April Abundance: Kumquats & Loquats

With kumquat season starting to wind down and Loquat season just starting to pick up, the recent Spring Equinox—or as I like to call it: the Spring Equatnox (sorry)—is a great reminder to enjoy these two notoriously underutilized (and not actually related!) fruits.

Kumquats: perfect for a not-too-sweet marmalade or liqueur

The great thing about Kumquat trees is that they produce a lot of fruit in a small footprint. But if you have a larger tree, it can be hard to know what to do with all that citrus.

One member of our team decided to use/preserve as much of their fruit as possible by making and canning multiple batches of kumquat marmalade. (For efficiency sake, she recommends scaling this recipe to 3 lbs of kumquats, which yields about 9 half-pint jars.) She has since canned approximately 35(!) half-pint jars of marmalade and plans to gift them to friends and family throughout the year.

Another great preservation/gift idea? One of our clients told us they make kumquat infused vodka or kumquat liqueur. Yum!

Loquats: a springtime swap for stone fruit, or a refreshing frozen treat

Once you know what a Loquat looks like, you will start to see these trees all over Los Angeles—not just in people’s yards, but on publicly accessible sidewalks as well. So, you don’t even need to have your own loquat tree to get your fill of this delicious fruit!

Loquat tree with fruit ripe for the picking!

Closely related to apples and pears, loquats taste like a combination of apricot, mango, and citrus and are best enjoyed when they reach a warm orange color. Loquats don’t store or travel all that well (which is why they look so sad if you ever see them at a farmer’s market), so your best bet is to eat or cook/bake with them fresh off the tree. Loquats are great in pies, cakes, crumbles, or any other baked goods that call for peaches, plums, apricots, apples, or pears. (This loquat cardamom jam also sounds amazing.)

But if you can’t use all your ripe loquats right away, loquats do freeze exceptionally well, which allows you to store and use them later on. In fact, frozen loquats (similar to frozen grapes) make an exceptional snack on a hot day or after a long workout. To freeze, simply slice them open to remove their large seeds and store the flesh in an airtight container in the freezer.

What do you like to make with your abundance of ‘quats? Share on Instagram and tag @Fruitstitute so we can see!