Kumquats

A few weeks ago I read an article about kumquats, and it got me interested in trying them, so I bought a pint of California-grown kumquats last time I was at Trader Joe's.

I think the ones I got at TJ were a little less than optimal...as I understand it, the rind should be sweet and the pulp is sour. Unfortunately, most of these had a green tinge to their rind, and the sour flavor definitely overwhelmed the taste, but I got enough with hints of sweetness that I'm now hooked. Unfortunately, I can't find the original article, and looking online hasn't been much of a help. I don't want to go back to TJ's, and I realize that the season is coming to an end.

Can anyone offer any buying suggestions? It seems like my best bet would be to buy them loose, if that's possible. Does anyone know of stores on the north side that sell them loose?

Also, what's the ideal size to maximize sweetness? The ones from TJs ranged from medium-sized olive to larger than an olive. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough sweet ones to enable me to figure out if size correlated to sweetness. Does size matter?

Presumably I want no green and as vivid of an orange color as possible, right?

Any other things I should know?

Thanks for your help!

My experience is limited, but I have found that if I cut off the stem end of the fruit, the taste is less bitter. I like to slice them, put them on vanilla ice cream, and add a splash of spiced rum. Lots of flavors.

chgoeditor -- not sure if this is what you're referencing, but there was an article on kumquats in the NY Times Magazine a few Sundays ago. Link is here (registration and/or Times Select subscription may be necessary for full content).

My remembrance of eating kumquats once as an adolescent involved solely eating the rinds peeled from the tiny fruits; I didn't know you where supposed to eat the whole fruit. Interesting... Maybe my memory is flawed though...

Update:
Interesting Info

From Matt's link
" Kumquats, which are not citrus fruits but belong to another genus, originated in China and have been cultivated across Asia for centuries. They inspired some unorthodox grafting techniques: in "The Oxford Companion to Food," Alan Davidson cites this bit of instruction from the "Book of Nabatean Agriculture," a 10th-century Iraqi text: "The branch which is to be grafted must be in the hand of a beautiful damsel, whilst a male person has disgraceful and unnatural sexual intercourse with her; during intercourse the woman grafts the branch into the tree."

Matt: That was the article I'd read--thanks! I've printed it out, and will try some of the recipes, because they sound delicious. Also, nice to see that the growing season is longer than I'd originally thought, and that the California-grown kumquats are actually just coming into season, rather than going out of season, as I'd believed.

Jay K: Some of what I've seen written suggests that it's not unheard of to just eat the peel, but from my very limited experience, I don't think it's necessary. I guess it depends on the sweet to bitter ratio. The ones I got from TJ could probably benefit from just being peeled.

All: I found some at Whole Foods today that had been pre-packed but were relatively reasonably priced (I think). Not in a pint container, but sold by the pound. I don't have the container handy, but I think that I probably got about the equivalent of a pint for less than TJ's charged. Once I got them home and before I even tasted them, I immediately saw saw a difference when I set the container from WF next to the container from TJ's. The ones from WFs were larger (compare to a large date rather than an olive) and a much brighter orange. The TJ's kumquats almost look like a pale peach color in comparison. And the ones from WFs are much sweeter--very little bitterness. The only downside is that the ones from WFs have more seeds. I only found a few seeds in all of the kumquats I got from TJs, and most had none at all. Most of the ones from WFs have 3-4 seeds each (which is a lot when you consider how small the fruit is).

If anyone else has recommended sources of loose kumquats, I'd like to hear about them...they're really addictive

My elementary school years in Bellaire suburb of Houston: we had both backyard kumquat trees and figs. The kumquats we'd pluck from the ground and, upon a dare, suck tart tropical juices from tensile, leathery flesh. The figs we'd simply break and shake white gummy sap at one another. Fun.

I grew up in Sacramento. When I was a kid, I'd go to the grocery store, and there'd be this big box in the produce section, just full of kumquats, usually with a leaf or two attached. Obviously they were *very* casually harvested locally, and brought to the store. We'd buy them by the bag--they cost next to nothing--and eat them the way we eat seedless grapes nowadays. Pop one in your mouth, get a jolt of this and that, and move on to the next one.

One forgets how things once were. Across the street from my house in Carmichael was an all-but-abandoned orchard of *English* walnut trees, with a clump at the end comprised of a grapefruit tree, a pomegranite tree, and some desultory 6' shoots of bamboo. I shrugged it all off.

Sigh. Oh for those days/opportunities...

Geo

These are beautifully in season right now and available at Whole Foods among other places. Wash well, cut off each end - just a little below the stem and base - and slice. Remove hard seeds from the larger kumquats by lightly squeezing. Eat the whole slices raw, or dredged in either sugar or salt (different cultures go different ways), or with some home-made vanilla ice cream or coconut sorbet. I made sorbet with simply two parts water to one part sweetened coconut milk - fantastically easy and delicious.

Santander wrote:These are beautifully in season right now and available at Whole Foods among other places. Wash well, cut off each end - just a little below the stem and base - and slice. Remove hard seeds from the larger kumquats by lightly squeezing. Eat the whole slices raw, or dredged in either sugar or salt (different cultures go different ways), or with some home-made vanilla ice cream or coconut sorbet. I made sorbet with simply two parts water to one part sweetened coconut milk - fantastically easy and delicious.

Nice to know that you got some good ones from Whole Foods. I bought a couple boxes that looked ripe from TJs, but they're too sour. I'll have to return them and give WF a shot.

The highlight of visiting my mother-in-law down in southern California is eating the kumquats right off the tree like grapes. MIL gets mad because she makes marmalade out of them. "now stop eating those!" I never had a store bought one that compared. I bought some at Caputo's a few months ago and threw them away they were so sour.

