Kumquat marmalade is yummy but fiddly.

You could poke holes in them (I use a meat fork to poke all the way through from one side, then turn the kumquat 90degrees and poke through again to make 8 holes, then pack them into jars. Pour in sugar to cover, then fill with your favourite tipple (I use brandy). Cover with a screw on lid and let sit for a few weeks until the sugar is all dissolved and they've had time to mellow. You can turn the jars over every few days if you like.

Use as a grown up topping for good icecream :-)

If you don't poke the holes, the kumquats end up looking like giant orange raisins.

My great aunt used to make spiced whole preserved kumquats every year. Lots of results doing a search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=spreserved+kumquat+recipe&oq=spreserved+kumquat+recipe&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l2.8536j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Thanks!

Are they round or oval? The round ones are sweet and great eaten out of hand.

I guess they are roundish! :) I'm not at home right now but I think they were more round than oval.

Kumquat maramalade is divine but you need quarts of them. :)

The peels and pith are edible. You can cut them into couscous with other fruits and nuts, or put them in a braise with lamb or duck.

Try one when you get home. If it's round should be delicious.

I have a fantastic recipe, but it is not useful for you, because it's for 26 kumquats.[just kidding ;-) ].

You can look up a few recipes that uses Meyer lemons and substitute with kumquats.

Actually, if you decide to eat them fresh, you can eat the rind also. The rind is relatively mild.

dcarch

You can make a sorbet with them, and that way they will last longer. You can make this by pureeing cooked fruit, straining it, and adding a simple syrup, but you will still have to freeze it.

If you decide to puree them you should check for seeds first. IME about half the interior is seeds (which is what makes making marmalade a PITA).

As Colleen said, deseeding them is a PITA--but just handling them, cut, is painful if you have enough for marmalade. :) Your 25 probably don't matter, but if you do acquire quarts, wear food service gloves. They're acidic enough to be extremely painful! Or maybe that's the oval ones. :)

I've never had that problem, plllog. Maybe ours aren't so acidic. My late FIL and my best friend love/d kumquats, and I've made tons of marmalade, but never had the painful hands. Ours are very oval, even longer and narrower than green olives.

Here is a picture. I tasted one. No seeds or pits. Sweet and v-e-r-y tart. When I googled, one thing that came up was "They are particularly good in stuffings for poultry." I couldn't find a recipe but it just so happens that I'm cooking a turkey today along with stuffing. So... I will be chopping these up and putting them in. I like that the peel is edible so easy task to chop.

LOL dcarch. I actually have closer to about 22 it turns out. So the 26 recipe is right out! :)

We'll see how the stuffing turns out!

Kumquats are dearer to me than a good tangergine. I bought Reese's candied kumquats, jarred, every year for Joy of Cooking's Fruit Cake Cockaigne. When I moved here they looked at me as tho I was making up a product. About 10 years later the fresh one showed up. Hallelujah, I learned to candy them and our favorite white fruitcake was back. A distinctive flavor makes substitutions unsuccessful. Seems like their appearance at higher end grocery stores is very quick.

Lowspark, those are my favorites! Never thought to put them in a bird. Let us know how that goes. On my walk today I passed a tree that was loaded, but I think it was the sour kumquats.