refrigerator for 2-3 hours. It should be defrosted but cold.

  2. Mix raisins and amaretto in small bowl.  The amaretto should cover the raisins. Soak until raisins are plump, about 15-20 minutes or longer. Drain amaretto from raisins but don’t waste!!

  3. Place peeled, cored and chopped apples in bowl. Drizzle lemon juice over apples and stir gently to cover pieces. This keeps apples from browning. Add drained raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Fold into apples.

  4.  Preheat oven to 400 F.

  5. Tear a piece of parchment paper large enough to lay each unfolded puff pastry on top. The parchment is both for rolling out and for baking.

  6. Preheat oven to 400F.

  7. Unfold thawed puff pastry and place on parchment paper. 

  8. With a rolling pin, smooth the folds and creases in the puff pastry and roll gently to make a bit thinner.

  9. Sprinkle breadcrumbs in the center of each sheet where you will place the apples. This helps absorb any extra liquid from the apples. (My Nana’s procedure.)

  10. Place the apple mixture evenly across the puff pastry, leaving 1” margin around all edges.

  11. Roll up as a jelly roll, moistening your fingertips with water to close the seam.

  12. Place the strudel seam side down on the parchment paper. Use the parchment paper to move the strudel to an oven proof sheet, keeping the strudel and parchment paper on the baking sheet.

  13. In a small bowl, beat egg and milk of choice. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the eggwash over the strudel.

  14. With a sharp knife, make a cut every 3/4” that goes about halfway down the strudel, but not all the way.

  15. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Cool before applying glaze.

  16. In a small bowl, stir confectioner’s sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over strudel.

  17. To freeze: Bring strudel to room temperature. Wrap in parchment paper that you backed with or with plastic wrap. Then wrap again in aluminum foil. Label!  I then put the wrapped strudel into a plastic bag. This insures that there will be no freezer burn. Keeps in freezer for up to 3 months.

TIP: If you want to defrost both puff pastry sheets, either make a double portion of the filling for the strudel or for a quick recipe, make a deli roll. Very quick and so delish!! Deli Roll

Expandthetable suggestions

Alcohol free: Use warm water to plump raisins, if you don’t want to use alcohol.

Cinnamon and Nutmeg: Some people do not like the taste of these spices. Omit if you prefer. You may try mace as a substitute.

Jam Glaze: Omit confectioner’s sugar glaze. Warm the marmalade, apricot jam or other jam of choice. Brush over cooled strudel for a pretty and sweet taste.

 

Find out more about Sherry Ostroff and her books @ https://www.sherryvostroff.com/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *