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.
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?
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.
I must admit, I felt very proud of my little citrus crop!!
I rinsed the freshly plucked kumquats in cool water.
Then sliced them in half. Don’t worry about the seeds, they melt away {and I’m very citrus seed sensitive}.
Then tossed them in coarse salt. No measuring involved, just enough to coat the fruits.
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!
I sealed up the bag and put it in the freezer.
Then I caught my flight to go back to Eze, thinking, “kumquat may“…
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.
More on that and an incredible recipe from Marrakech coming up.
take care,
