Kumquat Marmalade with Anise Liqueur

The Spiritual Teachings of Kumquat Marmalade:

One: Cutting the tiny fruit teaches patience and focus, if the kumquat sphere slips, you cut your hand.

Two: Eating the fruit teaches us to take in life’s bittersweet rind followed by it’s pulp’s punch-in-your face tang .  

Three: Anything good takes time – a very long time – because each step you take with each Kumquat is a process.

Why is Kumquat Jam easy to make?  Hahaha! It is not.  Any recipe that claims “easy” may be skipping important steps of prepping the fruit.   When all the Kumquats are sliced and seeds removed, all that’s left to do is put everything in a pot.  That last bit is the easy part. 

Kumquat Marmalade Flavor Profile:  strong citrusy flavor, sweet, mild to moderately bitter 

Tips in making Kumquat Marmalade:

• Try and take all seeds out from pulp, some seeds will float in water during cooking, scoop these seeds out.
• Any seeds that don’t float can easily be seen once the pulp is cooked and turns translucent – take out pulp, carefully mash with fork to squeeze seed out – return pulp in pot.

Steps for preparing Kumquats for Marmalade: 

• Trim any stems attached
• Carefully cut in half along it’s length
• Scoop out pulp with a spoon
• Set skins aside
• Place pulp on a mesh strainer over a bowl
• Take each seed out of the pulp and discard
• Place deseeded pulp in bowl
• Continue process until all of the pulp is in the bowl, set aside
• Slice kumquat skins evenly into thin strips
• Freeze pulp and skins to make Jam for another day because the dang fruit took so much time to prepare
• Or proceed to make Kumquat Jam

Kumquat Marmalade with Anise Liqueur

Kumquat Marmalade Flavor Profile:  strong citrusy flavor, sweet, mild to moderately bitter 

• Author: AmusingMaria
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 3 hours
• Total Time: 3 hours and 20 minutes
• Yield: 1 quart 1x
• Category: Jams
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1.5 quarts of prepared Kumquat
• 2 cups of sugar (adjust according to taste)
• Cinnamon according to taste
• 4 to 5 ounces Anise Liqueur  
• Water as needed

Instructions

• Put all the ingredients in a pot except Anise Liqueur
• Take out seeds floating on surface water
• Bring to a boil then simmer to low
• Cook for 30 minutes, mix occasionally
• Add Anise Liqueur
• Continue cooking about 3 hours or mixture becomes translucent
• Mix occassionally
• Add water according to desired consistency
• Add cinnamon and more sugar according to taste

Want to make a small batch of Kumquat Marmalade? Check out Petite Sweets video here.

Like unique fruit recipes? Try a Star Apple Tart Recipe here.