I have a bit of a deficiency. Or rather, a ridiculous compulsion.
It pertains to exotic food. When I see or hear of new things at the grocery store or butcher shop that I’ve never tasted, I get a bit antsy to try them. It was this bizarre blend of curiosity that led me to first try celeriac 12 odd years ago before they were all that popular in the grocery store. That’s a bit of a leap of faith for something that looks pretty dirty and weird, but how I adore them now.
Last week, my local organic guy sent me a note announcing that he had limequats and various other exotic fruits and vegetables available. I didn’t really know what a limequat was or what it looked like, but all of a sudden I had to have some. Those of you who regularly stop by may remember when I mentioned that I once sent the Everyman out with the request to bring me back a weird fruit for lunch; the subsequent offering was a granadilla, which I now love (though at the time I thought it looked like brains). In this case, I was hoping for a similar outcome.
I figured I had nothing to lose but a couple of bucks so I ordered a pound and went on with life.
A week later those limequats were still sitting in a bag on my counter, taunting me. They looked like miniature lemons, and had a slightly greenish tinge. Mine were about the size of those gumballs you get in machines at the movie store or mall, but when I googled them it looked like they’re typically a bit bigger. The wikipedia article said you could eat them whole and that the outside skin was sweet, so the Everyman popped one in. Apparently they’re very bitter. I was now at a loss for what to do with them. More googling turned up a suggestion to infuse some vodka, but I rarely drink vodka, so it seemed like a waste. Then I found a recipe for a limequat jam/marmalade concoction. This sounded a bit more reasonable, so I got the kitchen set up for jamming.
The first thing you should understand about limequats is that they have a ridiculously high proportion of seeds to actual fruit. Even though they were tiny, I pulled about 10 lemon-size seeds out of each fruit. This made it slow going indeed, and I was probably slicing and de-seeding for about 45 minutes. As I sliced I sampled one of the butt ends (ensuring there was more skin than flesh) and it was still extremely bitter with an almost medicinal quality to the flavor. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this so much, but I charged onward.
Twenty minutes later I had two pint jars full of limequat jam preserved and vacuum-sealed. They sparkle with a nice orangey bronze glow similar to the fig jam I love to make. I haven’t popped one open yet to taste the final gelled product, but I will let you know once I do. The final taste test prior to bottling was slightly more astringent than I’m used to, and I am hoping it will mellow a bit with time.
For anyone interested, the recipe for this experiment follows:
Limequat Lemon Jam
475 g limequats, rinsed, seeded and sliced into rounds
1 lemon, zest removed and sliced, segments removed
50 g dried cherries
525 g sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped and halved
1 slice candied ginger, chopped
Puree 3/4 of the limequat, lemon and dried cherry mixture in a food processor. Add the puree and all other ingredients to a heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring often. Once the mixture has attained a thicker, jammy consistency, remove from heat and ladle into prepared canning jars. Process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes.
*Additional sugar may be added to taste. The recipe as is produces a slightly bitter jam, but from what I understand, that is what marmalade is like (I wouldn’t really know for certain since I hate oranges).
Makes 2 one pint jars.
Until next time…
Tags: Cooking, jam, limequats, New Projects, Preservation, Recipes
