Kumquats – The Winter Wonder

In the season of Christmas chocolates and cloying sweet treats, how wonderful is the kumquat.

Bite sized, tangy and sweet.  Good eaten out of hand, but better when they’re candied.

And they’re in season in the dead of winter.

My first choice for the fruit from our backyard tree.

Candied Kumquats

2 cups of  roughly chopped kumquats (1/2 – 3/4 lb)

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. sugar

Chop fruit and discard easily extracted seeds.

Bring water and sugar to a boil over high heat. Simmer for 4 minutes.

Add kumquats and simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain the kumquats in a sieve over a bowl or glass measuring cup.

Return syrup to pan and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Top the kumquats  with 2 tablespoons of the reduced syrup.

Serve over ice cream, custard, tapioca pudding, or ???

In keeping with my campaign against gratuitous sugar, I reduced the ratio of sugar in the syrup for this treatment.  Only a bit of the reduced syrup goes over the poached fruit.

I’m looking for other uses for the remaining kumquat syrup.

  • Sweeten coffee or tea
  • Glaze for ham
  • Replace white sugar in puddings or muffins

I added some of the left over syrup to the pan juices from roasting pears…yum and double yum.