Kissel is a sweet Eastern European dessert made from crushed berries in sugar water thickened with starch. It can be thin enough to drink or thick enough to eat as a pudding and is often served chilled. The dessert usually contains fresh fruit, sugar, water, and starch, and can be made with different types of berries. Kissel is often served with cream or half-and-half and can be garnished with crushed gingernaps.
Mentioned in Russian fairy tales, kissel is an Eastern European sweet that consists of crushed berries in sugar water thickened with starch. Depending on the version, the thickness of the kissel varies. Dessert can be thin enough to drink or thick enough to eat as a pudding. While it can be served hot, this dish is often chilled before serving.
Normally, kissel contains very few ingredients. Only fresh fruit, sugar, water and starch are needed. Although usually only one type of fruit is used, two or three different fruits can be combined. Lemon juice and salt may also be included.
The fruit is almost always some kind of berry, and which berry is used often depends on the region or the tastes of the cook. For example, blueberry kissel is more popular in regions where blueberries grow wild. The starch is often potato starch, but cornstarch or arrowroot can also be used.
How kissel is made determines its thickness. In some versions the berries are mashed and their juice is reserved before the berry pulp is boiled in water. After cooking, the liquid is filtered, then sugar is added and the mixture is boiled again. The starch is diluted with cold water before it is also added to the dough, along with the reserved berry juice. Once mixed, the kissel is chilled for several hours.
In other versions, only a portion of the chopped berries is boiled and then sieved and mixed with the raw berries. Sugar, salt and starch are mixed together and the sifted liquid is combined with the sugar mixture and boiled. The resulting liquid is sieved over the berries and then cooled.
Still others put the sugar into the boiling water first. The starch is dissolved in cold water and added to the sugar water. Then the crushed berries, complete with juice, are added to that blend. Once mixed, the kissel is poured into individual dessert plates or a large serving bowl and chilled. These versions usually produce a kiss more often than the others.
Less traditional versions may add non-berry fruits, such as apples, and additional spices, such as cinnamon, to the base ingredients. The berry ingredient may only be juice rather than fresh berries. These versions are often unfiltered, but the starch is still combined with water and added after the sugar and fruit have boiled.
Kissel is often served with cream or half-and-half. Sweetened sour cream can also be made by combining brown sugar and lemon juice with sour cream. Crushed gingernaps can be used for garnish.
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