Cooking
Meet the latest object of my affection. Cute aren't they? But wait until you bite into them! They bite right back. If you like the tang of lemons and limes and sometimes find the sweetness of oranges a little cloying you're going to love kumquats. Anyway even if citrus isn't your thing, just saying "kumquat" is fun.
These little gems are often mistakenly called citrus fruit. But kumquats belong to the genus Fortunella named after plant collector Robert Fortune and are native to China. They are unusual in that the skin is sweet and the flesh is sour. Like citrus fruit they are a good source of vitamin C, they also contain vitamin A and potassium. Because they are so small you can eat them whole, though you may encounter a couple of seeds.
Many recipes call for scooping out the flesh and using only the skin. The skins are most often candied, but there's a lot more you can do with the whole fruit. Kumquats are good cooked or raw. Just be sure to seed them if you are going to puree them. Depending on where you live your kumquats may come from Florida or California. The season runs from December through June so enjoy them while you can.
Here is a list of things to do with kumquats:
* Slice thinly and add to endive salad
* Add to a Moroccan style tagine
* Use puree to flavor tarts or mousses
* Make a sorbet
* Serve with a cheese plate
* Chop and make a chutney or raw relish
* Use in marmalade
* Decorate cakes with thin slices
* Puree with garlic, scallion and honey to marinate meat
* Skewer on fruit kebabs
* Eat them out of hand
- Keitt Mangoes: Favorite Things
Last year in the steamy Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden of South Florida I tasted about 15 different types of mangoes. I discovered that some are sweet, while others are tangy and refreshing. Some have subtle floral aromas, others have hints of citrus,...
- Bitter Orange Marmalade Recipe
You know how sometimes a whole crop of citrus is destroyed due to frost or unseasonably cold weather? If my mom had her way, none of that fruit would go to waste. My mother is the queen of finding a use for everything. I suppose it's a kind of variation...
- All About Meyer Lemons
If you like the tang of lemons, but not the pucker, Meyer lemons are for you. They are not nearly as tart as conventional lemons, and their peel is slightly sweet. Like a regular lemon perfected, the color and juice are amped up and the peel is thinned...
- All About Prickly Pear
The first time I had prickly pear fruit was in a Mexican popsicle or "paleta". It was a bright cherry red and sweet as could be. Mexican summers can get so hot you need something, anything ice cold, never mind what the flavor is. But I think that was...
- O, Kumquat Ye Faithful
Photo by Melissa Schneider. I already used "Little. Orange. Different" for my SFist post about kumquats, so I had to come up with some new and even more horrendous pun for OWF. See Melissa's stylish photos and my ideas for using these small...
Cooking
All about Kumquats
Meet the latest object of my affection. Cute aren't they? But wait until you bite into them! They bite right back. If you like the tang of lemons and limes and sometimes find the sweetness of oranges a little cloying you're going to love kumquats. Anyway even if citrus isn't your thing, just saying "kumquat" is fun.
These little gems are often mistakenly called citrus fruit. But kumquats belong to the genus Fortunella named after plant collector Robert Fortune and are native to China. They are unusual in that the skin is sweet and the flesh is sour. Like citrus fruit they are a good source of vitamin C, they also contain vitamin A and potassium. Because they are so small you can eat them whole, though you may encounter a couple of seeds.
Many recipes call for scooping out the flesh and using only the skin. The skins are most often candied, but there's a lot more you can do with the whole fruit. Kumquats are good cooked or raw. Just be sure to seed them if you are going to puree them. Depending on where you live your kumquats may come from Florida or California. The season runs from December through June so enjoy them while you can.
Here is a list of things to do with kumquats:
* Slice thinly and add to endive salad
* Add to a Moroccan style tagine
* Use puree to flavor tarts or mousses
* Make a sorbet
* Serve with a cheese plate
* Chop and make a chutney or raw relish
* Use in marmalade
* Decorate cakes with thin slices
* Puree with garlic, scallion and honey to marinate meat
* Skewer on fruit kebabs
* Eat them out of hand
- Keitt Mangoes: Favorite Things
Last year in the steamy Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden of South Florida I tasted about 15 different types of mangoes. I discovered that some are sweet, while others are tangy and refreshing. Some have subtle floral aromas, others have hints of citrus,...
- Bitter Orange Marmalade Recipe
You know how sometimes a whole crop of citrus is destroyed due to frost or unseasonably cold weather? If my mom had her way, none of that fruit would go to waste. My mother is the queen of finding a use for everything. I suppose it's a kind of variation...
- All About Meyer Lemons
If you like the tang of lemons, but not the pucker, Meyer lemons are for you. They are not nearly as tart as conventional lemons, and their peel is slightly sweet. Like a regular lemon perfected, the color and juice are amped up and the peel is thinned...
- All About Prickly Pear
The first time I had prickly pear fruit was in a Mexican popsicle or "paleta". It was a bright cherry red and sweet as could be. Mexican summers can get so hot you need something, anything ice cold, never mind what the flavor is. But I think that was...
- O, Kumquat Ye Faithful
Photo by Melissa Schneider. I already used "Little. Orange. Different" for my SFist post about kumquats, so I had to come up with some new and even more horrendous pun for OWF. See Melissa's stylish photos and my ideas for using these small...