Kumquats!

Stephen, of Eating China, brings us the backstory of this Asian dwarf citrus:

"Just before Chinese New Year fruiting kumquat bushes can be seen for sale all over Taiwan. Because the ripe kumquat (cumquat) symbolizes prosperity, Chinese like to give the plants to relatives and friends. My own potted tree never seems to bear fruit at this time. This year, as we saw in the Year of the Dog (February), it was blossoming, and so we will have to wait until late April for fruit. Fortunately the prosperity faculty of kumquats applies all year round, not only to the New Year period. Supposedly. A couple of years ago, when I pointed out our tree, heavy with ripening fruit to my wife, she was nearly gleeful. We were going to have a fantastic year she announced; a year in which everything goes well, a year of great health and happiness, a year when the heavens rain great bounties down on our humble heads! That sounded ridiculous, but not so ridiculous as to prevent me making a mental note to start buying weekly lottery tickets. In the final rinse, that year did turn out relatively calamity-free, but the only real bounty I recall was an abundance of kumquats, which, ironically, my wife finds too sour to eat. Who knows, perhaps things might have been different if mental note to self regarding lottery had not been forgotten as soon as it was filed."

Read the rest on jZepp.

Comments

[La tartine gourmande]

Interesting! I will have a recipe using kumquats up soon, so I would be interested in knowing what you think wine wise with it ;-)