There are times when tea, coffee, cocoa and other "habitual" drinks get boring and you want something simple and homely. On such days, you can cook compote. And if you have pre-harvested fruits at hand, you can get the perfect compote of dried apples, pears or apricots. How to cook such a miracle?
To get started, let's think about which foods are best to make our drink. Compote of dried apples is considered “traditional” in our latitudes. Of course, this is due to the availability of apples themselves in almost the entire country at any time of the year. But for the manufacture of dried apples (or simply “dryers”), fruits grown by hand are best suited. If you have a summer cottage or relatives outside the city, getting a few kilograms of apples for making dryers will not be a problem. In extreme cases, you can use the apples of your choice from the nearest store.
To get the perfect compote from “dry” apples, you need to know how to properly stock these “dry” apples. It is best to dry apples in the open air in the sun, in a blown place. Fresh apples must be thoroughly washed, cut into slices and removed from their core and seeds. Then we lay apple slices in a thin layer and cover with gauze. After some time, each apple slice will need to be turned on the other side. Under ideal conditions, dried apples in this way will be ready for storage in a couple of days.
To prepare a drink from dried fruits, you should not take as a basis a recipe for making stewed fruit from fresh apples or pears. To make a compote of dried apples, you will need about two hundred grams of apples per half liter of water, one hundred grams of sugar and a third of a teaspoon of citric acid. Optionally, you can add a pinch of clove or lemon balm. Just in case, we sort the apples and thoroughly rinse them. In boiling water, first add citric acid and sugar, and then washed apples. After the compote boils, boil it for another half hour on low heat. About ten minutes before removing the drink from the heat, add melissa and cloves to it. Lemon can be added to the chilled compote.
Stewed compote of dried apples with the addition of other dried fruits is a little different. The proportions in such a drink will depend only on your taste. For two liters of water, you need to take a total of one glass of dried fruit. Due to the fact that all dried fruits have different cooking speeds, you need to add them to the pan in a certain order.
First, apricots, pears and apples are laid in boiling water - the hardest dried fruits. If apricots dried at home are used for cooking, they need to be cooked a little longer, since they are harder than the purchased dried apricots. Allowing the first batch of fruits to boil for ten minutes, add prunes and rose hips to the pan. The raisins, which boil the fastest, add another ten minutes later. After the raisins were in boiling water, we continue to boil the broth for another five minutes. Then remove it from the stove, let cool and insist a little, and filter if desired. Compote of dried apples and other dried fruits is ready.
In order to get a sweeter compote, you can add more sugar or a little honey to it. For those who like sour stewed fruit, you can dilute the drink with lemon juice (no more than two lemons per two liters of water) or add a pinch of citric acid to it.
Such a drink is ideal for the whole family - because it not only has excellent taste, but also is beneficial for the body. In combination with homemade cakes or a light dessert, it can become a real decoration of any family dinner.