Polish Stewed Pears {Kompot Gruszkowy}
No cola or orange soda, no root beer or ginger ale. Nothing. I had my first coke when I was around 13. My dad traveled to Sweden for business and brought my brother and I a can of cola and a can of lemon soda. We looked at it for a while, and couldn’t decide if we should open it right now, or wait for a special occasion. After all, this is a very special drink. We couldn’t wait. We opened one, and each took a sip. WOW!!! So bubbly, sweet and “caramelly”. We savored every bit of it, after all we didn’t know when we’d be able to taste it again.
Being able to lay our hands on a can of soda represented getting closer to the West. We were hopeful that it will be different, even though we didn’t really know what that meant. Being smothered by the East for so long deprived Poles of simple pleasures, soda being one of them. Basic products, like coffee or store-bought juice, even lemons were hard to get, so being able to drink some cola was a big deal.
On the contrary, because we were not exposed to the “spoils” of modern world, we were forced to be resourceful and creative with our food. Instead of soda, we drank tea (even as small children) and juice from stewing fruit, called “kompot“. It was delicious, and I didn’t really feel like we were missing out.
So kompot served dual role at dinner. Drink and desert. Stewed fruit would be served in its juices and we were perfectly fine with it.
Pears make a perfect candidate for stewing. They are aromatic, soft and juicy and boiling them for just short time will produce a delicious sweet drink dessert.
Polish Stewed Pears {Kompot Gruszkowy}
Ingredients
- 4 c of water
- 3 ripe pears
- 5-6 prunes
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5-6 whole cloves
- ¼ cup of sugar
Instructions
Peel and remove cores from pears.
Cut them into eights and place in a medium pot with the rest of ingredients.
Bring to boil and simmer on low for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
Notes
"Kompot" will taste its best if cooled overnight and served cold.
I hope you try it on a hot summer day. Make sure to serve it chilled.
Let me know how it turns out in comments below.
Smacznego!
Anna
ps. if you had your eyes on the recent giveaway, it’s your lucky day. First member (must have joined my newsletter by 21 May 2017) to send me an email @ polishyourkitchen@gmail.com and says “I love pears”, will win the giveaway and get the set of 6 hand-stitched pear design coasters. GOOD LUCK!
** UPDATE! SORRY FRIENDS, IF YOU’RE READING THIS, YOU ARE NOT FIRST… GOOD LUCK NEXT TIME!!
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I have adored hot stewed fruit since I was young and I have just discovered that Poles love kompot. Proof of genetic memory!
That’s great! Keep cooking.
In our house, we make kompot with rhubarb (w apples and raisins) which I always have too much of.
On this pear compote, do you leave the prunes whole or cut in half? I would think you could add apples or use all apple? Dziękuję!