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There's a lot to do with kumquats

Recipe: Simple, versatile kumquat sauce makes most of sweet-sour flavor

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 17, 2019

Easy kumquat sauce brightens up a dish of yogurt. The sauce also is good on chicken or pork chops. (Photo: Debbie Arrington) Debbie Arrington

Kumquats can be addictive. These little gems are made to eat in one bite, the sweet skin complementing the sour juice inside.

A symbol of good luck and prosperity, kumquats are a common gift during Chinese New Year. They also grow very well in Sacramento, making them a popular addition to backyard gardens. Varieties with rounder fruit tend to have higher cold tolerance.

Kumquats grow well in Sacramento. This tree

is at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center.
(Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Compact like their fruit, kumquat trees can produce abundant mini-citrus crops to brighten winter days. Like other citrus, kumquats can be as attractive as they are fruitful, a natural for edible ornamental landscapes. But unlike Meyer lemons or Washington navels, kumquats can be a puzzle.

What do you do with them? (Besides pop them in your mouth and spit out the seeds.) Embrace their yin-yang nature and make the most of their sweet-sour flavor.

Like a thin marmalade, this simple kumquat sauce can serve as both sweet and savory. With this sauce’s versatility, there’s a lot to do with kumquats.

Atop dessert, it contrasts with the richness of cheesecake, ice cream or pound cake. Add a couple of tablespoons to a smoothie for a jolt of kumquat flavor.

As a glaze on chicken, this sauce adds a caramelized citrus crust. At the table, it complements pork roast or chops. On Greek yogurt, it was simply delicious.

In a sealed jar, this sauce will keep at least a week in the refrigerator; up to a year in the freezer.

Slice the kumquats and remove the seeds.

(Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Simple kumquat sauce
Makes 2 to 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup kumquats, sliced and seeded (about 16 whole)
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
¼ cup orange liqueur or white wine

Instructions:

Gently wash kumquats, removing any stem. Slice crosswise, discarding seeds.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, water and liqueur or wine. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add kumquats.

Bring the ingredients to a boil,
then reduce heat and simmer.

Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until kumquats are tender and sauce reduces into a light syrup, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool. Serve warm or cold as dessert topping, over yogurt or as sauce for chicken or pork.

Note: This sauce will keep in the refrigerator at least one week.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes recipes sauces winter citrus gardening Sacramento kumquats backyard gardens produce management fruit trees winter fruit

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Garden Checklist for week of April 27

Once the clouds clear, get to work. Spring growth is in high gear.

* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash. Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.

* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

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