Do you think you know what kumquat is? Actually, you don’t

Tony Harrison, a famous British left-wing poet, once wrote a poem, A Kumquat for John Keats. Tony Harrison was in his forties at the time. After reading Keats' romantic poems about various fruits, he used this fruit that was a little sour, a little astringent, and a little sweet to pay tribute to Keats through a long poem.

He wrote:

Not oranges, not limes, not tangerines,

This citrus from the East is comparable in size only to a cherry;

Pick it from the tree and eat it whole,

Sweet flesh, sour skin - or sour flesh, sweet skin?

No matter how much I eat I still can't tell the difference.

I am middle-aged and still have no doubts about the world...

Perhaps it was the mixed taste of kumquats that reminded Harrison of the sweet and sour flavors of life; and he also wanted to share this taste, across time, with Keats, who inspired and moved him.

Art always comes from life丨Mgmoscatello / wikipedia

The poem was included in a booklet published in 1981, with beautiful kumquat branches and leaves on the cover and inside pages. Harrison thinks that if Keats had tasted kumquat, he would have sighed and written a poem; but unfortunately, in Keats's time, kumquat, a plant native to East Asia, had not yet appeared in Europe. It was not until 1846 that botanist Robert Fortune brought kumquats from far southern China to Europe, along with azaleas, peonies and chrysanthemums. Even the English name of kumquat, "Kumquat", comes from the Cantonese word "jingan".

From riches to sweet and sour

In Europe, kumquats were not originally eaten but used to decorate gardens. Although the fruit is edible, swallowing it with the skin and flesh in one bite is probably not particularly suitable for most people. In southern China, kumquats are often also used as potted decorative shrubs. They just bear fruit around the Spring Festival. The oval, golden fruits are dotted among the green leaves like small lanterns, which is really " rich in gold and jade " and " auspicious (orange) and auspicious ".

Kumquat is a typical fruit-viewing potted plant | karimala / garden know how

By the way, when kumquats bloom, the little white flowers are also very cute.

Of course, eating is more important. Harrison may not be able to tell which part of the skin and flesh is sour and which is sweet, probably because he hasn't eaten enough. Indeed, the skin and flesh of kumquats cannot be separated into outer skin, middle skin and inner skin segments like many citrus relatives. These parts are almost stuck together, probably because they are too small.

Small and delicate kumquat flowers | kwanchaichaiudom / garden know how

If you really want to study it in detail, the skin of kumquat is actually sweet and has a special fragrance, which comes from some sesquiterpenes, including α-citrus oil, caryophyllene, humulene, etc. (Alas, it’s useless to know anyway). I like this aroma, "It’s like orange but not orange, and it’s fragrant like grapefruit" (Wei Wang's "Flower and Tree Records"), and some people even extract kumquat essential oil from the skin.

The flesh inside the kumquat is a bit sour and astringent, and it has green seeds on the core, but you can't peel it off, so just swallow it all.

Where does the name kumquat come from?

Let’s eat a few in one go and take a break, then we’ll talk about the name “kumquat”.

There are many stories about this, such as "Kumquat", "Kumquat", "Golden Date", and in the old days, there were also nicknames such as "Luofu", "Luju", and "Golden Bullet". Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that "this orange is green when it is fresh, and yellow when it is ripe, like gold, so it is called kumquat and Luju."

But don’t rush to argue over “orthodoxy”. These nicknames may refer to other species of the same genus, and these different species may also have the name “kumquat” at the same time. (Part of the reason is that the genes of the citrus family are too chaotic, and the kumquat is no exception due to various hybridizations.)

The "kumquat" we are talking about today refers to Citrus japonica , which belongs to the genus Citrus, which means it is quite closely related to oranges.

Another victim of the Rutaceae hybrid tragedy has appeared! | Phuong Tran / Flickr

According to Walter Swingle, a famous citrus taxonomist (who knows how many oranges, tangerines and grapefruits he ate in his life), kumquat and its various relatives are counted as a single genus ( Fortunella , this name is so familiar, the Robert Fortune in front of me is here to show off...). This should be the "orthodox" kumquat/kumquat, which can be round or oval. The japonica in the scientific name means Japan, and it was discovered and named in Japan by Karl Thunberg, a botanist who has been doing research in Japan for a long time.

