Kissel

Kissel is a sweet-tart fruit-and-berry drink of Eastern, Northern and Central Europe, made by cooking berries or fruit juice with sugar and a little starch until it sets to a glossy, lightly thickened liquid. Thin and pourable it is sipped as a cold or warm drink; cooked thicker it firms into a spoonable, jelly-like pudding eaten as a dessert. A Slavic and Baltic staple that is non-alcoholic, it is one of the oldest dishes of the region, its name taken from a Slavic word for sour. Modern fruit kissel is the sweet descendant of a far older fermented grain porridge of the same name.