HOW TO MAKE KOMPOT (SLAVIC PUNCH) AND KISIEL
Kompot is a sweet homemade beverage, commonly made in Slavic countries by simply boiling and then simmering fruits in water with sugar. A great way to make use of any leftover fruit, Kompot was always highly popular in Slavic countries. While it has been made since at least the 15th century, people often made it in the 1980’s due to the rationing of food. With any fresh, frozen, or dried fruit, water, and sugar, anyone could make a sweet and delicious drink for the whole family. It was also stored in pantries (pasteurized) for wintertime among jars of pickles, jams, and marmalade, when fresh fruits and vegetables were not an option. My grandma and mother made different flavors of kompot, but cherry was always my absolute favorite.
Just about any fruit can be used, alone or in combination. Kompot may be served hot or cold. The basic formula for kompot is 1 lb of fruit, 4 quarts of water, and 1 cup of sugar, but it can be altered as needed. Once you bring the fruit to a boil, you add sugar, simmer for about 15-30 minutes, and then let it cool.
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lbs of fruit (cherries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, plums, apples, pears, either alone or in combination)
- 4 quarts (1 gallon) of water
- ¾ to 1 cup of sugar
DIRECTIONS:
- Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil in a large pot
- Wash and clean the fruit
- Slice or half larger fruits into smaller pieces; remove any pits
- Once the water starts to boil, carefully add the fruit, and lower the heat to low
- Let me mixture simmer uncovered for 15-30 minutes
- Remove from heat
- Add ¾ to 1 cup of sugar
- Let kompot cool completely
- Strain off juice
- Refrigerate
The strained fruit can be used for baking, or to make kisiel (kissel), classic Slavic fruit jelly dessert/soup, by adding 3 Tbsp arrow root or potato starch, and 1 cup cold water.
- Crush or blend the leftover fruit
- Bring the fruit to a light boil with 1 cup of cold water
- Add 3 Tbsp potato starch or arrow root (dissolved in cold water)
- You may add more starch and water depending on how thick you would like your kisiel
- Red wine or fresh or dried fruit can be added
- Bring to boil, stirring constantly
- You can add more sugar if you would like it sweeter
- Refrigerate until firm
Kisiel is as popular in the Slavic countries as kompot. Wikipedia provides a neat historical background for kisiel dating back to 997:
Kissel is first mentioned in the old East Slavic Primary Chronicle where there is a story of how it saved the 10th-century Rus’ city of Belgorod Kievsky, besieged by nomadic Pechenegs in 997. When the food in the city became scarce and a hunger started, the inhabitants of the city followed an advice of an old man, who told them to make kissel from the remnants of grain, and a sweet drink from the last mead they could find. Then they filled a wooden container with the kissel, and another one with the mead drink, put those containers into the holes in the ground and made up two fake wells over them. When the Pechenegian ambassadors came into the town, they saw how the inhabitants took the food from those “wells”, and the Pechenegs even were allowed to taste the kissel and mead beverage. Impressed by that show and degustation, Pechenegs decided to lift the siege and to go away, having concluded that the Ruthenians were mysteriously fed from the earth itself.