How To Cook How To Properly Prepare A Delicious Oshav: A Classic Recipe And Tips - Recipe

We all know that oshava is a compote of dried fruits - a harmonious combination of incredible taste and benefits for the body. The drink has a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular, nervous and digestive systems

Oshav can also be prepared from a type of dried fruit, but is usually made from a combination of several fruits, which are selected according to a person's personal preferences or according to the products available at home. The combination of dried apricots, apples, pears and prunes is preferred - a mix that has a rich pleasant aroma and wonderful taste, and is based on pears.

Sweet compote can be made from dried pears, dates and figs. A pleasant sour note is obtained if you add dried cherries, rose hips, dogwood or other berries. An interesting taste can be achieved if pieces of dried banana, quince and peaches are included in the oshava.

How to cook oshav?

The main subtlety that we need to know in order to properly prepare oshav is simple: dried fruits need to be added sequentially. And whether the final product will be sweet or sour-sweet depends on the fruits that are used to make it. Of course, sweetening is also important.

Dried apples and pears cook longer than other fruits, they take about 30 minutes. Prunes and apricots are cooked for 10-15 minutes, the raisins are boiled the fastest, they are put in the compote 5 minutes before it is ready. At the same time add the sugar. The most important thing is to leave the drink long enough to brew.

For a pleasant aroma of the compote, citrus peel and juice, mint leaves, lemon balm, ground cinnamon and / or ginger can be added.

Recipe for a classic oshav

• 3-4 liters of water
• 150 grams of dried apples
• 50 grams of dried pears
• 100 grams of prunes
• 50 grams of dried apricots
• 50 grams of raisins
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• sugar to taste

Wash the dried fruit well. Bring the water to a boil and then pour the apples and pears into it. Let cook on low heat for 20-25 minutes, add prunes and apricots, and 15-20 minutes later raisins and sugar. After 5 minutes the drink is ready.

If much of the water has evaporated and the compote has become thick, you can add a little water. Pour the citrus juice and remove the pan from the heat. Cover with a lid and allow the oshava to simmer until completely cooled. Then store in the cold for a few hours.

Instead of lemon juice you can add lemon slices to the compote. Sugar can be replaced with honey, but it is added at the end. This is necessary because honey should not be boiled, because it will lose its useful properties.

To find the combination of dried fruits that you like the most, you will have to experiment. Try different combinations until you achieve the desired taste of your oshav. Here are some more suggestions you can try ...

Popular combinations of dried fruits for making oshav:

• 200 grams of apples, 100 grams of pears, 50 grams of prunes, 50 grams of apricots;
• 200 grams of apricots, 100 grams of quinces, 100 grams of bananas;
• 200 grams of prunes, 200 grams of apricots;
• 1,300 kilograms of figs, 100 grams of rose hips.

* The indicated combinations are for 4 liters of water. Usually 1 liter of water is added to 100-150 grams of fruit.

You will not be surprised if we tell you that the good taste of oshava also depends on the quality of the dried fruit. That is why it is important to be able to choose exactly these, if we have not prepared them ourselves, of course.

Tips for choosing dried fruits for a tasty and healthy oshav

Do not be tempted by the shiny dried fruits with a rich and beautiful color. The glossy surface indicates that they have been treated with chemicals. Therefore, it is better to bet on unattractive-looking fruits.

• Dried apricots should be bright and perfectly flat.

• Prunes must be black in color, sufficiently dry and not shiny.
• Good raisins have a matte wrinkled surface, and their color can be black, dark brown or dark orange and depends on the grape variety. What the different varieties of grapes have in common is that they all darken during the drying process, which means that bright golden raisins are made with the help of chemicals.

• After natural drying, the peaches become either dark brown or dark orange with a matte wrinkled surface.
• Dates should not be shiny, they have a cracked sticky surface. It is better to choose stone fruits because they contain more vitamins.
• Dried figs have a light beige or light brown color. The white deposits on the fruit are not a cause for concern - this is the glucose that comes out, which means that the figs are sweet. You can dry your figs in the oven yourself .