Ingredients for apple compote
The composition of compote made from fresh apples couldn’t be simpler. You will need:
Half a kilo of fresh apples of any variety;
half a glass of sugar;
2 liters of water.
We wash the apples thoroughly, cut them into quarters, and remove the core and seeds. Place the peeled apples so that they do not quickly darken in water acidified with citric acid or lemon juice.
Pour water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Throw the apples into boiling water. Sugar goes there too. Bring to a boil and quickly turn off. Let the compote cool under the closed lid. Once the compote has cooled, move the saucepan to the refrigerator. Before serving the compote, it is better to strain it from the apples.
Apple-cranberry compote
Prepare for him:
3-4 apples;
250 grams of cranberries;
half a glass of sugar;
3 liters of water.
We prepare apples in the same way as in the previous recipe. And we prepare the compote in the same way, only at the moment of placing apples in boiling water, we also add cranberries. The hue of this compote will be red, very beautiful.
Other compositions of homemade apple compote
Apple compote can be cooked according to the principle of its preparation in the first two recipes from the following ingredients:
Apples (half a kilo) + lingonberries (a glass) + sugar (half a glass) + 2 liters of water;
apples (3-4 pieces) + strawberries (2 cups) + sugar (half a cup) + 2.5 liters of water;
apples (paradise, small, half a kilo) + pitted cherries (glass) + sugar (glass) + 3 liters of water;
apples (half a kilo) + black or red currants (glass) + sugar (half a glass) + 2 liters of water;
apples (half a kilo) + 1 lemon (cut into slices) + half a glass of sugar + 2 liters of water;
apples (half a kilo) + pears (300 grams, cored) + half a glass of sugar + 2 liters of water.
Apple compote is drunk both warm and chilled. Can be added with ice.
Compotes, along with sbiten and kvass, are considered traditional drinks in our cuisine; tasty and healthy, they often appear in our diet, especially in the summer, when refreshing vitamin drinks come in handy, giving a pleasant mood and vigor.
You can use almost any berries and fruits, fresh, frozen or dried, to make compotes. Today, on the eve of the season, we will talk about preparing a drink from fresh seasonal fruits and berries.
By the way, you can prepare compotes not only from berries and fruits, but also from vegetables - zucchini, carrots, pumpkins and others, but this topic deserves special attention.
Features of preparing compotes from fresh berries and fruits
Compotes can be prepared from pears, apples, apricots, plums, pitted peaches, and any berries, but pomegranate, banana, quince and persimmon are completely unsuitable for making this drink. The most subtle and important point is the time of cooking berries and fruits: it is very important not to overcook them so that they retain their shape and do not lose the nutrients they contain. In general, cooking time depends on the berries and fruits that are used:
Apples need to be cooked, like pears, for about half an hour; Boil the plums for about 15 minutes; It is preferable not to boil raspberries and blackberries, but to fill them with prepared hot sugar syrup; Cherry compote is usually cooked like this: only the cherry pits are boiled, and the berries are poured with this syrup prepared on the pits; for cooking other berries and fruits, 10-15 minutes is usually enough.
However, all of the above are just recommendations that each housewife can follow or not follow at her own discretion. Some people prefer to boil the berries a little for a brighter aroma, for example, of raspberry compote; others make compote from whole cherries, without separating the seeds and pulp of the berries - it’s all a matter of personal preference.
Relatively often, only the following rules are observed:
Before cooking the compote, large and hard fruits are cut smaller, soft or small fruits are cut larger, and the berries are boiled whole. When cooking compote from sweet fruits and berries, their sweetness should be balanced with something sour: lemon juice, for example, or sour berries (currants , cranberries, gooseberries, sorrel, cherries, etc.). The zest of an orange or lemon added to it during cooking, which must be removed from the drink at the end of cooking or after cooling, has a very good effect on the taste of any compote. The standard proportions of ingredients for compote are as follows: for 1 liter of water, take about 150 g of sugar, which varies more or less side depending on the sweetness or acidity of fruits and berries. The ratio of liquid and berries or fruits is free, but, as a rule, when cooking compote, the pan is filled with them no more than a quarter or a third.
To add new flavors to the compote, you can use spices - cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, etc., as well as wine, port, honey, rose petals, etc. 
