Compotes are decoctions of fresh, dried or frozen fruits or berries, boiled in water or in sugar syrup. They are very tasty and healthy, as they retain a large amount of vitamins and nutrients.
Pick your recipe
You will need
-
- Berries or fruits
- sugar
- water
- pan
- spices to taste.
Instruction manual
1
Regardless of which fruit or berries compote will be prepared, first boil the syrup. The ingredients are calculated as follows: if the berries or fruits are acidic, then sugar should be put 200 grams per 1 liter of water. If the berries are sweet, then 150 grams of sugar per liter of water will be enough. Bring the syrup to a boil and make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved in water.
2
After that, prepare fruits or berries. For apples, pears or quinces, remove the seeds, rinse them and cut into slices. Dense berries (cherries, gooseberries, cherries) first sort, then wash, remove the stalks, if necessary, put in hot syrup and boil. Sort soft berries (raspberries, strawberries), put in vases and pour warm syrup. These berries do not boil. Wash the plums, cut them in half, remove the seeds and fill them with boiling syrup.
3
If you are cooking compote from dried fruits, then consider that they are laid in a certain sequence. At first, also sort out the dried fruits, wash them well, sort by composition and bring the syrup to a boil. Then first put the pears, boil them for a few minutes, then add the apples, cook for a few more minutes and at the end put the prunes, dried apricots and raisins.
4
In order to improve the taste of compote, add a little wine to it. Also, citrus peel (lemon or orange) will improve the taste, just be sure to remove them at the end of cooking, so that they do not give the compote too much bitterness. To enhance the taste, add nuts or spices (vanilla, cinnamon) to the compote.
note
All compotes are best served chilled, and if they are saturated or concentrated, then with pieces of ice.
Useful advice
If you cook stewed fruit not for long-term storage, but for some kind of celebration, then it should be prepared 12 hours before serving. Because it is during this time that the decoction is infused and saturated with aromatic and flavoring substances.