Have you ever tried a kumquat? They are tiny little oval shaped citrus fruit with a thin sweet outer peel, but the inside is SOUR! Well, I thought they were always sour, until my friend went to the California Citrus State Historic Park. Apparently there are some varieties that are sweet inside. Learn something new everyday.

My in-laws used to have a huge kumquat tree in their yard. When I was teaching and doing day care I would take a paper grocery bag full of them to work and let the kids have them for snack. And it still didn't put a dent in the crop. We would make kumquat marmalade and candied kumquats (to be used in fruit cake, etc.) and anything else we could think of. I haven't had them in years since they moved from that house.

Then my neighbor starting gifting me with some this past month. Just a handful or two at a time, which is a good amount. A few for snacking or juicing or...

I remembered a recipe I had seen for Stuffed Kumquats in a magazine once, Sunset I think. You cut them in half, scoop out the inside (leaving the peel intact) and mix the fruitt with some cream cheese and powdered sugar and stuff it back into the peel.

Cute, but a bit of a pain in the rear. I made six and couldn't see wanting to go to the effort to make enough for an appetizer, dessert or as part of a cheese tray. I feel the same way about stuffed cherry tomatoes. Tasty, but I am lazy.

And then it hit me. The taste was great, but why go to all the trouble of separating the fruit from the peel - just mix it altogether and make it a spread. So that's what I did. It was fantastic!  This would be great on bagels, toast, crackers, celery, and well just about anything you'd smear cream cheese on. I put it on some of Justin's Favorite Carrot Bread and ended up sampling three pieces this morning - oops! Better do some extra walking.

When Ma'am saw the picture of me removing the fruit with the baby spoon she jokingly informed me I was supposed to put them on the tips of a crown rib roast instead of the little paper wrappers traditionally used. Something like this:

Hmm. I still have some kumquats and a pork loin defrosting, maybe I could do something that would taste like that without being ridiculously fancy (and somewhat scary looking).

This post has been shared on Foodtastic Friday, Foodie Friday, Fabulously Frugal Thursday and Wine'd Down Wednesday.

Until next time, happy eating.
~Audrey