Candied Kumquats or Meyer Lemons Recipe (2024)

By Cathy Barrow

Candied Kumquats or Meyer Lemons Recipe (1)

Total Time
1 hour, plus steeping overnight
Rating
5(290)
Notes
Read community notes

Featured in: Giving an Odd Little Fruit a Sweet Lift

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Ingredients

Yield:1 to 1½ pints

  • 1pint kumquats or 4 Meyer lemons
  • cups sugar

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (1.25 servings)

1183 calories; 3 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 297 grams carbohydrates; 23 grams dietary fiber; 273 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 38 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Candied Kumquats or Meyer Lemons Recipe (2)

Preparation

  1. Step

    1

    In a small saucepan, cover the fruit with cold water and bring to a boil. Drain. Cover the fruit with cold water and bring to a boil again. Drain and set aside.

  2. In the same saucepan, combine 1 cup water and the sugar, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

  3. Step

    3

    Pierce each piece of fruit 2 or 3 times with a paring knife. Drop the fruit into the sugar syrup and continue to simmer for 15 minutes for kumquats or 20 minutes for lemons.

  4. Step

    4

    Remove from heat and leave the fruit steeping in the syrup unrefrigerated for 8 hours or overnight.

  5. Step

    5

    Bring the syrup and fruit to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Cool and store in a glass jar. Fruit and syrup will keep in the refrigerator for 3 months.

Ratings

5

out of 5

290

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

PeppaD.

I'm picking kumquats off a tree. How much does one pint of kumquats weigh? This information would also be useful for scaling.

jamdef

Delicious as a dessert canapé served with pineapple and macerated with Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano. Serve with lemon sorbet, ice cream or in pastry cups/on wafers.

Janice

My kumquats look a little sad, but they taste delicious. And the syrup they cooked in? That's amazing.

I've been using these as edible decoration with an almond cake, and drizzling the syrup over the cake. Then I top with a little yogurt for some tart contrast. It's very, very tasty.

Left Coast Cook

There's a link below to an NYT article ... "Before serving, halve, chop or slice the fruit and pluck out the seeds.Candied kumquats can be diced and dribbled over yogurt, warmed and spooned over ice cream, or chopped and added to bread pudding. Pair them with avocado, dice them to add to a vinaigrette with a dash of mustard, or try them as the start of a sauce for pork or duck." Honestly, I just ate mine whole and dealt with the seeds as one does with a seeded grape. They're really good.

Claire B.

I love kumquats and this wonderful recipe ensures I always have them on hand. The syrup is heaven, and this is great for co*cktails, with seltzer, over ice cream and yogurt...even with savory dishes. I tend to stick to the recipe ingredients in the spring/summer (kumquats, sugar, water). In the winter I add cinnamon sticks, star anise and whole cloves to the pot. Heaven.

Juliet

I've made this exactly according to the recipe, with kumquats from my little tree. (They were smaller than grocery store ones.) It turned out very well, and here's what I do with it: I add one kumquat plus a small amount of syrup to a Manhattan co*cktail. FABULOUS!

Bonnie

Very beautiful and glossy result - wish I could post a photo. I used a little less sugar. About 1 cup per 2 cups of kumquats and hope this doesn't affect its longevity. I re-used the water I boiled the kumquats by putting it in the fridge to cool down the kumquat water because I didn't want to lose that flavor. Am curious next time about introducing herbs or heat to the jam. Thinking this will pair very well w/ scones.

CPD

I'm disappointed that the fruit went all mushy even though super-fresh, lots of indentation & some ruptures from the initial boil. Ill be making this into a Cremonese mostarda, which involves making the syrup a bit thicker, then adding liquid senape (highly concentrated horseradish essence not available in USA, sold in Italy in pharmacies only) to make it extremely hot, then "canning" it in glass jars. I left in some kumquat leaves and added some miniature green lemons and tinymandarins. Lovely

HBF

made this with approximately double the kumquats, and included a few cloves in the pot during step 3 and through the steeping. When cooled after 8 hours I pitted them, removed the cloves and used an immersion blender to 'chunk' them. I'm hoping this will work well mixed in with our steel cut oats tomorrow AM.

