Candied Kumquats キンカン

Kumquats are a frequent site in Japanese supermarkets (or "suupaa" as the Japanese call them) this time of year. The peak growing season is December to March. But what do you do with these miniature oranges? Well they can be eaten whole - yes with the skin and seeds. But they are often sweetened up and used as a condiment or just to be eaten as a candy. 

Kumquats

Kumquats or Kinkan in the store

The kanji for kumquats is 金柑
金 - kin - in this context means gold or golden
柑  - kan - means citrus. This is an intuitive kanji in that the first element on the left is "tree" and the one on the right is "sweet."

So put together we have "golden citrus."

You can see the kanji in the sign below which was right next to the kumquats in Sanwa market. The sign illustrates essentially the same recipe that I'm doing here. The katakana at the end by the yellow dots - レシピ is "recipe"

In the photo above, you can see kinkan written out in hiragana - きんかん

Candied Kumquat recipe

Packaged kinkan

The photo above shows the package I bought from Sanwa market. It came in at about $4.50 for this little package, but I didn't buy the cheap ones. The blue label tells they are from Kagoshima Prefecture. Kagoshima Prefecture is in the same general area as Nagasaki Japan, if you're trying to place it in Japan.

On to the recipe for Candied Kumquats...

- One package kumquats (15-20)
- One cup sugar. Honey can be partially substituted as well.
- One cup water.
- Lemon or Yuzu juice (optional)

That's it.


1. De-stem the kumquats. Use your fingernail or a toothpick to remove the little green stem that remains on the fruit.
2. Wash the fruit thoroughly.
3. Cover the fruit in a pan in water and bring to a boil.

boiling to remove the bad things

 Several of the Japanese recipes I saw had this boiling step in there. When put through my webpage translator it roughly came out to "boil to remove the evil." Which is a pretty good description. You are removing bitterness, wax if any, and any residual pesticides not removed from the washing process.

4. Once boiling, drain the water, add fresh water, and boil it again to repeat the process.
5. Drain the water again, and set the fruit aside in a bowl.
6. Add one cup of water and about one cup sugar (or sugar and honey) into the pan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar.
7. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
8. Pierce the kumquats with a knife three or four times.

Yuzu juice

 9. Add the kumquats to the sugar and water mixture. At this point, many recipes call for adding some lemon juice. But Yuzu would be a better choice in my opinion. This is optional by the way. I added about one tablespoon.

Kumquats in syrup

10. Bring the kumquats and syrup to a boil and then reduce the heat. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
11. Set aside to cool. Cover. Let sit for about eight hours or overnight.
12. Finally, bring the fruit/syrup mixture to a boil again and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool and place in a jar in the fridge. It will last about 3 months.

This is what they looked like at the beginning of the 8 hour sitting period.

You can add it to vanilla ice cream, salads, or just eat it as a candy snack. I tried them "plain" eating the skin and all. They were quite smooth without a hint of bitterness. An enjoyable snack.

For a variant on this recipe, you can add vodka, shochu, or brandy in place of the water or half of the water. This will preserve it a bit longer. Most of the alcohol will boil away, but not all. I saw quite a few Japanese recipes on Cookpad that used this method. Although they probably didn't need it, I added a bit of Cointreau to mine as they were sitting for that 8 hour period.