Sephardic Jews are descendants of the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East. Until the 1400s, these areas were largely controlled by Muslims, who allowed Jews to move and live freely. In 1492, however, after decades of worsening anti-Jewish sentiment, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella commanded that all Jews who refused to convert to Christianity be expelled from Spain. They were given four months to leave and were forced to sell their houses and businesses at low prices. About 100,000 Jews left Spain at this time, many of them absorbed into existing communities in northern Africa and the Middle East.

Husband and wife researchers David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson have been fascinated by the cultural -- and culinary -- history of the Spanish Jews for more than 30 years.

They have traveled extensively to Spain and Mexico, reading archives and even inquisition testimony. "That is where we hear the voices of the people and understand what their lives were like," said Davidson, co-author with Gitlitz of "A Drizzle of Honey: The Lives and Recipes of Spain's Secret Jews." Not surprisingly, much of their lives revolved around the kitchen, sometimes at their peril.

In one testimonial, for example, a woman secretly living as a Jew recalls the "day of the great feast [Passover], where we tried to make non-leavened bread." This was extremely dangerous, Davidson notes, because there were no private ovens and a public baker would know immediately. "A neighbor would be told by the church that if he didn't turn them in, he was as guilty as they were."

Even after their expulsion from Spain, many Jews secretly held onto their cherished traditions. "A Drizzle of Honey" includes a recipe, for example, for Mexican converso (convert) Diego Diaz Nieto's Haroset Balls, circa 1601, which the authors believe is the earliest recipe for charoset.

"I feel like I know these people," Davidson said, noting that the cookbook is sometimes panned by readers who don't want stories of suffering alongside recipes. "The people who don't want to face the fact that we all suffer, no matter who we are, won't like it," Davidson said. "I want everybody to have these recipes. I'm proud to bring them out."