By Cathy Barrow
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus steeping overnight
- Rating
- 5(290)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Featured in: Giving an Odd Little Fruit a Sweet Lift
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:1 to 1½ pints
- 1pint kumquats or 4 Meyer lemons
- 1½cups sugar
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (1.25 servings)
1183 calories; 3 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 297 grams carbohydrates; 23 grams dietary fiber; 273 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 38 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
In a small saucepan, cover the fruit with cold water and bring to a boil. Drain. Cover the fruit with cold water and bring to a boil again. Drain and set aside.
Step
2
In the same saucepan, combine 1 cup water and the sugar, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Step
3
Pierce each piece of fruit 2 or 3 times with a paring knife. Drop the fruit into the sugar syrup and continue to simmer for 15 minutes for kumquats or 20 minutes for lemons.
Step
4
Remove from heat and leave the fruit steeping in the syrup unrefrigerated for 8 hours or overnight.
Step
5
Bring the syrup and fruit to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Cool and store in a glass jar. Fruit and syrup will keep in the refrigerator for 3 months.
Ratings
5
out of 5
290
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
PeppaD.
I'm picking kumquats off a tree. How much does one pint of kumquats weigh? This information would also be useful for scaling.
jamdef
Delicious as a dessert canapé served with pineapple and macerated with Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano. Serve with lemon sorbet, ice cream or in pastry cups/on wafers.
Janice
My kumquats look a little sad, but they taste delicious. And the syrup they cooked in? That's amazing.
I've been using these as edible decoration with an almond cake, and drizzling the syrup over the cake. Then I top with a little yogurt for some tart contrast. It's very, very tasty.
Left Coast Cook
There's a link below to an NYT article ... "Before serving, halve, chop or slice the fruit and pluck out the seeds.Candied kumquats can be diced and dribbled over yogurt, warmed and spooned over ice cream, or chopped and added to bread pudding. Pair them with avocado, dice them to add to a vinaigrette with a dash of mustard, or try them as the start of a sauce for pork or duck." Honestly, I just ate mine whole and dealt with the seeds as one does with a seeded grape. They're really good.
Claire B.
I love kumquats and this wonderful recipe ensures I always have them on hand. The syrup is heaven, and this is great for co*cktails, with seltzer, over ice cream and yogurt...even with savory dishes. I tend to stick to the recipe ingredients in the spring/summer (kumquats, sugar, water). In the winter I add cinnamon sticks, star anise and whole cloves to the pot. Heaven.
Juliet
I've made this exactly according to the recipe, with kumquats from my little tree. (They were smaller than grocery store ones.) It turned out very well, and here's what I do with it: I add one kumquat plus a small amount of syrup to a Manhattan co*cktail. FABULOUS!
Bonnie
Very beautiful and glossy result - wish I could post a photo. I used a little less sugar. About 1 cup per 2 cups of kumquats and hope this doesn't affect its longevity. I re-used the water I boiled the kumquats by putting it in the fridge to cool down the kumquat water because I didn't want to lose that flavor. Am curious next time about introducing herbs or heat to the jam. Thinking this will pair very well w/ scones.
CPD
I'm disappointed that the fruit went all mushy even though super-fresh, lots of indentation & some ruptures from the initial boil. Ill be making this into a Cremonese mostarda, which involves making the syrup a bit thicker, then adding liquid senape (highly concentrated horseradish essence not available in USA, sold in Italy in pharmacies only) to make it extremely hot, then "canning" it in glass jars. I left in some kumquat leaves and added some miniature green lemons and tinymandarins. Lovely
HBF
made this with approximately double the kumquats, and included a few cloves in the pot during step 3 and through the steeping. When cooled after 8 hours I pitted them, removed the cloves and used an immersion blender to 'chunk' them. I'm hoping this will work well mixed in with our steel cut oats tomorrow AM.
MexicoCooks
I like them with a pavlova--part kumquats and part clementines.
francesca
Made exactly as written and it came out very well. We eat them over yogurt or a plain cake or right out of the jar…so happy to have found a way to preserve the bounty my tree produces.
PGM
Total fail for me using Meyer Lemons, fresh off my neighbors tree. I followed the recipe, but these things just looked wrinkled and nasty, and they tasted nasty as a result. The pith was still pithy, and the flesh was just mush. I think one issue is the larger lemons want to float. I debated rigging a way to keep them submerged. You need a lot more liquid than this recipe calls for, but I scaled it up to make enough to cover still. I dunno.I'll stick to my candied peel recipe next time.
Juliet
I've made this exactly according to the recipe, with kumquats from my little tree. (They were smaller than grocery store ones.) It turned out very well, and here's what I do with it: I add one kumquat plus a small amount of syrup to a Manhattan co*cktail. FABULOUS!
Grace
Anyone tried this with calamondin? I have a million of them and I’m looking for a way to use and preserve them
Barbara Dunn
While this recipe isn't for canning, I'm adding a note of support for going one step further and canning this fruit. Recipes for canned kumquats are hard to come by and preparation of this fruit due to seed removal is very time-intensive. I suppose leaving seeds in your kumquat marmalade would work but somehow spreading seeds on ones English Muffin seems a bit unappetizing? Maybe I will rethink leaving in the seeds for it would really increase the jars I would can.
Lucila
Or maybe it's just easier to pick the seeds out once the marmalade has been spread on the English Muffin. Like pearls from an oyster!
ElleG
How do you prep your Meyer lemons? The ones from my tree are the size of big oranges.
CPD
I'm disappointed that the fruit went all mushy even though super-fresh, lots of indentation & some ruptures from the initial boil. Ill be making this into a Cremonese mostarda, which involves making the syrup a bit thicker, then adding liquid senape (highly concentrated horseradish essence not available in USA, sold in Italy in pharmacies only) to make it extremely hot, then "canning" it in glass jars. I left in some kumquat leaves and added some miniature green lemons and tinymandarins. Lovely
Yujun
I tried a pitted version recently and it was amazing. Wondering if I should pit them after I boil them in water, or I should pit them after they are thoroughly cooked.
MexicoCooks
I like them with a pavlova--part kumquats and part clementines.
Kate
What to do about the seeds? Do you remove at some point?
Left Coast Cook
There's a link below to an NYT article ... "Before serving, halve, chop or slice the fruit and pluck out the seeds.Candied kumquats can be diced and dribbled over yogurt, warmed and spooned over ice cream, or chopped and added to bread pudding. Pair them with avocado, dice them to add to a vinaigrette with a dash of mustard, or try them as the start of a sauce for pork or duck." Honestly, I just ate mine whole and dealt with the seeds as one does with a seeded grape. They're really good.
Dawn
How long do you boil for? Steps 1 and 2
Claire B.
I love kumquats and this wonderful recipe ensures I always have them on hand. The syrup is heaven, and this is great for co*cktails, with seltzer, over ice cream and yogurt...even with savory dishes. I tend to stick to the recipe ingredients in the spring/summer (kumquats, sugar, water). In the winter I add cinnamon sticks, star anise and whole cloves to the pot. Heaven.
PeppaD.
I'm picking kumquats off a tree. How much does one pint of kumquats weigh? This information would also be useful for scaling.
Carrie
I used kumquats that had been squeezed of their juice and the skin saved in freezer. I dropped in one whole meyer lemon to the fray. The liquid still is soupy and not glazy yet. Hoping tomorrow brings a lovely tasty treat.
CC
Is the liquid supposed to cover the fruit while steeping for 8 hours? If so do you add more liquid for Meyer lemons?
Private notes are only visible to you.