Kysil

Kysil is one of the most ancient sweet drink-desserts of Ukrainian and the wider Slavic cuisine. It is a sweet, jelly-like dish made from fruit or berry juice (cranberry, cherry, currant, apple) thickened with starch.

Depending on the amount of starch, kysil is either liquid — then it is drunk — or thick like jelly, and then it is eaten with a spoon or even cut. Interestingly, the oldest kysils were quite different: they were made not from berries but from fermented oat or rye flour, and it is from this that the name comes (from “kyslyi” — sour). Such oat kysil was an everyday dish of our ancestors. Today kysil is mostly a favourite children's dessert, pleasant, aromatic, and healthful, preserving the natural taste of orchard and forest fruit.