Kompote is a pleasant lightly-sweetened fruit drink, best served cool as a summertime refreshment. In Russia, it’s made with apples, pears, plums, and berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, but never raspberries–they were too precious a luxury). In the summertime, fresh fruits were used, and dried fruits in the winter.
Kompote
Compared to juice, it’s a bit thicker and reminiscent of the fruit that made it, but not as forceful a taste.
Ingredients
- water
- 1-2 cups sugar
- Fruit to taste. A sample ingredient list might be:
- 4 apples
- 4 plums (red or black preferred–they give better color)
- 2 nectarines
- 2 peaches
- A handful of berries, or a few tablespoons berry jam (optional, for color)
Directions
- Fill a 4 quart pot approximately 3/4 full with water. Peel and core the apples and pears. Cut the fruit into bite-sized pieced pieces. Bring water to a boil. Add 1-2 cups of sugar, depending on how sweet you would like it, and how sweet the fruit is. You can always add more sugar later. Stir sugar to dissolve. Add apples and pears to water. Bring back to a boil. Add the rest of the fruits, except for berries. Bring back to a boil. Add berries or jam, if using.
- Turn heat off.
- Cool to room temperature. You can serve at room temperature or cooled, with or without the fruit, as desired.
To make with dried fruits, use approximately the same amount of dried fruit as fresh.
CategoriesBeverages
It has been so long since I had Kompote–I had forgotten just how good it was until I came across your recipe and it jogged my memory. I’ll definately be trying this recipe out, but I did have a question: how long does it keep for? Can I store it indefinately? Or does it have a distinct shelf-life?
Hi Kristen…kompote seems to keep about a week or so, but frankly, we’ve always finished it sooner than that. I think it would still be okay after a week, but the fruit might start fermenting.