H-Mart almost always has a huge bin of them loose, and sometimes Marketplace on Oakton does as well.

I often buy kumquats at Christmastime and roll them in colored sugar for a dessert garnish. I've found that they can range from bitter to sweet in the same batch, and you also have to watch out for nasty mushy ones. I'd agree that bright orange is important, and I tend to prefer the smaller ones just because they're easier to pop in your mouth.

Candied kumquats are delicious. Just boil them whole in heavy syrup as you would lemon or orange peel, drain and roll in crystalline sugar to offset the stickiness, and munch them up.

Be sure to prick each one with a pin so they don't explode on you.

Here in Montreal most of the big Asian supermarket produce sections have loose kumquats. You can pick and choose. They're awfully tasty.

Geo

Geo wrote:Here in Montreal most of the big Asian supermarket produce sections have loose kumquats. You can pick and choose. They're awfully tasty.

Geo

You guys need to forget the American kumquats, they are nothing compared to the Asian ones. Fruit tea made with kumquats and honey are amazing, I have tried many times the American versions and they are nothing compared to what we get in Asia. Turning them into candy !!!!!!!!!!!!! yuck no wonder there are so many oversize people in USA

I just discovered an amazing, if not surprising, combination - kumquats and chocolate. I made chocolate tarts for a PTA event topped with different fruits - between the raspberry, blackberry and kumquat the kumquat was far and away my favorite topper. Sliced them up just like the photo above.

MikeLM wrote:Candied kumquats are delicious. Just boil them whole in heavy syrup as you would lemon or orange peel, drain and roll in crystalline sugar to offset the stickiness, and munch them up.

Be sure to prick each one with a pin so they don't explode on you.

I had a box of kumquats at home, so I decided to candy the rinds this weekend. A fun project and worth the effort. The recipe comes from http://www.kumquatgrowers.com/morerecipes.html (kumquat chips)

Recipe:
Kumquats (1 pint or more)
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

1. Combine sugar & water and heat to make a simple syrup (ie, until all sugar is dissolved). Remove from heat & set aside.
2. Remove any stem remnants and cut an X in the stem end of each kumquat. (I sliced about halfway down the kumquat.)
3. Place kumquats in medium saucepan, cover with water and boil. Remove from heat, drain & let cool.
4. Remove the pulp from each kumquat, cutting the rind more if necessary. (I found a paring knife easily scraped the pulp from the rind.) Discard the pulp.
5. Bring simple syrup to a boil and add the rinds. Boil for 10 minutes, then remove from heat, cover and allow to sit overnight.
6. The next morning, boil again for 20 minutes.
7. Place rinds on a sheet of wax paper to cool & dry. I made addition cuts to each rind so it lay in a flat X (sort of resembling Cingular's old logo). If you have a fine screen rack, this might be preferable to wax paper. Reserve the kumquat-flavored syrup for use in drinks, desserts, etc.
8. After the rinds have cooled & dried for a couple hours (but while they're still sticky), dredge in sugar and return to dry.
9. The rinds will take about 24 hours to completely dry, if you can keep from eating them.

Note: I think this recipe would be good for kumquats that are little under-ripe or not as sweet as you'd like them to be. Boiling in syrup and dredging in sugar will get rid of any remaining bitterness!

Every time I've gone into Fox & Obel recently (even three days ago), they've had kumquats. Silly me - I didn't buy any. I've committed to making a recipe requiring kumquats tomorrow (yes, I've tried subbing other citrus; no, it's not as good). Any ideas where I can get some? I'm desperate. They'll be candied, so even mediocre ones are OK.

Whole Foods (Kingsbury) and Whole Foods (Gold Coast) say no, as does F&O and the River North TJs. I'm calling Treasure Island right now.

pamiam wrote:Every time I've gone into Fox & Obel recently (even three days ago), they've had kumquats. Silly me - I didn't buy any. I've committed to making a recipe requiring kumquats tomorrow (yes, I've tried subbing other citrus; no, it's not as good). Any ideas where I can get some? I'm desperate. They'll be candied, so even mediocre ones are OK.

Whole Foods (Kingsbury) and Whole Foods (Gold Coast) say no, as does F&O and the River North TJs. I'm calling Treasure Island right now.

I've seen them consistently for months (though I didn't look last week) at Pete's Fresh Market at Cermak and Western. I've also seen them frequently at the South Loop Whole Foods.

Try an Asian market. I suppose the closest area to downtown would be Argyle...but I've seen them at H-Mart, Fresh Farms (they're not loose there, but packed in boxes) They do seem to be seasonal - from what I read the season is Dec-June, so we're right at the end of it...

I have been buying them at Treasure Island and they have been super this last couple of weeks. They are kept up by the scales. Let us know what you are making and how it turns out!

Thanks, all, for your quick replies. The Treasure Island near Clark/Division had them (the secret one in the 680 building and the one on Wells did not).

I was making this epicurious recipe, which is a super-simple and tasty duck preparation (basically, keep adding liquids and reducing sauce until you're done - doesn't take much minding). The times suggested for reduction are way off (especially the final one), but the final product is great. I made it once with some other small citrus fruit, and the rind didn't absorb the sugar syrup nearly as nicely as the kumquats did, making them not the most pleasant to eat.

I also cut off some of the excess fat and render it prior to searing the breasts, so I can toss some potatoes in it and roast them with S&P and rosemary. Duck, potatoes, and a simple green salad - great lunch/dinner. Bread for sopping the sauce is also a must.