Ukrainian culture: making kompot

Kompot is said like kohm-POTE. It’s very traditional and common here. It’s served in restaurants, at home, shared as gifts. It’s water with fruits boiled in it. Dried, fresh, or frozen fruits. I’ve mostly seen it with cherries. But I was given a combo of dried pears and apple slices to make some with. As it’s so popular here, I figured I could start getting a handle on making it. So I looked up a recipe and instructions. And made some. Here are photos.

5 liters of water.

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Rinsed off the dried pears and apple slices, per instructions.

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Add dried fruit to water, bring to a boil. Simmer approximately 15 minutes. Add about 1/4 cup sugar. Let sit 5-6 hours.

20160406_153030Now, I did read another recipe here that involves making a little syrup first, then adding the water and fruits. (Some interesting history in that article, too.) I think this will take me to the next level, but I started with a simpler recipe this time.

Wow. So I got a little deeper into Ukrainian culture.

And I learned a new Ukrainian word. Жменька = handful.

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