Dried Fruit Kompot (Uzvar)


There is more than one recipe for kompot on this website, if you are looking for some other recipe, try here: all kompot recipes.

Uzvar is a kompot made from dried fruits: mainly apples, pears and prunes, however various recipes include raisins, dried sour cherries and even dried apricots.

Even though this drink is traditionally served to Christmas Eve dinner in some countries of West Europe (e.g. Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Lithuania), I really can’t find a reason why it can’t be a great better choice to drink before all those sugary-artificially prepared sodas people consume so much those days.

Uzvar, or as it also called in ex-USSR countries – Kompot made from Dried Fruits, is very refreshing, tasty and easy to do. I highly recommend this drink to everybody, prepare it for your kids – they will love it!

Ingredients:

  • 2.5-3 oz of dried pears
  • 2.5-3 oz of dried apples
  • 2.5-3 oz of dried prunes
  • 4qt water
  • Sugar or honey to taste (optional)

How to prepare, step-by-step:

  1. Prepare ingredients: I was able to buy pear and apple chips, however any dried apples and pears will do: quarters or slices, with seeds in or removed; prunes can be pitted or not, whatever you prefer; depends on how sweet fruits are, amount of sugar (or honey) may vary, if fruits are sweet enough you can skip sweetening at all just go with your taste:
    Uzvar (Dried Fruit Kompot) Recipe: Step 1
  2. Dried fruits need to be reconstituted before boiling, so do this step a night before you are actually planning to serve kompot: wash all dried fruits with cold water thoroughly, make sure there is no sand or soil left if there were any. Put all dried fruits (apples, pears and prunes) to a big cooking pot (3.5-4.5qt), fill it with cold water, cover with a lid and let it stay on room temperature over night:
    Uzvar (Dried Fruit Kompot) Recipe: Step 2
  3. Next day (or at least in several hours) put the cooking pot on the burner, on moderate heat and bring to simmer:
    Uzvar (Dried Fruit Kompot) Recipe: Step 3
  4. Simmer for 10-15mins, then taste and add sugar (or honey) if needed and mix:
    Uzvar (Dried Fruit Kompot) Recipe: Step 4
  5. Move cooking pot to cold burner and let kompot to cool down till room temperature, that will take several hours during which the drink will get infused with fruit goodness; then filter liquid from fruits with colander and pour kompot to the pitcher, serve cooled down or at room temperature:
    Uzvar (Dried Fruit Kompot)
Enjoy!

View Comments

  • Julia,
    You are so creative. My friends had their own apple orchard and shared their fruits with my family. So, my parents dried these fruits because we couldn't eat it all. Then, after 15 years, my parents threw everything out since we (kids) didn't eat anything and stopped drying. I am going to show your website and this recipe. That is very healthy and good! Thank you for sharing your amazing recipes with us.

  • God bless internet. Have to learn now a lot of things that I've forgotten when moved here overseas. Thanks!

  • Thank you, I have just been for a short holiday in Warszawa and experienced this drink. I am not sure I'll be able to find dried pears in England, but I look forward to drinking kompot again!

    • Try dried fruits section for cereal or breakfast, this where I found mines (but I live in US currently)

  • Hi,

    I am editing a story in which kompot is used as jam on bread. In researching, I found no mention of this. I wonder if the fruit is used as jam once the liquid has been filtered.

    Thank you.

    • I would rather think what the story talks not about kompot (the drink made from fruits), but about compote (the dessert made of fruits with sugar syrup and spices over low heat). This one should be less liquid which would make it more possible to spread over the bread.

      There us an article about Compote dessert/jam on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compote . Hope that helps.