MexicoCooks

I like them with a pavlova--part kumquats and part clementines.

francesca

Made exactly as written and it came out very well. We eat them over yogurt or a plain cake or right out of the jar…so happy to have found a way to preserve the bounty my tree produces.

PGM

Total fail for me using Meyer Lemons, fresh off my neighbors tree. I followed the recipe, but these things just looked wrinkled and nasty, and they tasted nasty as a result. The pith was still pithy, and the flesh was just mush. I think one issue is the larger lemons want to float. I debated rigging a way to keep them submerged. You need a lot more liquid than this recipe calls for, but I scaled it up to make enough to cover still. I dunno.I'll stick to my candied peel recipe next time.

Juliet

I've made this exactly according to the recipe, with kumquats from my little tree. (They were smaller than grocery store ones.) It turned out very well, and here's what I do with it: I add one kumquat plus a small amount of syrup to a Manhattan co*cktail. FABULOUS!

Grace

Anyone tried this with calamondin? I have a million of them and I’m looking for a way to use and preserve them

Barbara Dunn

While this recipe isn't for canning, I'm adding a note of support for going one step further and canning this fruit. Recipes for canned kumquats are hard to come by and preparation of this fruit due to seed removal is very time-intensive. I suppose leaving seeds in your kumquat marmalade would work but somehow spreading seeds on ones English Muffin seems a bit unappetizing? Maybe I will rethink leaving in the seeds for it would really increase the jars I would can.

Lucila

Or maybe it's just easier to pick the seeds out once the marmalade has been spread on the English Muffin. Like pearls from an oyster!

ElleG

How do you prep your Meyer lemons? The ones from my tree are the size of big oranges.

CPD

I'm disappointed that the fruit went all mushy even though super-fresh, lots of indentation & some ruptures from the initial boil. Ill be making this into a Cremonese mostarda, which involves making the syrup a bit thicker, then adding liquid senape (highly concentrated horseradish essence not available in USA, sold in Italy in pharmacies only) to make it extremely hot, then "canning" it in glass jars. I left in some kumquat leaves and added some miniature green lemons and tinymandarins. Lovely

Yujun

I tried a pitted version recently and it was amazing. Wondering if I should pit them after I boil them in water, or I should pit them after they are thoroughly cooked.

MexicoCooks

I like them with a pavlova--part kumquats and part clementines.

Kate

What to do about the seeds? Do you remove at some point?

Left Coast Cook

There's a link below to an NYT article ... "Before serving, halve, chop or slice the fruit and pluck out the seeds.Candied kumquats can be diced and dribbled over yogurt, warmed and spooned over ice cream, or chopped and added to bread pudding. Pair them with avocado, dice them to add to a vinaigrette with a dash of mustard, or try them as the start of a sauce for pork or duck." Honestly, I just ate mine whole and dealt with the seeds as one does with a seeded grape. They're really good.

Dawn

How long do you boil for? Steps 1 and 2

Claire B.

I love kumquats and this wonderful recipe ensures I always have them on hand. The syrup is heaven, and this is great for co*cktails, with seltzer, over ice cream and yogurt...even with savory dishes. I tend to stick to the recipe ingredients in the spring/summer (kumquats, sugar, water). In the winter I add cinnamon sticks, star anise and whole cloves to the pot. Heaven.

PeppaD.

I'm picking kumquats off a tree. How much does one pint of kumquats weigh? This information would also be useful for scaling.

Carrie

I used kumquats that had been squeezed of their juice and the skin saved in freezer. I dropped in one whole meyer lemon to the fray. The liquid still is soupy and not glazy yet. Hoping tomorrow brings a lovely tasty treat.

CC

Is the liquid supposed to cover the fruit while steeping for 8 hours? If so do you add more liquid for Meyer lemons?

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Candied Kumquats or Meyer Lemons Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you take the bitterness out of kumquats? ›

(**) At this stage, if you are worried that the kumquats are too bitter, boil some water in a pan. Add the kumquats, boil for 1 minute, then drain. Repeat. This should get rid of any bitterness, and then continue with the recipe.

What does candied kumquats taste like? ›

The flavour is quite pronounced – you need to like oranges – and a little reminiscent of marmalade. And if you are a little freaked out by the idea of eating the skin of an orange, fret not. These kumquats keep their shape, but area wonderfully soft and seem to melt in the mouth as you eat them.

