Compote or compôte
History
Compote conformed to the medieval presumption that fruit cooked in sugar syrup balanced the effects of humidity on the body. The name is derived from the
Latin word
compositus, meaning mixture. In late medieval England it was served at the beginning of the last course of a feast (or sometimes the second out of three courses), often accompanied by a creamy
potage.
[Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler, ed. Curye on Inglysch. The Early English Text Society, New York, 1985.][Thomas Austin, ed. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. The Early English Text Society, New York, 1888 (reprinted 1964).][ Information on the Coronation feast of Richard III, taken from Sutton, Anne F. and PW Hammond, The Coronation of Richard III: the Extant Documents, New York; St. Martin's Press, 1983.] During the Renaissance, it was served chilled at the end of dinner. Because it was easy to prepare, made from inexpensive ingredients and contained no dairy products, compote became a staple of Jewish households throughout Europe.
[ Be Merry / A taste of Poland, Haaretz] In modern
French language, the term refers to usually unsweetened fruit purée without fruit chunks, such as
applesauce.
Variations
Dried fruit is often used for compote by cultures from Eastern Europe, and its syrup is also drunk as a beverage. Both are called
kompot. In
Mennonites culture, dried-fruit compote is known by the Plautdietch name pluma moos.
The dessert may be topped with whipped cream, cinnamon, or vanilla sugar. The syrup may be made with wine, as in one early 15th-century recipe for pear compote.[Robuchon, Joël, "Members of the Gastronomic Committee". Larousse Gastronomique. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2001, p. 322-323.]
See also
