Kumquats!

  Yesterday with the messy weather setting in for the weekend, I figured it was a kumquat kind of day.  I scurried myself out at daybreak before the weather turned for the worse and picked 2 1/2 (give or take a bit) of the tiny, marble-sized fruit from the trees.  This is no easy task as the trees are full of 2 inch long thorns and are quite tall.  My trusty stepladder and I had quite the battle against the rising winds but I managed.  Then came the task of washing, chopping and seeding the little rascals! THAT took forever!  I was so happy that Son came along just at the right time to help.  Between the two of us, the chore did not seem as tedious.  Once every last kumquat was in the cookpot, the whole slew was set to boil for a bit.  The peels take a while to become tender.  Even without sugar, the syrupy fruit smelled divine!  After cooking, the pot was allowed to "set for a spell"...or, in the case, overnight.  At 4am, I set the pot to boiling again, added the sugar and brewed up quite a nice batch of marmalade!  Oh, the eating shall be good! 

  Kumquats are some of those things that I have in a love/hate relationship.  They are a pain to pick and an equally tedious chore to chop and seed.  For only being about an inch in diameter, these things are full of seeds!  Son has no problem just munching down the seeds along with his kumquat but I prefer to deseed mine.  I had fully made a decision to NOT pick the fruit this year as I have far too many jars of jams and jellies on the pantry shelves as it is....but..."waste not, want not" kept roiling through the head.  Added to this, Son had mentioned that he had a craving for buttermilk biscuits and marmalade. 

  Now that these are all finished, I keep looking at the 3 or 4 gallons of fruit that remain on the trees.  I suppose I shall be back out on the ladder again once the weather clears.  Before those can be cooked down, however, I shall have to make a run to the store for more sugar.  I have just about exhausted my stash.    Unless...unless there is something I can make without sugar...hmmm...I shall have to ponder this!  Any suggestions?

The freeze did it!

  The recent hard freeze that hit the Bayou was a nuisance in more ways than one. First, the day before saw Michael and I covering the entire garden with blankets to try to protect my cabbage plants.  Then, there was the chore of cutting firewood to heat the Little Bayou House, the water pump needed tending and the greenhouse lights adjusted. Finally, we had to make sure that each of our pets found a nice cozy corner in the house to call their own.  All that was left was to check things hourly during the night to make sure nothing dire was happening.  There is nothing worse than a mass of broken pipes!  All went well except for one minor problem.

  After the bitter cold had subsided a bit, I checked our citrus trees.  The trees, themselves, seemed to have withstood the chill quite well but the hundred pounds or so of kumquats still on the trees appeared to be frozen solid.  My intentions had been to pick the fruit before the temperatures dropped below freezing but the other chores took much longer than expected.  My kumquats looked like little orange ice cubes! Well, I could not fret over such things as they were out of my control. Still, I could look for a silver lining among the golden ice cubes.

  A good cup of tea helped me to ponder the situation.  Yep, those kumquats were quite solid but perhaps all was not lost.  I still had a chance at salvaging the fruit.  If I picked them before they thawed, cleaned and cut them as soon as possible and cooked them before they soured, things might just be ok.  I passed the idea to Mark and he agreed that we should at least try.  It seemed such a terrible thing to waste the fruit.  Since the trees are quite tall, he opted to trim back the limbs.  We then could pick the fruit without standing on a ladder for hours.  This worked rather well and after two hours we had our pans full.  We managed to do all of this before the temperatures warmed above the freezing mark.  As soon as we toted the pans inside, I set to work washing the billion or so marble-sized fruit and Michael started chopping and seeding.  Marmalade making had begun.

  After another two hours, we had one large bowl full of the readied fruit but four more bowls were still waiting.  Ok, this would never work.  At the rate we were working, the kumquats would definitely sour before we were near finished.  It was then that stroke of brilliance hit! Why not freeze the rest of the fruit until we had time to work with them?  After all, they were frozen on the tree, they might as well be frozen a bit longer.  He and I bagged the kumquats and shuffled stuff around in the freezers to make space.  Whew!  This just bought us at least a few days. Now, on to making the marmalade at hand.

  After six hours of work, there are sixteen jars of marmalade sealed on the shelf and four gallons of kumquats in the freezer ready to be chopped.  As much work as this is, I do feel better about not wasting the fruit.  I guess it just goes to show that you cannot trust the weather and it is best not to procrastinate too long!!  Now, if I could just figure out an easier method of seeding the little jokers, marmalade making would be a snap!

It is NOT an antique!

I am elated that my daughter raided the Christmas decoration closet and took one of my artificial Christmas trees home with her! Because of this, I found a long-lost treasure hiding in the back of the closet. In the dark depths of no-man's land, there sat a large box that had not been opened for the past several years..more like about five years actually! I tugged at the box.."My goodness! This box was heavy!" Pulling off the lid, I found strings of lights. Not the present day, twinkly, mini lights..the big heavy glass lights of days past. I shoved the box aside..bah humbug! I thought some elusive goody was in that box..lights!..hmmph!..I have tons of lights. To tell the truth, I have huge boxes of Christmas lights of all sorts..too many to ever use..but I have them!..just in case! Then a thought.."What else is in that box?" I hauled it back out and felt under the lights. It was almost scary as I was not sure what was hidden there..maybe a monster or alien! (Or an active imagination!) There! There in the bottom of that box..far beneath the heavy lights..was a treasure! I dumped the box over! Aha! A true treasure! A lost treasure! My parents' Christmas tree! I remember when they first bought this tree! It was way back when..ok..we won't go that far! I knew I had it somewhere but when my husband came home with the latest pre-lit gorgeous tree, this one was relegated to the back of the closet. Now out it came! It was to be my beautiful red, green and gold tree for the dining room! I proudly hauled the box downstairs! I was busily putting together the tree stand when a thought went through my head.."Wow, this tree has been around for a while!" I am now waiting for one of my kids or some visitor remark on my "antique" tree. Folks...it is not antique! Nope..no way..can't be! I remember buying this tree..there is no possible way it can be antique! Retro..that's it! It is retro! After much twisting, turning, pulling, shoving, bending and poking..the tree is up! And oh my goodness! It used to look a lot taller! Do artificial trees like humans, shrink as they age? And I think it is going bald! In its heyday this tree was perhaps the best there was, now it is a sad, little squirt of a tree that is shedding its needles all over my floor. Tomorrow..the tree will have its lights and ornaments and become the treasure it was in my mind..never mind the remarks about it being antique!

I had good intentions of having that tree decorated by today but marmalade got in the way. Yesterday, my son and I seeded and chopped our way through seven pounds of kumquats. These were placed in the large enamel jelly pot, covered with water and a little lemon juice, boiled until tender and then let sit overnight in the refrigerator. This step is just to let it "steep" a bit which helps to make a good "set" when bottled. Today, the pot was lugged out and the marmalade was cooked to its golden goodness! Tomorrow..another seven or eight pounds will be seeded and chopped and the process will start again. Then out to the trees to pick some more! If all goes well, we should have enough to make about a hundred jars before all is said and done. Bring on the biscuits!