Just in time for Passover, Ben and Jerry’s is offering vanilla ice cream with a swirl of charoset straight from the seder table. Photo by Daniel Estrin, courtesy of PRI

JERUSALEM (RNS) When Avi Zinger, CEO of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream franchise in Israel, decided to create a new flavor for Passover, which begins Friday (April 3), it never occurred to him that a haroset-flavored ice cream would become a hot commodity.

“We wanted to try something new because our selection of flavors goes way down during Passover due to the need to have all ingredients kosher for Passover,” Zinger said. “Customers become upset when they can’t find their favorite flavors.”

Inspired by the sweet taste of haroset — a fruit and nut dish eaten at the Passover seder that is supposed to remind Jews of the mortar the ancient Israelites used during their 400-year-long enslavement in Egypt — he came up the idea of haroset ice cream.

As with the traditional haroset recipe, Zinger used apples, dates, cinnamon and red wine in his dessert version.

Avi Zinger fell in love with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream on a ski trip to Vermont. Now he runs a Ben and Jerry’s factory in Israel. Photo by Daniel Estrin, courtesy of PRI

Introduced at Israeli Ben & Jerry’s shops and a handful of small stores less than a month ago, the limited-edition flavor has been flying off the shelves.

Sales have been fueled by American expats in Israel, who shared photos of the novel ice cream on Facebook. When friends and family in the U.S. heard of the flavor they clamored for it, too.

Unfortunately for them, it’s only available in Israel.

“We didn’t plan to make it a big deal,” Zinger said, explaining why his company produced just a few thousand pints. “Had we realized it would be so popular, we would have produced more.”

Whether the flavor will be repeated next year remains to be seen.

“We can produce a limited edition on our own, but producing large quantities of a product requires special packaging and all the ingredients need to be Fairtrade-certified. We also need the support of our parent company in Vermont,” Zinger said.

YS/MG END CHABIN