What is a good substitute for kumquats? ›

The ideal replacement for kumquats is another small citrus fruit called a calamondin or calamansi. The small calamondin fruits are actually a hybrid of kumquat and mandarin orange, and they feature a fragrant skin and sweet/sour fruit.

What to do with sour kumquats? ›

You can use them on salads, pork, chicken, cheesecakes, or even with chocolate ice cream. Or you can do what I do, which is to sneak a couple out of the fridge and just eat them straight.

How do you neutralize lemon bitterness? ›

This type of bitterness by the way can be counteracted with a small amount of salt. If your lemon dish is still bitter after cooking, add sweetened whipped cream or ice cream to the dessert. You can also add 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey, syrup or sugar to a lemon sauce, marmalade, vinaigrette etc.

What neutralizes bitter taste? ›

Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal. Saltiness: Salt plays two very important roles in flavouring a dish. Firstly, it balances against bitterness.

What fruit is mistaken for kumquat? ›

Well, you look like one! Loquats, also known as a Japanese apricot or plum, are in the Rosaceae family, the same as apples, pears, peaches and nectarines. Kumquats, however, are a citrus fruit — think of them as the smaller, tarter version of an orange.

Are you supposed to eat the peel of a kumquat? ›

Kumquats are best eaten whole — unpeeled. Their sweet flavor actually comes from the peel, while their juice is tart. The only caveat is that if you're allergic to the peel of common citrus fruits, you may need to pass up kumquats. If the tart juice turns you off, you can squeeze it out before eating the fruit.

Are kumquats safe to eat raw? ›

Kumquats are rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, and dietary fiber. They can be eaten raw or cooked in various dishes.

Why are kumquats expensive? ›

The 1950 census listed 180 acres of kumquats in Florida, just one in California. But starting in the late 1960s, increased Asian immigration to California spurred demand and prices for kumquats.

Do kumquats taste like lemons? ›

So, what do kumquats taste like? Kumquats have a similar taste profile to oranges, but with a special kick − the skin of the fruit tastes sweet, and the inside is tart. There are now several varieties of kumquats. You can also enjoy limequats (lime-kumquat hybrid) and sunquats (lemon-kumquat hybrid).

Are kumquats like lemons? ›

Unlike other citrus fruits, the skin and flesh are both edible; surprisingly, the skin is sweeter than the flesh (compared to the bitter white pith found in lemons and oranges). Kumquats are closer in size and shape to a lime or large olive than an orange or grapefruit.

What liquor is made from kumquats? ›

Bright and sweet-tangy ripe kumquat makes the beautiful liqueur in very easy steps.

What are the side effects of kumquats? ›

Additionally, kumquats are very high in fiber. While this is definitely beneficial in terms of health, increasing your fiber intake too quickly can lead to unwanted side effects, such as bloating, cramps and diarrhea.

Can I freeze whole kumquats? ›

Fresh kumquats can be frozen whole, sliced, or as a puree, depending on the intended use. They are a versatile citrus fruit that can enhance various dishes with their bright citrus notes.

How do you get rid of bitter taste fast? ›

Easy Ways to Reduce Bitter Taste in Any Food
  1. 1 Balance out bitterness with some fat.
  2. 2 Cover the flavor with sweetness.
  3. 3 Sprinkle some salt over your food.
  4. 4 Try a pinch of baking soda.
  5. 5 Squeeze in some vinegar or lemon juice.
  6. 6 Add some spice to your foods.
  7. 7 Cook with herbs to cut through the bitter taste.

Does vinegar help bitter taste? ›

Add A Splash Of Vinegar

One of the best foils for bitter flavors are acidic ingredients, like citrus juices or vinegars. Their sharp tang counteracts bitter flavors without having to add extra sugar.

How do you make fruit less bitter? ›

This salt trick can be applied to any fruit that tastes bitter or sour, whether it's oranges that aren't at their best, underripe kiwi or berries, or even just a tart green apple. A light salt sprinkle will allow you to perceive sweetness instead of bitterness or sourness.

How do you counteract bitter oranges? ›

(and other citrus fruit) if you have to cook them in a. recipe, boil them submerged (which is why I have the. bowl and cast iron dish on top) in water and 1 tsp salt.

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