Hamula

Hamula is an old, now almost forgotten Ukrainian dessert, simple and at the same time remarkably tasty. It was made from baked apples, as well as from dried pears, plums, or other fruit common in our ancestors' orchards.

Ripe apples were baked in the oven until soft, mashed into a purée, and then, for thickness, mixed with a little diluted flour (most often rye or buckwheat) and sweetened with honey. The resulting mass was returned to the oven so that it would bake a little and thicken. The result was a tender, aromatic fruit dessert resembling both a thick fruit butter and a baked pudding. Hamula is an example of a thrifty sweet cuisine, in which the rich harvest of the orchards was turned into a tasty dish without sugar or complex ingredients, by honey and fruit alone.