Goodness in a Jar!

  Today saw me busy in the kitchen once again.  The kumquats, that I had rescued after the hard freeze a couple of weeks ago, needed to be made into marmalade.  They have been sitting in the freezer since that cold, cold night.  For anyone who does not know, it is nigh on impossible to cut and seed more than a couple of gallons of the tiny fruit during any one sitting.  Three gallons were cut right after the initial picking but three more gallons were tossed in the freezer to keep them from souring before we had time to due the chore.  Since today had no all-important tasks needing tending, it was the perfect day to make marmalade. 

  My son and I tried a new method of seeding the kumquats.  Once the fruit was thawed, I ran them through the blender for just a few seconds. The seeds were loosened from the pulp and rind making the job a bit easier.  We just had to sort through the pulp and remove the seeds.  No chopping involved!  Two gallons of pulp were salvaged.  

  Just about the time we were ready to start the marmalade-making process, my brother came knocking at the door. A few days ago,  I had given him a jar of marmalade from last year's stock and he made the remark that "It was exceptional!....but...Just what was it?"  I had to laugh at that!  Yep, I have a terrible habit of not labeling my jars.  I did remember what it was, though, as it was quite distinct.  "That was Cran/quat!"  I had given him a jar of cranberry/kumquat marmalade! Well, it seems that the stuff was a hit so that gave me an idea of what to do with these kumquats.

  An hour later, a number of jars of regular kumquat marmalade and some of the special cran/quat marmalade line the shelf. These...I shall remember to label! Not a bad day's work, if I do say so myself!  With this batch, I now have almost fifty jars of marmalade made. Tomorrow...the rest of the kumquats will undergo the same process!