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No-Cook Candied Kumquats are the tangy-sweet fruit treat you didn’t know you needed. Thinly sliced kumquats soaked in honey to candy them — that’s all it takes!
Once you make today’s recipe for No-Cook Candied Kumquats, you’ll keep them on hand all the time. Whenever a dish needs some oomph, I chop a few and fling them on. You will wonder where these have been all your life.
How to use No-Cook Candied Kumquats
I made a jar, we ate them within a day, just digging in with a spoon, and I immediately made another jar. When you open the refrigerator and see them, you’ll be flooded with ideas for how to use them.
–straight out of the jar standing in front of the refrigerator
–on top of yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast (above)
–use some liquid in cocktails or mocktails
–use some liquid and a few chopped kumquats in salad dressing
–on top of ice cream or frozen yogurt, or a bowl of berries as I have done above
–chopped and stirred into muffin batter or quick bread batter
–on top of pancakes (here they are on a wedge of berry oven pancake)
–on toast to stand in for marmalade (yes, it works!). Put some Candied Kumquat slices on your toast, and drizzle a little of the syrup over it.
–to decorate a cake
–on Matzoh Brie, during Passover
You’ll think of a million other things once you taste them, I promise. And since we aren’t canning them, you can make one jar at a time. Or maybe make 2 jars and give one to the neighbor. Good food gifts make good neighbors. You heard it here first.
How to make No-Cook Candied Kumquats
Assemble your 2 ingredients — fresh kumquats and runny honey.
Slice the kumquats very thinly, and flick away any seeds if you see them. I use my favorite 40-year-old cheapie serrated supermarket knife, or a small paring knife. The knife isn’t crucial; just slice those kumquats thinly.
Put the kumquat slices in a jar. Don’t pack them in tightly, just put them in there.
Pour in honey to cover the kumquat slices.
So far so good! It looks great!
Within an hour, when you shake the jar a little bit, the contents will begin to slosh. This means the kumquats are releasing their juice and the sugar is penetrating the fruit.
It really is a bit miraculous how this happens, but the next day, you’ll have fully candied kumquats, to use in whatever way you can dream up! (Is anyone triggered and anxious about these kumquats spilled on the counter? Don’t worry, I cleaned it up right after the picture.)
No-Cook Candied Kumquats are the tangy-sweet fruit treat you didn't know you needed. Thinly sliced kumquats soaked in honey to candy them -- that's all it takes! Use them on cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream, berries, cakes, in muffins or pancakes...whatever you can dream up!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fresh kumquats (or whatever amount you'd like to make; this will start you off)
- 1 jar runny honey (not solid or crystallized)
Directions
- Make sure you have a scrupulously clean jar with a lid. You are not canning this recipe, but you still want an absolutely clean jar.
- Thinly slice kumquats crosswise, flicking away the seeds if there are any. Place kumquats in clean jar.
- Pour honey into jar until it just covers kumquats. Set jar on counter for an hour or 2. After that time, you can shake the jar a bit and you'll see the honey has gotten more sloshy, which means the kumquats released their juice and the honey penetrated the fruit.
- Store the jar in the refrigerator. Kumquats will continue to candy until they have absorbed all the honey they can.
- Use the liquid in cocktails or mocktails or to sweeten your tea, or brush onto cake layers to keep them moist. Use the fruit in desserts, strewn over bowls of berries, chopped and mixed into muffins, etc.
- Makes 1 jar. Make more jars if you'd like to share a jar with the neighbors (highly recommended).
Notes
Recipe source: Dorothy Reinhold | Shockingly Delicious
Pin the image below for No-Cook Candied Kumquats to your Pinterest board to save this recipe
Want to see other recipes for spring sweets?
Vegan Chocolate Loaf Cake (Small Batch)
Lemon Shortbread with Sprinkles (Small Batch)
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At ShockD, you’ll find scrumptious, tried & true, "scary good" recipes, tips and coaching to make YOU a fabulous home cook! Don't blame me if you need a 12-step program to wean yourself away!
E-mail me: Dorothy.Reinhold@gmail.com
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I was wondering if you could can these and make them shelf stable?
Lyne,
I do know you can freeze your jar of these No-Cook Candied Kumquats to save it for later (or make one to keep in the fridge and one for the freezer so you can pull it out at Thanksgiving!). To can fruits safely (for food safety), the balance of fruit, sweetener, acid and pectin has to be just right. You could consult this recipe: https://www.sbcanning.com/2015/05/kumquat-marmalade-with-vanilla-bean.html. And here’s a recipe for small-batch kumquat marmalade: https://foodinjars.com/recipe/urban-preserving-small-batch-kumquat-marmalade/. Good luck and tell me how it goes!
Hello, I washed my kumquat then put them in a juicer then stain the seeds out. Then I drink the juice straight up. If too acidic for you, you can add honey to make it a little sweeter.
I keep the pulp and add to a no bake cream pie recipe, you can find it anywhere on the web.
Rowena,
Interesting idea! I’m not sure I could drink straight kumquat juice, but it sounds like you have your system all figured out!
I have an enormous harvest of kumquats from one small tree and they are VERY juicy. Most of the juice escapes when I cut them. Any thoughts about the usefulness of trying to collect that juice and put it in the jar before adding honey?
Pamela,
I’m not sure I would have the patience for that, but sure, you could try it. Or cut them over a board that makes it easy to collect the juice, then sweeten the juice to your liking and drink it with sparkling water!
I now have a friend hooked on these candied kumquats. She asked me how long they will last in the fridge. Any idea?
Barb,
Indefinitely, I think. Sugar (honey) is a preservative, and as long as you are keeping them cold, they should be able to last for a few months, I believe!
I had never eaten kumquats until a friend gave me a bag. I started searching for marmalade recipes and found this! The only thing that could make this easier is if they didn’t have seeds. We use the syrup in cocktails and today I made yummy orange chicken with it!
Barb,
Yay! And in truth, it isn’t that hard to flick the seeds out with a knife, is it? That’s a small price to pay for such a delicious, sweet treat, right? Syrup in cocktails is a great idea, or to flavor sparkling water! Orange Chicken….I am THERE!
wow… had a batch of kumquats and googled for a recipe… and found YOU! All best to you all! And many thanks for the recipe… just what I was looking for!
Lorelei!!!! Great to hear from you!
You’ll get hooked on these no-brainers.
No cook! Yep, this is my kind of recipe. The candied kumquats and ice cream would be my first try
I love this idea! I can’t wait to candy kumquats! So excited to give this a try!
ok, these are so darling and oh, so delicious! I love candied fruit so much! I can’t wait to sprinkle some bits of these on my Strawberry short cake!
Jill,
I like the way you think!
I have never tried these before, and they were so tasty! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I had no idea you could candy kumquats! They look delicious!
This sounds so easy to make at home! The perfect family treat!
My kids really loved this!! Love that it is really easy to make!
Dorothy, this is brilliant it it’s simplicity!
Cheryl (Pook’s),
This is right up your alley!
These No-Cook Candied Kumquats sound delicious! Dangerously good…
Yum! I can think of so many ways to use these!
Great minds! We are kumquat twins! You were way more patient with your perfect little slices.
This looks so flavorful, I cannot wait to try it!
What a fun and easy idea! Yum!
Heather,
These are so easy, I just made another impromptu jar!
Delicious and very more-ish. About to make some more.