Cute as a Kumquat...

Kumquats, they’re just so darn cute! We have a little tree in a pot on our front porch and when it is full of fruit it just makes me smile. It just tries so hard, like one of the little kids who want to be just like the big kids.

This year we had a bumper crop of kumquats and I made a commitment to not let them go to waste…so I decided that I would can them, big surprise…I read a recipe in one of Alice Water’s cookbooks for candied kumquats that was quick and easy and something I might actually use. I have visions of making a lovely pound cake and drizzling some of the kumquats on top and maybe a little mascarpone too, it sounds pretty yummy to me. Well I set about the ‘slice off the end and remove the seeds’ part of the exercise, boy those things are pretty much filled with seeds, but it went pretty quickly. Then I put them in a small sauce pan and covered them with a 2:1 mix of water and sugar and I simmered them for about 10 minutes until they were soft. They fit just perfectly into three half pint jars. Unfortunately one of the jars broke while processing, but I can’t totally complain, since I’ve had an awfully long run of no breakage, so I guess I was due...Now the kumquats are looking very cute in their little jars, waiting for their next big adventure!