What to do with a kumquat crop (grown or purchased)…

When the weather warmed I moved the kumquat tree outdoors, keeping it close to the windows so it could gain a little reflective heat. As the fruits became consistently bright orange, plump and soft I started wondering what should I do with this little crop. They were great to snack on straight from the tree, but there was a lot of fruit and I didn’t want it to go to waste. That precious tree had worked too hard for that.

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Kumquat tree

I thought about candied kumquats {boil them in sugar}, dried kumquats {would that work}?, I was also thinking about preserving them, in salt, as I’ve preserved lemons and limes in the past and they turned out splendidly. But, what would kumquats taste like, I wondered?

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Kumquats in the Pacific Northwest

A flight back to France finally forced me into action. The morning of my flight I went into a hurried harvest mode. By the way, many grocery stores and Trader Joe’s usually offer kumquats this time of year.

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Kumquats in a colander

I must admit, I felt very proud of my little citrus crop!!

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Kumquats in a colander

I rinsed the freshly plucked kumquats in cool water.

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Kumquats in a colander

Then sliced them in half. Don’t worry about the seeds, they melt away {and I’m very citrus seed sensitive}.

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Kumquat halves

Then tossed them in coarse salt. No measuring involved, just enough to coat the fruits.

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Kumquats in salt

I stirred them around in a large reusable silicone bag <-<-<- I LOVE these bags, they are so handy for food storage and so much more!

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kumquats in salt

I sealed up the bag and put it in the freezer.

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Preserving kumquats

Then I caught my flight to go back to Eze, thinking, “kumquat may“…

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Flying back to Eze

Weeks later, after I returned home, I rinsed the salt off of the tender little kumquats and packed them into jars of olive oil along with some pinches of saffron and they looked beautiful. But, guess what?

They taste even better.

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Kumquats preserved in olive oil with saffron

More on that and an incredible recipe from Marrakech coming up.

take care,

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