By picking berries or fruits from the garden or buying them at the market from summer residents, you can, of course, do a lot of tasty and interesting things with them. Cooking compote is one of the best solutions, because in summer such a healthy drink perfectly restores the water balance in the body, giving, in addition to quenching thirst, the most pleasant emotions.
Remember: it is better to cook compotes in advance - 10-12 hours before serving. During this time, the drink “infuses” - the taste and aroma of berries and fruits are fully revealed, which have time to be well saturated with sugar syrup.
Fresh strawberry compote
Ingredients: 2 liters of water, 400-500g sugar, 4g citric acid, 600g strawberries.
Prepare the berries: remove the stems, rinse with cold water and dry. Pour sugar into a saucepan, add water, bring to a boil, add berries and citric acid, boil for 2-3 minutes over low heat, then turn off the stove and cool the compote at room temperature, let it brew before serving.
Cherry compote
Ingredients: 1 liter of water, 500 g of cherries with stems, 10 tbsp. Sahara.
Sort through the berries, removing all bruised and rotten ones, rinse, place in a saucepan, add water, add sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce heat to low and simmer the compote for 10 minutes. Cool the finished compote at room temperature and let it brew.
Use ripe dark burgundy cherries with elastic pulp for the compote. The best varieties for making this drink are Sofia and Hungarian cherries. Apricot compote
Ingredients: 3 liters of water, 500 g of apricots, 1.5 cups of sugar.
Rinse the apricots, halve each and remove the pit. Pour sugar into 2.5 liters of water, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes, put apricots in a saucepan, turn off the heat and let the compote cool at room temperature and leave for 12 hours before serving.
Strong, fresh, not overripe apricots should be used for compote.
Compote of fresh pears or apples
Ingredients: for 500g of pears or apples ¾ cup sugar, 2 cups water, citric acid, orange or lemon zest, cinnamon.
Peel apples or pears, cut into 6-8 parts, cut out seeds, put cold water in acidified citric acid. Pour sugar into a saucepan, add 2 cups of hot water, add chopped apples (without water), boil until soft for 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the variety. Season the finished compote with cinnamon, lemon or orange zest.
If you use ripe Antonovka apples, then you do not need to boil them: you can put them in already boiled syrup, bring to a boil and immediately turn off the stove. Ripe pears are also not boiled, but only brought to a boil. Depending on their sweetness, you can use less sugar for pears.
Redcurrant compote
Ingredients: 1 kg red currants, 500 ml water, 250 g sugar, cloves, cinnamon, ginger to taste.
Rinse the berries, selecting the most ripe but hard ones. Pour water into a saucepan, add sugar and bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, stirring, add currants. Place the pan with the compote in the oven and keep there at a temperature of 120 degrees for 20 minutes, let cool in the oven.
Blackberry compote
Ingredients: 3kg blackberries, 1l water, 750g sugar.
Place the sorted berries in a colander, rinse with cold water and dry. Bring water and sugar to a boil, boil for 5 minutes, add berries, cover the pan with a lid, turn off the heat and let the compote cool on the stove.
Fresh raspberry compote
Ingredients: 500g raspberries, 250g sugar, 3l water.
How to make raspberry compote. Sort the berries, rinse with cold water, dry, and place in a saucepan. Add sugar to the berries, pour in water, bring to a boil, immediately turn off the stove and let the compote cool, covering with a lid.
If you ask which berries and fruits are best combined for compote, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to give an unambiguous answer to this question - tastes, as we know, are individual. Therefore, try to prepare a drink to your taste - using your favorite fruits and berries, and then your drink will definitely turn out very tasty!
Preserving compotes requires careful attention to the selection of fruits and berries. It just seems that any fruit is suitable for compote. This is wrong. If there is a rotten or poorly washed berry in the compote, the wrapper may “explode”. Therefore, this cannot be allowed. Homemade compotes require strong, healthy fruits, ideally freshly picked.
Large fruits (for example, large varieties of pears, apples) must be cut, the petioles removed, and the skin cut off (if it is very dense). Fruits with pits can be preserved in different ways - either by removing the pits or leaving them. By the way, when preparing homemade compotes, everything goes into use - even the skins and “boxes” will not be lost - you can cook syrup or make jelly from them.
