Instructions: Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, is a honey of a holiday.

Honeyed foods can appear at any - or every - course of the festive meal with which many Jewish families begin their observance of the Rosh Hashana holiday. This year, the Jewish new year begins on Friday evening.

The ancient natural sweetener is employed not just for flavor but also to imbue the meal with meaning. Honey symbolizes the fervent wish for a sweet new year.

Apples dipped in honey traditionally kick off the meal. The apple carries meaning, too. It is a symbol of life renewed, harking back to the Garden of Eden, and the hope that the new year will be fruitful.

Challah, or egg bread, is normally a mildly sweet braided loaf served with the Sabbath meal. For the new year, a special extra-sweet, raisin-studded version of the bread is baked in a round, spiral shape. The shape symbolizes both the cycle of the year and the cycle of life. The upward spiral is a reminder to reach toward heaven in the hope of achieving a happy new year.

A tsimmes, in Yiddish, is a fuss. But its a sweet and festive dish as well, a combination of vegetables and fruit that often features carrots. Its a traditional side dish that, when stewed with meat, can double as an entree. Some enjoy a sweet tsimmes for dessert.

Sholom Aleichem wrote a story about a marriage broker who said that she was so well treated by the parents of a hopeful bride that they serve me the best portions of meat and feed me tsimmes even on weekdays. Dating back to medieval times, tsimmes has become a popular Sabbath dish because of its slow cooking time over low heat. Observant Jews who do not start a flame on the Sabbath can put the stew over a low flame on Friday afternoon before the Sabbath begins, and enjoy a slow-simmered tsimmes stew on Saturday afternoon. It is also particularly popular for the harvest festival of Sukkot, which follows Rosh Hashana by two weeks, as the vegetables and fruits serve as reminders of the Earths bounty.

The most popular type of tsimmes in this country and in Europe is made with honey-glazed carrots; though there are many variations - some with meat and some without - all include at least one root vegetable.

The sliced carrots are reminiscent of coins and the hope for prosperity in the new year. The honey offers a taste of sweetness. Together, the dish is an edible reminder that the new year holds the promise of sweetness, goodness and abundance.

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