All Things Kumquat

Highlight of the Day: Sleeping in for the first time in two weeks, and waking up to the sound of my banjolele :) ~

kum-quat [kuhm-kwot] noun

1. a small, round or oblong citrus fruit having a sweet rind and acid pulp, used chiefly for preserves.
2. any of several citrus shrubs of the genus Fortunella, native to China, that bear this fruit.

 It's like a little orange, but you eat the skin, because it's the sweetest part. You can eat the middle too. If you want. It's kind of really sour though. And full of seeds.

And they look like this:

(they're the smallest ones. not the lemons, and not the oranges :)

 

I am lucky enough to have an awesome grandma who not only has a kumquat tree in her backyard, but who brought two gallon sized bags of them all the way from California to Utah, just 'cuz she knew I loved them!

 

Last year, after I'd eaten the last kumquat of the season, I had this most spectacular vision of a candied kumquat. But I didn't have any kumquats, and I couldn't really find a recipe for it. So I sighed a great big ol' sigh and distracted myself with an internship in Philadelphia and a study abroad in Jerusalem. . .

 

And then, just the other day, I stumbled across this site.

And my intense need to try it hit me like a train. Luckily it was only a few days later that I got a call from Grandma with the news that she and Grandpa would be driving through in a day or so.

 

So here it is, a candied kumquat recipe, complete with badly taken pictures, and commentary :)

 

Candied Vanilla-Poached Kumquats

Ingredients:

 

2 pounds kumquats, stems removed

4 cups water

 4 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean

 

Directions

1.      Fill a medium-sized heavy bottom saucepan halfway with water and bring up to a boil over high heat. Drop the kumquats in the boiling water and blanch for one minute. Drain the kumquats over a colander and discard the blanching water. Clean and dry the pot.

2.      Put the sugar in the pot and add the 4 cups of water. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise with a pairing knife and scrape the seeds with the back of the knife. Put the vanilla pod and seeds into the pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the blanched kumquats. Simmer the kumquats in the syrup for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the skin of the kumquats is soft and translucent.

3.      Remove the the candied kumquats to a glass container. Simmer the candying liquid over medium-low heat for another 10 minutes or so until it resembles a thick syrup. Pour over the kumquats and let sit until cooled. Cover and store in the fridge. They will keep for several weeks.

The kumquats and the syrup can be used as a dessert topping, in cocktails and in various sweet and savory dishes.

Yields 2 pounds candied kumquats.

 

I cut mine in half and took the seeds out. because

 I didn't want to deal with them later.

 

I had every intention of growing all these cute little seeds too. . .

 but I didn't get around to it. . .

 

 

Anyway, here's the blanching.

 

 



And the draining. Super interesting, I know.

 

 

And here's boiling them in sugar water!

 This part was fun.

 

 

It took quite some time - about 40-45 minutes - to simmer it down thick enough

 

 

Do you see that? How cool is that?! The sugar totally inundated the insides, which is better than keeping them whole, if you ask me :) It was way interesting to watch how they changed from all fruity to clear and candied, even if it took a day and a half!

 

 

And I even found the perfect little jar to put them in! I was so proud of these that I carried the jar around with me the rest of the evening . . . They're just so pretty. . .

 

You know what else? They taste great. The skin's a little tough (don't ask me why), but they still taste like kumquats - just really sugary ones :) and they're perfect with ice cream.

 

So there you go - the mighty kumquat, in all it's glory :)