You can prepare a “mono” compote or an assorted homemade compote - it’s a matter of taste. Compotes can be “rolled” from a wide variety of fruits and berries: apples, pears, strawberries, grapes, apricots, cherries and petioles, currants, etc.
Sterilization (pasteurization) is carried out in a saucepan, placing the jar on a lattice liner. The water must be brought to a boil, then the fruits must be heated for the specified time. Small berries and fruits are sterilized with steam. Heat treatment is carried out using steam.
Compotes are prepared like this. Place the washed and peeled fruits in a jar, add sugar. Boil water and pour into a sterilized jar. Another option is to use syrup - sugar or honey (depending on the recipe). Then roll up the jar with a sterile lid.
There are recipes for compotes without sterilization. They turn out no less successful and tasty. If you preserve compote according to a proven recipe, nothing will explode.
After the cans are rolled up, it doesn’t hurt to make sure the required sealing density is met. The easiest way to do this is to turn the jar upside down. Then it is important to cool the homemade compote by wrapping them in a blanket. One of the reasons that banks “explode” is a violation of storage conditions. Therefore, take care of a cool place to store your homemade preparations.
Frozen fruits and berries come in handy any time you need to make compote. Freezing allows you to save yourself from preparing compotes; now you can cook them whenever you want. Thanks to freezing, fruits retain their freshness, and compotes based on them will be aromatic and very tasty. Forget about juice from the store, it’s much healthier to make compote from frozen berries. You can prepare fruits in the summer season or buy frozen ones at the store. Compote can be drunk hot or chilled - it is an excellent replacement for tea and coffee.
If you have frozen berries in the refrigerator, you do not need to take them out in advance. The exception is fruits that require pitting or stem removal.
- It is necessary to boil water to prepare compote. Take approximately 1 kg of berries for 3 liters of water.
- It is not necessary to take just one fruit for compote; it turns out very tasty if you use assorted berries.
- It is better to cook it in stainless steel; aluminum is not suitable for this purpose. Aluminum cookware can oxidize when exposed to fruit acids.
- You should not pour water over the entire volume of the dishes; you need to leave room for frozen berries.
- Sugar is often added to compote after the fruit is added, although there are no special recommendations if everything is done the other way around.
- The amount of sugar is adjusted according to taste or added as much as stated in the recipe.
- Throw the berries into boiling water without defrosting, let the compote boil, sweeten it again, boil and turn off the heat.
- After cooking, the compote needs to sit, during which time it will become even tastier and its color will be saturated.
- Be sure to cover the dishes with a lid, so the contents will boil faster and steam less in the kitchen.
- The infused drink is filtered, poured into glass or porcelain containers and cooled if necessary. It is not the best option to store compote in plastic bottles; use jars instead.
- This compote should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 2-3 days.
Knowing how to make compote from frozen berries, you will become an economical and caring housewife who has found the ideal replacement for carbonated drinks and store-bought juices.
Simple compote of frozen berries with sugar
Required components:
- 1 kg - frozen fruits;
- sugar - 200-250 g;
- drinking water - 3-3.5 liters.
Preparation:
- Boil water covered in a stainless container. Make sure it doesn't boil over.
- Remove berries or assorted fruits from freezing. Weigh out the required amount and immediately throw it into the pan where the compote will be cooked. Immerse the fruit carefully so as not to burn your hands with steam or boiling water.
- Wait until the contents of the pan boil, add sugar. Bring to a boil again, cover with a lid and remove from the stove.
With mint and cinnamon
Aromatic and flavoring additives in compotes embellish their taste, making them unusual and incomparable. By adding mint sprigs and a cinnamon stick to the pan, you will prepare an amazing tasting drink. People will ask you for this recipe because it is better than store-bought juice.
Required components:
- assorted frozen fruits or berries - 750 g;
- granulated sugar - 180 g;
- a sprig of fresh or dried mint;
- drinking 2.5 liters of water;
- cinnamon stick or teaspoon ground powder.
Preparation:
- Without defrosting, add fruit to boiling water. Mix everything with a ladle and cover with a lid. Make sure that the compote does not boil, otherwise you will have to wash the stove.
