5 Delicious Uses for Cold-Hardy Cumquats

If you've been longing for a lime or a lemon tree in your home garden but are concerned that the regular frosts that your region experiences doesn't provide an ideal environment for these trees, you're probably smart -- even the lightest of frosts can have a significant negative impact on many types of citrus trees. However, this doesn't mean that you're doomed to never growing citrus in your garden -- consider the cumquat! Cold-hardy, pest-free, and relatively easy to grow, cumquats will make you forget all about lemons and limes! Following are 5 delicious ways to enjoy the fruits of your labour after you cultivate a cumquat tree:

Preserve Them in Honey

Poach your cumquats in honey with a small splash of vanilla and a squeeze of lemon before canning -- you'll end up with a delicious honeyed fruit to serve with French vanilla ice cream for an elegant dessert. The leftover liquid in the jar makes a sublime glaze for ham or pork chops.

Make Cumquat Chutney

All you need to do for this is to simmer chopped cumquats with honey, grated ginger, and a shake of cinnamon for a lovely chutney to serve as an accompaniment to chicken, pork and fish. Use blackstrap molasses for a slightly heavier finish that will go well with red meat.

Make Cumquat Jelly

You can make jelly with cumquats the same way that you can with apples or quince. Cumquat jelly smoothed on a perfectly toasted English muffin provides a fabulous start to the day.

Freeze Them and Use Them For Ice Cubes

The smaller ones make wonderful ice cubes and fit perfectly into standard ice cube trays. They provide a particularly festive touch for holiday cocktails, but they can also be enjoyed in fruit juices, lemonade, and even in water.

Make Pickled Cumquats

You'll be able to find plenty of uses for pickled cumquat halves. They can be chopped into salads, included on an appetiser tray, or served as a side dish to a meat entree.

Cumquats are also often eat straight from the tree. Unlike other citrus fruits, their skin is edible --it's sweet, while the rest of the fruit has a distinctive tang. Cumquat is also a very nutritious fruit that is also low in calories. You won't feel one bit bad about not being able to grow lemons and limes when you've got a ripe crop of cumquats in your yard.

For more information, contact a landscaping services company like MBM Grounds Maintenance.

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