Another famous kumquat is Citrus margarita (or Fortenella margarita ), also known as Nagami Kumquat. The fruits are basically oval in shape and the taste is not much different. They are more often used for eating than for decoration.

There is also a kind of "Meihua kumquat" ( Fortunella crassifolia ), native to Ningbo, known as "Ningbo Golden Bullet", with sweet peel and sweet flesh, and the overall taste is much better. The kumquat described in "Guihai Yuhengzhi" (1175) by Fan Chengda in the Song Dynasty is probably this kind of kumquat, and "those from Zhejiang have sweet peel and sour flesh", which also made him feel a little strange - it turned out to be not the same species.

Image: Serg!o/wikipedia

In addition, the " Kumquat Lemon " drink that was popular in Taiwan before used the name "Kumquat/Kumquat", but it is actually a bit off. This fruit is slightly larger, round in shape, with distinct petals inside, and it is so sour that it will make your teeth fall off. It is actually the " Calamondin " ( Citrofortunella × mitis ) native to Malaysia, which is probably a hybrid of kumquat/kumquat and lime (Lime, Citrus × aurantiifolia , also known as lime). Think about it, kumquat lemon sounds delicious, but the four seasons citrus is so sour, and adding a lemon is even more sour. How much sugar do you need to put in to make it drinkable? Girls who want to lose weight should pay more attention.

Does it make you salivate naturally when you look at the pictures? 丨vpaaz.org

Teach you a high-level way to eat

Now that we have finally figured out the difference between kumquats and their relatives and have eaten fresh kumquats, it is time to introduce some advanced ways to eat them. Not everyone likes kumquats with the skin and flesh, which are sour and astringent; but if they are made into candied fruit or used as a garnish in other foods, it is hard to resist.

Although sugar was a luxury in the past, in the prosperous Jiangnan region, sweet things are not uncommon, and using sugar to preserve fresh fruit is a delicious and effective way, also known as "sugar color" (different from the sugar color used for braised pork). Among the Hangzhou-style "Tangqi Preserved Fruits", there is a flavor called " honey-soaked kumquat ", which is made by boiling the fruit pulp with sugar and soaking it in the sugar solution. The fruit pulp is delicate, the astringency is completely eliminated, and the sweetness and a hint of sourness remain.

Sweet kumquat preserves | Elise Bauer / simply receipets

The "Supplementary Sugar Color List" in Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Food List" was supplemented by Xia Zengchuan, which specifically records various types of candied fruits in the late Qing Dynasty. It also includes the method of making kumquat cakes - "Flatten the kumquats, add rock sugar and boil them, and put them in a porcelain jar with the sauce. It is extremely fragrant and delicious. It is especially wonderful with a slight sour taste in the sweetness, and the sauce can refresh the spleen. Or it can be pickled raw with sugar."

Kumquats are also used as a special flavor ingredient in cooking "cui cu" (a cooking spice pickled with cardamom flowers) or in snacks such as Yangzhou square cakes. In Yilan, Taiwan, China, "golden date cake" boiled with sugar is also a very popular candied fruit.

Crystal clear Yilan Golden Date Cake丨top3.com.tw

It is also very easy to make simple candied fruit yourself: pick the kumquats, clean them, cut them in half, remove the core, and then put them in a pot with a lot of rock sugar and water. Bring them to a boil over high heat and then simmer over low heat until the soup is thick. Then, sterilize the glass jar with boiling water, pour the cooked kumquats into it, fill it up, and then seal it and cool it. This jar of kumquats can be eaten from winter to spring.

Beautiful and delicious kumquat preserves丨Dragon and Phoenix Dance / Douguo Food

Author: Li Zi

Title image source: karimala / garden know how

This article comes from GuokrNature (ID: GuokrNature)

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