A homemade kumquat marmalade recipe with 3 ingredients to preserve those wonderful fruits.
Follow my guide to make the best and easiest marmalade from scratch at home.
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Do you love citrus marmalade? Then check out my lemon marmalade and orange marmalade recipes!
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What are Kumquats?
Kumquats are small citrus fruits that resemble small oranges or clementines.
They are usually the size of a medium to large-sized olive and grow on a small tree.
The skin is delicate and edible, so you don't need to peel the fruit.
The fruit comes from Southeast Asia, China and Japan, yet over the years it has been popularized in Europe and the North American continent.
The trees look rather cute and can hold well over 20 fruits. We bought one of these for 20 bucks for my mum.
The tree was full of kumquats and the best way to enjoy them is in the form of marmalade.
Ingredients + Flavor Variations
This recipe is without artificial pectin added and just requires 3 main ingredients.
- Kumquat
- Sugar
- Lemon Juice
Kumquat
You will need fresh ripe kumquats. The fruits shouldn't be hard but slightly soft to the touch.
I used a large round kumquat variety, they are called meiwa but you can use any other kumquat variety that you like.
Sugar
Use regular sugar that you have at home. Sugar is essential because it helps in preserving the marmalade for a long period.
This is why I don't recommend reducing the sugar quantity in this recipe or switching it with honey or any other sweetener.
Lemon Juice
We also add lemon juice to bring out flavors and help preserve the jam.
Lemon juice, as well as the kumquat fruit, are rich in natural pectin, which in turn helps in preserving your marmalade.
Flavor Variations
Besides the base recipe, you can make this marmalade the way you like it by enhancing it with some flavors.
Here are some ideas, I didn't add these in the video, but you are free to make it your way by adding any of the following:
- dash cinnamon or a cinnamon stick
- a corner of a star anise spice
- dash Chinese five spice
- dash grand marnier or cointrau liqueur
- inch fresh ginger grated
How to make Kumquat Marmalade?
Here is an overview on how you can make your own kumquat marmalade.
It's a small batch recipe. The US and metric measurements can be adjusted for larger quantities, which are located in the recipe card further below.
Step 1
Rinse your kumquats to get rid of impurities stuck on the skin.
Slice your fruits into thin slices.
Place fruits with sugar and lemon juice in a pot over the heat and mix up.
Step 2
Bring to a rolling boil.
Reduce heat a bit and allow to cooking until the fruits start to appear translucent.
Blend marmalade to desired consistency with a stick blender.
Step 3
Test if marmalade is set or still running.
Prepare clean sterilized jars and lids and pour hot kumquat preserve into the jars. I drop some liquor into the lids to kill all microbes.
Close and lock jars, turn upside down to create a vacuum (French/European technique, see preserving below).
Watch how to video (pops up) for all the details.
📖 Recipe
Kumquat Marmalade Recipe
Ingredients
- 14 Ounces Kumquats about 12 pcs (larger variety)
- 10.6 Ounces Sugar
- Juice of ½ Lemon
Instructions
- Rinse fresh Kumquat fruits to get rid of impurities.14 Ounces Kumquats
- Cut the kumquat into thin slices. Pick out the pips and discard the pips.
- Place kumquat slices into a pot and stir in sugar and lemon juice.10.6 Ounces Sugar, Juice of ½ Lemon
- Heat up and bring to a rolling boil. Stir occasionally.
- Reduce the heat to a medium setting and keep on cooking down the marmalade.
- Blend marmalade with a hand blender to the desired consistency. I like it chunky.
- Test if the marmalade is set by pouring some hot marmalade on an ice-cold plate. If it's running, it's not set, and it needs to cook further down. OR check with a candy thermometer if it's set. 105 Celcius/220 Fahrenheit is the setting point.
- Prepare jars and lids. They should be clean and sterilized. Pour some liquor into the lids to kill all remaining microbes.
- Pour the marmalade into the jars up to the rim and close the jar with a lid. Turn it upside down to create a vacuum.
- Turn it back when it's not too hot anymore and store jars in a dry and cool place on a shelf. Store in your fridge after you open the jars.
Notes
- Marmalade serving → ~3 Jars (8 oz/230 ml) = ~100 Teaspoons (1 Teaspoon per serving)
- You can leave the kumquat slices to macerate overnight with the sugar and lemon juice. We usually do that with citrus marmalade to help release pectin, flavors and make the skin softer. It's not necessary, but optional because kumquats have a tender skin.
