keeper of the kumquats

i always wanted a kumquat tree...

those perfectly little bright orange orbs that you can pop right into your mouth. bitter and bright. like a lemonorange piece of sunshine. a taste that stays with you for awhile.

i've even been know to sneak into people's yards to steal kumquats from their tree, trying not to get caught and have to give up my first born child or anything crucial like that.

their genus is fortunella. like me.

my life's most major decisions often revolve around split second assumptions of something that has always seemed to be true, then suddenly comes into existence. my beloved #1 kittie, toby dammit, came to me that way. i was buying a coffee and croissant one morning, and a tiny few-week old kitten was offered as a...you know...freebie. i thought, why not? tucked him into the pocket of my overalls and we were utterly bound together.

many good friendships i've had began with the immediate assumption that we've somehow always been good friends, and so... we are.

and, as i've mentioned: i always wanted a kumquat tree. maybe without exactly knowing it.

when i first walked up to my house (my first house, my sweet lover of a house, the one that keeps me safe at nights) the large kumquat tree in the front yard was at its fullest abundant bounty. instead of going into the house, i went right up to the kumquat tree and set one free.

walking through the front door, with the sharp flowery smell of the kumquat in my hand, i looked around and thought, "huh."

that's it. not love at first sight, not excited or nervous. not "ohmigod if i don't get this one i'll cry forever", just "huh."

the house was already mine, you see. the moment i stood there, i knew. i walked right into the kitchen, washed the kumquat in what was to be soon my everyday sink, and ate the little thing, seeds and all. somehow that little act of domesticity was all i needed. i was home.

some people believe they are keepers of cats, they feel a burning urge to help as many as possible. some people are collectors, casting themselves as the keeper of things and all their connections within. older people return to the past and experience themselves as keepers of "the good old days", time that will never be again, once they are gone.

holden caulfield wanted to catch the children and keep them from growing up too much too fast.

i...am the keeper of the kumquats.

for days now i have been harvesting scrubbing chopping seeding cooking baking foodprocessing kumquats.

i have made buckets of jam, kumquat bread, kumquat puree, and candied kumquats.

i had a girlfriend over and we both sliced kumquats for five hours until we went cross eyed and saw orange blobs wherever we looked.

all of the recipes i've found call for half a cup of kumquats puree, a pound of chopped kumquats. Ha! a pound is for pussies! what i need is a recipe that starts with a wheelbarrow of kumquats. because no matter how many i pick, there are still just as many on the tree.

endless.

i still adore my kumquat tree, i can't get enough of my own kumquat jam (suprisingly good on chicken...!) and no matter how the citrus juice burns every little puncture wound on my fingers from the thorns on the kumquat tree, it's all good. because i know my place in the world.

keeper of the kumquat tree.

(now will someone come over and help me eat all of them? please? no, seriously.)

Comments

[Maz]

Hi boo:

Can you ship kumquats? I have never had one before, and they sound super yummy!

From the land of no kumquats (but we do get lightning bugs (aka fireflies) in the summer....the land known as DC!

Miss ya - Maz

[Erik]

I love kumquats. I haven't had a kumquat in I-have-no-idea-how long. When I was in college, we had to do this "zoo exercise," where we studied one animal for months at the zoo and then had to be that animal for two hours at the end of the semester, and I was an orangutan, and one of the things that my orangutan loved to eat was kumquat, but he would eat his kumquat whole--like, he would even eat the skin--and so that's how I ate my kumquat for a while: whole, with the skin.

I want to try your kumquat jam sometime! I'm a big lover of jam, but I'm not sure that I've ever had kumquat jam. xo

[communicatrix]

Hmmm...I'll have to check to see if kumquats are SCD-legal. Maybe a kumquat chutney-n-chicken? Yuuuuum!

[Michael]

I just love the name. Kumquat. Kumquat. Kumquat. The pervy-est sounding fruit ever. That said, the idea of kumquat chutney is sheer genius! (BTW, the next time I'm in town, you're cooking dinner, Lily.)

[Diane]

I would love someone to send me the recipe for kumquat jam,bread or candy.......I'm going picking tomorrow as they are bountiful here in Florida now!:-)

[Diane]

I would love someone to send me the recipe for kumquat jam,bread or candy.......I'm going picking tomorrow as they are bountiful here in Florida now!:-)

[Diane]

In this recipe could you replace the water with some kind of juice?
recipe is best:

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
boil 5 minutes. add
1 quart fresh kumquats
simmer for 45 minutes. (you'll know when it's done)

you have to cut the kumquats in fourths first and
remove the seeds and as much of the white "tendons" as
possible. it's great on just about anything, but
especially good on chicken and pork roast.

[denizekin]

how can i make more kumquat trees as i have only one?
can anyone pls tell me?
i can not find any more, and wondering if there is anyway to produce on my own?
ty for your help

[Pat aka]

I love this. I laughed so hard I nearly wet myself. I have been up to my eyeballs in kumquats! I talked a friend into helping me pick a tree that was loaded. We got 1/3 of kumquats on tree. I talked my husband into helping me pick more the next day. My friend was to help me wash, and preserve them but ended up having company for two weeks. (at least that was her excuse.) I have been at it for two weeks now. I have given jam to everybody I know. They now hide when they see me coming. I have even given them to people I see in restaurants (I've started carrying them in my car!) I have eaten so many of them that everything else goes right through me! My next thought is to take the fresh ones to the Zoo. (I live in Gulf Shores, Alabama close to the Little Zoo that Could) I understand that some animals love kumquats. I am really thinking about picking the rest of the tree. Please, please help me. I need a support group!!!