- Add the amount of sugar and mix again.
- At the end of cooking, add mint and cinnamon to the pan. Remove from heat.
- When the compote is removed from the oven, you need to remove the mint and cinnamon stick and leave to cool.
How to cook with dried fruits
Dried fruits make a very original drink, especially if you add prunes or smoked pears to it.
Required components:
- 1 cup dried fruit;
- 200 g frozen;
- 190 g or to taste sugar;
- 2 liters of drinking water.
Preparation:
- Soak dry fruits in cold water to thoroughly wash them.
- Boil water, add dried fruits and boil. Then add sugar and add frozen assortment.
- There is no need to throw in all the berries at once, because dried fruits take a little longer to cook than frozen ones.
- During cooking, the compote will reveal its magnificent taste, and while it cools, it will infuse well.
You can add both frozen and fresh fruits to the compote; the taste will only benefit from this.
Frozen berry compote in a slow cooker
A multicooker saves the housewife time; it produces richly flavored and very aromatic compotes. And all this is due to the fact that the multicooker preserves the taste of the products that are put in for cooking. The main thing is not to overfill the water, otherwise it may boil away, which is not good for a multicooker.
Required components:
- 250 g frozen berries;
- drinking water - 1.5 liters;
- 5 tbsp. l. Sahara.
Preparation:
- Place the berries in the multicooker bowl and add sugar.
- Pour in drinking water. When pouring, monitor the volume; if the multicooker is designed for a smaller capacity, you should not add enough liquid.
- Close the multicooker lid and turn on the “soup or boiling” mode.
- Cool the finished compote in the slow cooker and pour into a glass jar.
With the addition of apples
Apples do not leave store shelves all year round, while the price of this fruit remains affordable. Apples alone will make an excellent compote, but if you diversify it with frozen berries, it will turn out 100 times tastier. The frozen assortment will give the compote a beautiful color!
Required components:
- apples - 450 g;
- a cup of frozen berries;
- 2 liters of water;
- 200 g or to taste sugar.
Preparation:
- Cut the apples into slices, remove the stems and seeds. There is no need to peel the peel; it is removed if the apples are not fresh (spoiled).
- Boil water, add apples, and lightly boil them.
- Add sugar and frozen assortment. Stir and let it boil well. Turn off the oven, cover with a lid and let the compote brew.
Cooking with lemon
Lemon as an additive to a drink gives it not only a pleasant citrus aroma, but also a pleasant sour taste.
Required components:
- 1/3 part lemon;
- 700 g frozen berries;
- 1 cup or to taste sugar;
- water - 2.5 liters of drinking water.
Preparation:
- Put any frozen fruit compote on the fire, add sugar and bring to a boil.
- At the end of cooking, throw lemon slices into the pan. Boil a little more and remove from heat.
- To prevent bitterness from the lemon peel from forming in the compote, it is better to remove the slices after cooking. However, this is not important, maybe someone likes this taste.
A delicious homemade compote is no worse than store-bought lemonade, and at the same time it is very healthy and does not contain harmful preservatives.
Compote of frozen berries with orange zest
Required components:
- dry or fresh lemon zest - 1.5 tsp;
- frozen fruits or berries 900 g;
- drinking 2.5 liters of water;
- sugar to taste or 220 g.
Preparation:
- Cook the compote in the usual way, add sugar and orange zest.
- Boil, let the drink brew and cool.
- Be sure to strain through a sieve, because the zest and boiled berries will cause the transparency to disappear.
Kompot is a traditional drink for Russia and many Eastern European countries. Compotes became widespread closer to the 18th century, although they were known earlier. The compote perfectly quenches thirst and has an excellent taste. Interested? Let's find out how to cook compote and what you can cook compote from.
Options for how to cook compote
There are a great many ways to cook berry compote. But the basis of all methods is that the product from which it is made (berries, fruits) is dried and then boiled in water with added sugar. Compotes are consumed only chilled.
Let's look at ways to cook compote. For a child, for an adult - it doesn’t matter, compotes are equally useful for all people. The main thing in this matter is how to cook compote correctly in order to achieve the desired result. Below are some well-known recipes for making compote yourself.
