As is not unusual we have a glut of things, and being me I don’t like to throw anything away so when I was given a bag of kumquats or cumquats (both spellings are acceptable) I went looking for a brandied version. I recalled being horrified by the taste of them in my earlier, less alcoholic, years and thought that it was about time to see if I could improve on my memories.
This needs a bit of time so armed with a large wooden skewer I sat and watched TV for about an hour while poking holes all over these tiny citrus fruit. About 10 holes per cumquat on about 60 pieces of fruit = 600 holes! The effort is so worth it. The aged product has become a Christmas tradition in our house.
This year, 2020 (the plague and bushfires and floods in Australia), I couldn’t get my hands on kumquats and our 2 year old tree barely produced anything so I experimented with tangelo peels and a combination of vodka and brandy and the result is “worth bottlig”. See the recipe below.
BRANDIED CUMQUATS / KUMQUATS
Ingredients
- 60 kumquats, pricked all over with a skewer
- 5 cups sugar
- 1.4 litres brandy(2 bottles) – keep the bottles to rebottle the liqueur into for aging
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 12 cloves
- 2 cardamom pods
- 2 x 1 litre jars with tight fitting lids (air tight, don’t want the alcohol to evaporate)
Just a small bottling from our new tree – almost gone
Method
- Put half the pricked kumquats and sugar into each jar then add as much of the brandy (the rest of the brandy can be added after the kumquats are removed and aged with the mother load or just drink it) as will fit into each jar.
- Tightly seal or cover each jar with cling wrap under the seal to stop any alcohol from evaporating.
- Store jar away from direct sunlight but somewhere where you won’t forget about it. Mine is near the coffee machine so it gets noticed often.
- For the next 14 days or more, turn the jar over and back as often during the day as you can to distribute and dissolve the sugar.
- Leave the mix for about 30 to 60 days, still turning regularly to keep the kumquats fairly drunk, by which time the sugar should have completely dissolved and most of the citrussy flavour will have dissipated into the alcohol. I like to wait until the cumquats have sunk to the bottom of the bottle which takes at least 60 days.
- Strain off the alcoholic citrussy mixture leaving the kumquats to drain in a sieve. Return the liqueur to age in the saved brandy bottles. (label and write the bottling date on each bottle)
- Dip the drained kumquats in melted chocolate and store in the freezer for a special occasion or slice them into quarters and dehydrate, or even candy them. All are so good!
- Leave the liqueur for at least three months, it improves with age. Then drink very cold with ice at Christmas.
It is not a good idea to taste test too regularly, there will be none left by Christmas.
TANGELO CHRISTMAS INFUSION
When life doesn’t bring you kumquats
Ingredients
Apologies because this is a bit haphazard but being limited by what is available I got inventive. We have a massive tangelo tree and are always on the lookout for things to do with the fruit, so I just peel the skin off tangelos before using the fruit and add more zest during the week.
This is made with some vodka because I didn’t buy enough brandy. Next time I will try a vanilla infused vodka or add a vanilla pod to the mix.
- Thinly peeled zest of about 12 well washed tangelos
- 5 cups sugar
- 750 ml brandy(2 bottles) – keep the bottles to rebottle the liqueur into for aging
- 750 ml of vodka – I had it, the taste is still awesome so the percentage of vodka to brandy doesn’t seem to matter.
- 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
- 12 cloves
- 2 cardamom pods
- 2 litre jar with tight fitting lid (air tight, don’t want the alcohol to evaporate)
Method
- Put the tangelo zest into the jar then add as much of the brandy / vodka as will fit into the jar. I add extra zest over a week or more.
- Tightly seal or cover the top with cling wrap, under the seal to stop any alcohol from evaporating.
- Store jar away from direct sunlight but somewhere where you won’t forget about it.
- For the next 14 days or more, turn the jar over and back as often during the day as you can to distribute and dissolve the sugar.
- Leave the mix for about 30 to 60 days, still turning regularly to keep the kumquats fairly drunk, by which time the sugar should have completely dissolved and most of the spices and tangelo flavour will have dissipated into the alcohol.
- When ready to bottle strain and return the liqueur to age in the saved brandy bottles. (label and write the bottling date on each bottle). I leave straining until I am sick of it decorating the kitchen. If the peel goes white you know you have got all of the flavour out of the zest so you may as well bottle.
- Leave the liqueur for at least three months, it improves with age. Then drink very cold with ice at Christmas.
It is not a good idea to taste test too regularly, there will be none left by Christmas.
Hi
I am going to try this as my tree has not stopped bearing and you can only eat so much jam.
Is it best to leave for 6 months to store or can you use earlier?
Thank you for your time.
Hi, I love this recipe and do try to wait as the flavour improves as it matures. The batch I made last year continues to become smoother. If you’ve got lots then make a couple of batches and surely some of it will last a few months. My Kumquats are ready to bottle now and will be beautiful to share at Christmas (or at least what I haven’t drunk).