CSA cooking: Kumquats in Honey

basket inventory: kale, chard (rainbow!), sprouts, radish, 2 kinds of lettuce, mandarins, tangerines, limes, lemons, strawberries, celery, kumquats, herbs

Kumquats seem to have a limited number of uses, most of the time people just eat them raw...but after a few weeks, that can be a little too much. Our CSA has been serving up kumquats for the past few weeks and i have accumulated a little stockpile of them...perfect time for canning.
This reminded me of a recipe i have been using from Linda Ziedrich's: The Joy of Jam, Jellies and Other Sweet Preserves.

Honeyed Kumquats
(from The Joy of Jam, Jellies and Other Sweet Preserves)

• 1 # stemmed kumquats
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 3/4c. sugar
• 1/2c. honey

let the kumquats sit in boiling water for 10 min, rinse them then slit each one and boil them in water for another 10 min.
in a saucepan, combine the other items, add kumquats and boil together for 25, set aside for at least 8 hours.
pour into a jar and put in the fridge, lasts a month at least OR...
heat the mixture again, skim off foam and ladle into jars leaving 1" head space. process in a boiling water bath for 15 min.

(honey from Backyard Bees)

(bees really like the warmed honey mix)

this recipe is incredible for ice cream and super for making a simple cake gourmet.

NOTE: if you are making this in the daytime, you kitchen might fill-up with bees (we had about 15 bees my little kitchen while making this)! make it at night if you are afraid of them.