Kompot

Method

1. prep8 min
   apple sliced thick, plum halved, cherries pitted — cut coarse on purpose. Small pieces give up their pectin and their colour in the first two minutes and then have nothing left but pulp to contribute.
2. simmer4 min
   medium, until the sugar disappears
   water + sugar + cinnamon stick, stirred until the grains are gone. Sweetening the water before the fruit goes in matters: fruit dropped into plain water leaches out along its concentration gradient and turns to mush, while syrup close to its own sugar level lets it soften without emptying.
3. simmer6 min
   bare simmer, never a rolling boil
   + apple first, since its cell walls hold longest, then + plum + cherries for the last 3 minutes. A rolling boil batters the skins apart and suspends pectin and fruit solids through the liquid, which is what makes cloudy kompot; a lazy simmer just moves flavour outward.
4. infuse60 min
   off heat, lid on
   cover and leave the pot to fall to warm with the fruit still in it. Most of the colour and nearly all of the aroma moves into the water during this passive steep, not during the simmer — the lid is doing real work, trapping the volatile esters that would otherwise leave with the steam.
5. mix1 min
   warm, not hot
   + lemon juice, and honey now if using. Acid and honey aromatics both go in after the heat: boiled lemon juice tastes flat and dull, and honey's character cooks off above about 40°C, leaving nothing but sugar.
6. store6 min
   chilled, fruit left in
   decant into a jar, fruit and all, and refrigerate. It keeps four or five days and improves on the second — the fruit continues to exchange with the syrup cold. Strain only at the moment of pouring; the fruit sitting in the liquid is the preservation, the drink is just what you take off the top.