Nice looking fruit. My Nagami is the seedless variety; beautiful to look at and everyone SAYS they like them; but almost no one eats them. Last year I harvested a bunch and made a marmalade with a little Meyer rind included and an apple for pectin (removed at the end). It was quite amazing; but since no one in my household eats marmalade I gave it to a local chef known for his creativity.

That's great Jinny! My first taste of a kumquat I wanted to spit it out - unlike you, I just popped the whole thing in my mouth. However, after the initial sour shock, the sweetness of the peel kicked in and I enjoyed it. We had friends over today and they both got to taste one. Surprisingly, they liked it. My 7 year old daughter LOVES them. She eats several a day as they ripen. It's a good thing I have many at various stages of ripeness. They should last her a while. What culinary uses besides jam can you think of?

I am glad to hear of your kumquat tree success. My kumquats came in at half ripe and were very good tasting. The oils carry and enrich the rest of the fruits flavor.

6b Steve

Yeah mine were quite a shock to the system that's for sure! Very assertive shall we say? I still make sure to eat every one of em with the amount of work I put in growing them. ;)

IMHO there are good reasons why kumquats are grown mostly as ornamentals. I have one, just to say I have one; but they do make a pretty good marmalade, IF you have a seedless variety; if not, just removing the seeds to me is more work than the final product is worth.

I'm excited to get my seedless variety this summer John. It's on order already.

Thank you everyone!

Laura, I will definitely be making marmalade with the ripe fruit. I would also make different variations of salsa for tacos and to put on seafood and chicken dishes. I have a dehydrator so I wonder how they would taste dried as a snack? The flavor would be more concentrated. Also, I would grill the fruit (after taking out seeds) along with some cherry tomatoes. Toss them in a salad or as a topping for grilled pizza. So many possibilities.

John, I manually pit baskets full of sour cherries by hand with a bobby pin, so I would have no problem taking the seeds out of the kumquats to make some delicious marmalade. :) Sometimes it takes a a bit of work to get the delicious rewards, and I am not afraid of work. :)

Hobby, I had my eye on the seedless variety at Four Winds earlier this year, but I read that you need to keep it separate from the other citrus otherwise you might still get seeds?

Jinny, I added a few kumquats to my calamondin marmalade. They have fewer seeds than calamondins for sure. I did not mind picking them out. You probably know this, but I did not till JohnM mentioned it. If you take all the seeds and put them in cheesecloth (I used gauze cause it's all I had) and cook them in the marmalade, they provide the pectin. I did it and it congealed beautifully. I also am trying to sprout a few for fun, but nothing yet. Those are great ideas for other uses. I really want a meiwa one now! I'd like to know more about the seedless ones and if they have to be isolated. That would not work for me - my bees loved the kumquat flowers.

One more idea: my girls were watching Chopped today and ran to get me bc one of the ingredients was blood oranges. One of the chefs sliced them and fried the slices. He then finely chopped them and used them for garnish. They got rave reviews. That would probably work well for kumquats since the peel is sweet.

Laura, I saw the episode too!!! I was very excited as well to see them on the show!!

jinny, congrats on getting to enjoy your first kumquat! There is something special about enjoying a tree's first fruit.

I think you will be even more thrilled when you get your meiwa going. I'm actually a little surprised at the popularity of the nagami since the meiwa is so much tastier (my not so humble opinion). The meiwa peel and meat is sweet. We certainly have a place for sour citrus but, for eating off the tree, the meiwa seems like a no-brainer.

The seeds are the most difficult thing about cooking with kumquats. They are edible but the green pith looks strange in the orange pure' and the hulls on the seeds are a nuisance. The seeds don't all occupy the center slice zone so I make three slices to find all the seeds. If you plan to make a pie, slice a few of your nicest kumquats in 1/8th-inch rounds with a good sharp knife, remove the seed remnants, and refrigerate the rounds in sugar for a few days. Dig the round pieces out of the sugar, blot dry with a paper towel and garnish the top of your pie. There is a nice photo at the kumquatgrowers website where I grabbed the recipe below.

You asked about other ways to use kumquats. Here is a really tasty recipe from the kumquatgrowers website:

Kumquat Refrigerator Pie

• 1 baked pie crust, 9 "
• 1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip whipped topping (I make my own whipped cream)
• 2/3 cup pureed Kumquats
• 1 can condensed milk
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Beat condensed milk and whipped topping. Add lemon juice and beat until thickened. Add pureed kumquats, pour in pie shell and chill in refrigerator for several hours.

Kumquat Puree Preparation

Wash fruit, cut in half and remove seeds. Place in blender or food chopper (A blender makes a finer puree). Do not cook. Use puree in recipes as called for or freeze in zip-lock bags or other freezer containers. Frozen kumquat puree can be stored for six months or more. When you use frozen puree .. defrost and drain the excess liquid before using.

Just to add plenty of room for discussion on the merits and de-merits of kumquat edibility, I agree with johnmerr on the edibility of the nagami and on the difficulty of de-seeding kumquats in general but I have found the meiwa to be mostly sweet and with a tiny sour finish. I made a reference to the sweet kumquat (meiwa) a number of years ago and a member from California disagreed that even the meiwa could be considered sweet....I forget her name..(I found it..Patty S.)...she was VERY knowledgeable and I miss her presence. Certainly we know the growing conditions influence the flavor of the fruit but I was surprised it would vary enough to render the meiwa a sour fruit.

I nibble the delicious peels. Fresh from the tree is absolutely the best. Try and let them ripen to the full sweetness..........ok, that's hard to do but patience pays off. And what beautiful trees they are as well as giving all the delicious fruit. The perfume of the flowers is reason enough to grow it. When my trees were small enough, I would bring them in for holiday parties or birthdays. Wonderful, wonderful plants.

John, thank you for the Kumquat pie recipe. It sounds amazing and when I have enough ripe fruit, I will definitely give it a try. I absolutely loved the Nagami Kumquat fruit, minus the bitter after taste. Lol. But then again, I will pick handfuls of sour Montmorency cherries off of our tree and eat them fresh. If you pick them when they are fully ripe, they are not that sour, just not as sweet as sweet cherries.

Kitty, I agree, the kumquats are wonderful plants, and the blossoms smell wonderful! .. :)

Laura, your Calamondin Kumquat Marmalade sounds delicious! I missed that Chopped episode, but the fried Blood Orange sounds interesting. ..

Look at the snow coming down! It is definitely a Winter Wonderland outside at this moment. So thankful to have my beautiful citrus in the sunroom to enjoy when I come in from the cold. ♡♡

For me that is just unnecessarily frozen water.... Brrrrr!

Now that you're getting your kumquats you can stop shouting and waving your cane around the store.

Embothrium, here is what you are talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5AjSGrZbxw

I've never seen that Vladimir! My girls and I enjoyed it!

Nice snow shot....is there a way to have the beauty but not the cold? I'm already looking forward to spring and I'm in 9a...what a whimp I am!