Our next door neighbors have three HUGE kumquat trees.
The sight from my kitchen window of those trees laden with fruit day after day is enough to make this Canner's heart burst with envy.
With the baby on the way and school in full swing, I hadn't had the time to do anything with a bag full of kumquats, so I never went over and asked to harvest any.
It was obvious that they weren't going to be doing anything with the fruit as it had been on the tree for months and months untouched! It was driving me mad!
So, while my mother in law was down for a visit this week, I seized the chance to grab some fruit (ok, my husband and MIL actually went to grab it... I was feeding the baby!) and give candied kumquats a chance.
I found this recipe and thought it looked easy enough, though I did make a few modifications...
The result was a tart, yet sweet citrus explosion of flavor that made me long for Christmas.
There was also a surprise twist in the end... when I went to drain the juice from the kumquats, I found that the fruit had caused a jelly reaction to take place and I ended up with 2 full cups of kumquat jelly!
I have to say that the jelly is far better than the candied fruit (though the fruit is quite tasty). The jelly has all the robust flavor of the kumquats without the tart ZING at the top.
Either way, both of these products are going to be making an appearance at my house during Christmas.
I'm thinking the candied fruit will go great with a Christmas ham!
Ingredients
- 8 Cups Halved Kumquats
- 4 Cups Sugar
- 2 Cups Water
- 1 TBS Vanilla Extract
- 2 TBS Pumpkin Pie Spice
Instructions
- Remove stems and wash fruit with produce wash of your choice.
- DO NOT PEEL.
- Cut in half. Remove seeds if you choose (I didn't and they turned out great).
- Bring a water, spices, vanilla, and sugar to boil in a large pot. Boil for 4 minutes.
- Add fruit to syrup and boil for 20 minutes on medium/high.
- Fruit will gradually become more and more translucent, but will not go all the way clear.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, seperate fruit from jelly over a bowl. Make sure you save the jelly and don't just pour it down the drain!
- Allow both mixtures to cool before scooping them into the lidded jars of your choice. Here is the finished candied fruit...
And then the bonus jelly! - Enjoy!
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