Kompot

Kompot or compot, as used in as prepared in Central and Eastern Europe and West Asia, refers to boiled fruits (either fresh or dried), served either as a drink or as desert (stewed fruit) depending on the region in question. When served as stewed fruits, it is essentially identical with the French compote, which is the origin of the term. When served as a drink, it is also known as взвар vzvar or узвар uzvar from the Slavic root word meaning "to boil".

Kompot

Traditional Bulgarian kompot
Alternative names	Compot
Type	Food
Place of origin	Europe; primarily Eastern and Balkans
Serving temperature	Cold, hot, or room temperature
Main ingredients	Various fruit
Variations	Uzvar
Media: Kompot

As a drink it is a non-alcoholic sweet beverage that may be served hot or cold, depending on tradition and season. It is obtained by cooking fruit such as strawberries, apricots, peaches, apples, raspberries, rhubarb, plums, or sour cherries in a large volume of water, often together with sugar or raisins as additional sweeteners. Sometimes different spices such as vanilla or cinnamon are added for additional flavour, especially in winter when kompot is usually served hot. Kompot is popular in Central and Eastern European countries as well as in Southern Europe.

Kompot is part of the culinary cultures of many countries in Central, Eastern, Southern Europe and Middle East, such as Bulgaria, Armenia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Moldova and Romania, Kosovo, the Czech Republic, Greece, Georgia, Cyprus and Turkey. Kompot (Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian; компот in: Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian; Kompót in: Slovak, Hungarian; Kompott in: German, Estonian; Kompotas in: Lithuanian; Kompots in: Latvian; кампот in: Belarusian; կոմպոտ in: Armenian; κομπόστα in: Greek; კომპოტი in: Georgian; Compot in: Romanian; Komposto in: Albanian and Turkish[1][2][3]) was a widely used way of preserving fruit for the winter season in Southern and Eastern European countries. In 1885, Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa wrote in a recipe book that kompot preserved fruit so well it seemed fresh.[4] Kompot was still popular in the 1970s. It is also popular in many Central Asian countries, such as Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.[5]

In the colder parts of Europe, instead of stewing the fruits and then preserving the result, fruits are instead dried, and then re-hydrated to make kompot / uzvar. This method is notably used in the Twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper prepared in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lands.

The consumption of kompot has been declining since the 1980s. With the end of food preservation in many countries of South and Eastern Europe, kompot has been supplanted by fruit juice, soft drinks and mineral water.[6]