Kumquats Rule!
It is March and the kumquats on my little (8foot) tree are coverd head to toe with fruit.
Passersbys and local homeless folks drop and by and eat as many as they can. I encourage it. But still the tree puts out.
Kumquats are grape shaped and sized miniature orange colored fruit where the sweetness is in the peel and the sourness is in the fruit. They have seeds. The following is a recipe that uses these remarkable little fruit. I bought the cookbook at Costco. This recipe sold it to me. I was also intrigued by its recipe for pressure canning dry beans. If you have some access to some kumquat fruit... this is your recipe.
Kumquat Marmalade with Bourbon
From Preserving
Everything by Leda Meredith
35-60
Kumquats 1-4 inches long and less than half as wide
1
Orange
6-7
Cups water
2-3
tablespoons bottled lemon juice
4-5
Cups sugar
¼ Cup
of Bourbon
1.
Wash
the kumquats and the orange, scrubbing them well with produce brush
2.
Slice
the fruits thinly peels and all. Remove and discard the seeds as you are
slicing. You want the juices as well as the peels and pulp, so have a bowl
handy to transfer them to.
3.
Measure
the combined sliced citrus and juices. Put them into a large, non reactive pot.
Stir in 2 cups water for every cup of fruit and juice that you measured. Cover
the pot and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours (or overnight).
4.
Near
the end of the soaking time, sterilize your jars.
5.
Bring
the citrus and water mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to
medium and simmer until the kumquat and orange peels become tender and
translucent. This will take about an hour.
6.
Once
the fruit mixture has cooked, measure it. Add ¼ teaspoons lemon juice plus ¾
Cup of sugar for every cup of cooked citrus. Stir the ingredients over high
heat until the sugar dissolves.
7.
Add
the bourbon if using. Continue to cook over high heat until the marmalade reaches the gel point. Remove it
from the heat and skim off any foam on the surface.
8.
While
the marmalade is still hot, ladle it into the sterilized canning jars. Leave a
minimum of ½ inch space between the surface of the food and rims of the jars,
Screws on the canning lids.
9.
Process
in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (adjust for altitude).
Marmalades
more than most other sweet preserves continue to thicken for days or even weeks
after they’re cooked in the jars . If the freshly made marmalade is not as
thick as you would like it to be, wait 2 weeks and it may get to a firmer
gel.
: ) Pat