Apple compote
Most often people are interested in how to cook apple compote. This is the most common type of compote. So, let's cook apple compote. It is necessary to wash the apples, remove the cores and cut them. Then put them in a saucepan, fill with water and add sugar. It is necessary to cook for 20-25 minutes on low heat. As for the proportions, a glass of sugar is usually added per kilogram of apples and filled with two liters of water. There is a trick to making apple compote delicious: do not add all the sugar at once, add half after boiling the water. Before use, our compote must be strained and cooled. Enjoy, the apple compote is ready!
Rosehip compote
How to cook rosehip compote? Make sure you have:
- Half a glass of dried rose hips (or a whole glass of fresh);
- Approximately 600 grams of sugar;
- Lemon juice (tablespoon);
- A glass of fresh berries (raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries).
So, now we can start making rosehip compote. Select the largest rose hips and rinse them with water. Peel the lint from the berries and cut them into halves to remove the seeds; we won’t need them. Rinse the berries again.
Make sugar syrup, it's easy. Boil a liter of water and add sugar, all 600 grams. Boil until the sugar dissolves, then add all the previously prepared rose hips. Let this infusion simmer for another 2-4 minutes.
Time to make compote! Add two liters of water to our improvised rosehip compote, add the prepared berries (raspberries, strawberries...) and let them boil in the “new composition”. After boiling, remove the container from the heat and let it brew for half an hour. Traditional straining, add lemon juice, cool, and our rosehip compote is ready to eat!
How to cook cherry compote
To make cherry compote, you will need:
- Half a kilogram of cherries;
- 10 tablespoons of sugar;
- 1 liter of clean water;
- A tablespoon of citric acid (freshly squeezed lemon juice will do, you need two tablespoons).
Before making cherry syrup, sort out the berries. Wash the cherries thoroughly, but do not remove the pits!
- Place the pan on the fire and pour water into it.
- After waiting for it to boil, add sugar and citric acid.
- Boil until the sugar dissolves, then place the cherries in the pan.
- Bring to a boil again and remove from heat.
- Cover the pan with a lid and let it cool in this state.
We made cherry compote, all that remains is to cool it thoroughly in the refrigerator and use it! By the way, the amount of sugar varies depending on how sour your cherries are: the more sour they are, the more sugar you add. This method of preparing compote is the same as how to cook prune compote.
Vitamin explosion or cranberry compote
Yes, cooking cranberry compote is not an easy task. Regarding other compotes, of course. In general, you can hear only positive reviews about cranberry compote: it is tasty, healthy and... beautiful. Yes, in addition to the crazy vitamin C content, cranberry compote looks very attractive thanks to its rich red color and viscous structure. And the taste cannot be compared with anything at all - this is the most cranberry thing you can taste in your life, even better and richer than the cranberry itself.
So, how to cook cranberry compote? First, let’s sort through the berries, excluding unripe, overripe and crushed ones. After this, wash the cranberries very thoroughly with running water. Pour into a colander, let the water drain and pour the cranberries into pre-prepared jars. We fill them up to the “shoulders” with cranberries and fill them with syrup. The syrup is easy to prepare - take water and sugar in a one to one ratio (1:1) and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. We pasteurize the jars filled with syrup in boiling water, calculating the time according to the scheme - 10 minutes for every 500 milliliters of cranberry compote volume. After pasteurization, close the jars with lids and let sit for 3-4 days. After this, our cranberry compote is ready to eat. Remember to refrigerate!
For beginner cooks
If for some reason you find the methods for cooking compotes given above complicated, then we have one recipe up our sleeve especially for you. Namely, how to cook compote from dried apricots. This recipe is great because it doesn't require many additional ingredients.
To prepare dried apricot compote, you need to wash it thoroughly first. We wash each “kurazhinka” separately, don’t be lazy, the main thing here is quality, not quantity. After washing the dried apricots, fill a large saucepan with cold water and place the dried apricots there. Add a little sugar, literally a conventional amount, 300 grams per kilogram of dried apricots. Place the pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. You can let our compote boil for 5-8 minutes, then remove from heat and be sure to let it sit for 45 minutes. After this, you can strain our dried apricot compote and cool it, it is ready for immediate consumption right away.
I think we managed to explain in detail how to cook compote. Bon appetit!
