Strawberry Kompot
In my childhood, my mother used to keep dozens of jars with various fruit kompot, but the strawberry one was always the star. It's been long since I gave up preparing kompots for the winter in a jar, I prefer to freeze all sorts of fruits. Whenever we feel like it, I quickly make a pot of fresh and fragrant kompot. This is how I use especially the whole frozen strawberries and berries, various assortments.
My little Maria is a big fan of strawberry kompot, and rightly so! The most aromatic, colorful and tasty kompot - it beats any juice on the market and I assure you that it will be the star at any meal, be it festive or not.
By the way, I used rhubarb in the recipe, you will notice in the steps below - it's optional, but, if you have it, don't hesitate to use it. Its taste and aroma will greatly enrich the strawberry kompot and make it much fresher. If you do not have rhubarb, you can use the juice of 1-2 lemons, to taste.
In a large stainless steel or enameled pot (mine is 5 litres in volume), bring to the boil 3 litres of water.
Meanwhile, prepare and wash the strawberries, or other favorite fruits. If you use frozen fruits, put them directly from the freezer, they don't need thawing before.
If you have rhubarb stalks, carefully remove the fine peel, it is very easy and fast.
Using a small knife, just gently pull the peel off the ends of the stalks.
Then cut the stems into 1-2 cm long pieces.
If you do not have rhubarb, use the juice from 1-2 lemons.
When the water in the pot comes to the boil, dissolve the sugar or any other favorite sweetener in it.
Adjust the sugar to taste. Observation - the sweeter the kompot, the tastier the fruit (if you like to eat the fruit from the kompot). The kompot with less sugar is great to drink, but the fruit in it doesn't taste good at all.
Then the rhubarb, or squeeze the juice from 1-2 lemons, to taste.
Mix carefully and wait until the liquid in the pot is just STARTING to boil.
Do not let the kompot boil too much and for too long, the fruit will become puree, and the kompot will lose its aroma and color!
So, as soon as it starts to boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid.
Now let the kompot infuse for at least 5 hours. I usually prepare it in the evening and let sit overnight. Then, in the morning, I refrigerate the kompot for a few hours, for extra freshness. Children also like it hot, in which case I make it in the morning and in the afternoon the kompot can be savoured.
Enjoy!
