the amber drink of the Silk Road oases: dried apricots steeped overnight in cold water until the liquid turns deep gold and sweet, then poured over ice as the Central Asian summer drink
Origin: Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan
From the journey of Apricot.
Kompot in Central Asia is not the boiled stewed fruit of the Soviet and Eastern European tradition, though the word is shared: in the Ferghana Valley and the oasis cities of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, a kompot is as likely to be a cold steep of dried fruit in water as a cooked preparation, and the qaysi kompot (made by soaking whole dried apricots in cold water for twelve to twenty-four hours without any cooking at all) is perhaps the simplest and most ancient of them all. The technique predates refrigeration by centuries and requires no fire, no sugar, and no equipment beyond a bowl and patience: the dried apricots leach their sugars, acids, and aromatic compounds into the water, transforming it into a drink of extraordinary flavour. In the markets of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Tashkent, the same dried apricots that are packed in hessian sacks for export to the Russian, Iranian, and Chinese markets are also sold loose from great golden mounds, to be taken home and steeped for the evening meal. The qaysi of the Ferghana Valley (small, dense, and intensely flavoured, quite unlike the large sulphured Turkish variety) produce the finest kompot: amber rather than orange, more sour than sweet, and possessed of a faintly floral depth that the commercial product cannot match. The drink is served cold, in tall glasses, with the softened apricots scooped from the bottom; it is drunk throughout the summer heat and offered to guests as the most natural hospitality of the region.
The quality of the dried apricot determines everything in this recipe. Unsulphured dark brown or mahogany-coloured dried apricots, sold in Middle Eastern and Central Asian groceries, give a far more complex and flavourful kompot than the bright orange sulphured variety; the latter is sweeter but blander. If serving for a celebration, a small knot of dried rosebuds or a cardamom pod steeped with the apricots adds a subtle Silk Road fragrance. The kompot keeps refrigerated for up to three days; it deepens in flavour as it stands.
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