It may or may not be a strange fruit, but in my life I have never had a kumquat. So I bought a plastic tub of them tonight at Whole Foods:
After my scrumptious “home cooked” meal, I popped the lid off and washed them. Then I read the label: “Edible skin and tart pulp.”
Great! So, after working up the courage, I held it to my mouth:
And I took a bite:
Yowza! That thing is tart! And it sort of tastes like biting into the skin of an orange. And yet it’s sweet. Though tart tart tart. Lemony and orangey and bittery but good.
Lauren disagreed.
“Blech!” she said, spitting hers out into the sink. “It tastes like pesticide.”
To each his own, I suppose. But now my mouth hurts—it’s all tingly and kumquatty. That’s one of the side effects, I suppose. And my stomach hurts. Though at least I didn’t spit MINE into the sink.
Looks like you ate it with the skin on. That’s like eating a tangerine with the skin. Peel it!
Kumquats are the main ingredient in the greatist coctail in the world: Kumquat Caipiroshka. Enricos in San Francisco is the best place to get them.
Kumquats look like the bastard stepchild of grape tomatoes. Can you confirm or deny this supicion?
Despite the idea that the skin is edible, I’d follow the previous suggestion to peel ’em if your going to continue eating the rest.
Personally, I prefer them in preserves, or candied and sitting on top of a fussy citrus-like cake.
what’s really nice is if you’re craving them (rare,i know, for some) and rush to the register so they can be weighed and paid for; then you can walk around the store grocery shopping, popping them into your mouth madly while people stop in their tracks and Stare. be sure to tell them they don’t know what they’re missing! :)
I actually think that the skin’s the sweet part of the kumquat. I did an unscientific experiment the last time I had some and that was my conclusion. It actually made my jaw hurt and mouth water to read your entry, though. Sometimes I really like a fresh kumquat – that sour explosion when you bite into it. It’s extreme food.
You are supposed to eat the skin of kumquats. If they’d only develop a seedless variety, my life would be much better.
True story: Last week my 3-year-old daughter came home from daycare and asked for a snack. We were getting ready to go out for Mexican, so I didn’t really want her to have a snack, but finally I relented and I gave her a choice: honey, you can have a kumquat. she said, “but I don’t want a kumquat.” I thought a moment, and then said, “okay, then, if you don’t want a kumquat, you can have a wasabi [covered] soy nut” [a regular snackfood staple in our household]. My husband said, “She is probably the only child in all of Indiana being offered a choice between kumquats and wasabi soy nuts. Heck, she is the only child in the WORLD having to make that choice. Can you imagine how she is going to describe you to her friends when she’s in high school?! What a weird mom!” And then I was laughing, and she chimed in, “yeah, Mom, you’re so WEIRD.”
I am weird.
But kumquats rock. With the skin.
Bah! I ate a few of these and my lips tingle like crazy! D:
Bah! I ate a few of these and my lips tingle like crazy! D: