For most of the year, dried carob sits on a dusty shelf in the back of the grocery store with few buyers. Yet, in what grocers are describing as a most unusual pattern, every winter, droves of Jewish shoppers are seen filling up their carts with this snack and other fruits.
“This stuff, we call it Bokser,” said Kalman Kramer of Kramer’s Kosher Korner, “is hard and chewy, slightly sweet, and filled with tricky little seeds that you need to spit out. All year long no one looks at it, but just before Tu BiShvat, we can’t fill the shelves fast enough.”
The seasonal Bokser-eating craze has led to another annual event: “Every year, just after Tu BiShvat my dentist office is filled with a lot more patients,” says Dr. D. Dentisht, DDS. “By all means, eat Bokser, but make sure to chew slowly and carefully.”