- Use a few drops of rum/vodka and similar to drop into the cap. This is to disinfect further (to avoid mold growth eventually)
- You can double the recipe by adjusting the servings further on top (under the prepping time)
- Dropping hot marmalade on an ice-cold plate will help you to see if the preserve is set. The ice-cold plate will cool the hot marmalade instantly. Hot marmalade will appear liquid, and it only thickens when it cools.
Equipment
- 1 Jam Pan (copper) or large stainless-steel pan.
- 1 Silicone Spatula To help you scrape out all the jelly from the pan.
- 1 Candy Thermometer Optional. To test setting point.
- 1 Soup Ladle To pour jelly into jars.
- 1 Wide Mouth Funnel Optional. Makes it easier to pour jelly into jar.
- 3 8 oz Canning Jars Or 230 ml.
- 1 Wettex Absorbent Sponge To clean jars if you made a mess.
Nutrition
Preserving + Storing
We use the French/European technique to preserve our marmalade and jams.
That means the jam is filled into the jars, locked and turned upside down quickly. This technique creates a vacuum in your jam.
When the jars have cooled down a bit, turn them back and store them in a cool and dry place, away from direct sunlight. We keep them in shelves in a storage room.
You can also preserve them further with the help of the water bath canning technique.
We don't use it for jams in Europe but rather for whole fruits and veggies. This is because the jam has been cooked to the setting point and the vacuum technique is safe enough.
If you work in a clean environment and exactly as per my instructions, you won't need to do a water bath canning.
Note that the FDA in the US recommends water bath canning, the EU's public health division doesn't recommend it for jams.
Uses
I simply love a teaspoon of this preserve over my breakfast bread, but it has so many other great uses!
You can use the marmalade as a pastry filling, as in stuffed donuts or in Dutch cream cheese pastries.
It makes a great filling in cakes too or in cookies as in the Linzer cookies or thumbprint cookies.
A teaspoon sweetens your plain homemade yogurt, or you can add a layer of it in creamy glass jar desserts.
The kumquat marmalade can be used in savory meals too, to glaze ham or other meats.
Or make it a base ingredient for your dipping sauce, in the spirit of the sweet-sour sauce from McDonald's.
FAQs
A marmalade includes the fruit skin, as in citrus fruit skin. The skin is candied along in the cooking process. A jam is just the fruit pulp cooked to a preserve. A jelly is made by extracting fruit flavors from whole fruits in water, this is then strained and cooked with sugar to a set jelly.
Kumquats are in season from November to March/April
Yes, kumquats are high in natural pectin, just like other citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons. This is why you don't need to add artificial pectin or lemon halves to the cookies process.
No, you don't need to peel kumquats, you can just bite into the fruit as they are. The skin is soft and mildly acidic.
Slice your Kumquats and the pips will fall out. Just pick them out after slicing your fruits and discard the pips. (Thanks to Georgia for asking about this!)
105 Celcius/220 Fahrenheit is the setting point
What are pips in kumquats?
In citrus fruits, such as kumquats, you call the seeds, pips. I hope this helps Faye. 🙂
Awesome and I love it especially at tea time,
Thanks for your feedback Elizabeth!
Hello, I was wondering if there was a way I could use no sugar or use a little amount. Is this possible thanks.
Sugar is required to preserve the marmalade, especially in a marmalade because the citrus skin is added and sugar softens it. Citrus fruits are tart sour and sugar balances it. The sugar quantity is set so that this marmalade can last for over 10 months is you followed all the setting and jar storing tips. If you were to reduce the sugar quantity, you would have to use it up within days. You can try it with a small quantity, but I have not done that, so I can't tell if the marmalade will turn out to be a marmalade.
I was wondering if you think this recipe could be used for other fruits or oranges?
I have an orange marmalade and a lemon marmalade too recipe too. Marmalade are made with citrus fruits. If you are looking for jams, I have many fruit jam recipes.
What sbout water for the marmelade .
Can this be done with agave nectar or does it have to be crystal sugar of some kind?
Thank you
Hi Shell, I'm sorry I have no idea, I haven't tried it with this ingredient. When making this Kumquat marmalade, a save bet is regular sugar. Because the sugar helps in preserving the fruit. You could try it with agave nectar, but consume it soon enough because we don't know how long it will be good. Also, you may want to reduce the quantity of agave nectar used in this recipe. This is of course something you will have to test because I haven't tried that yet.
If you get to try it out, please let us know here! Somebody else might find the info useful.
Tku for this best cumquat recipe - I have been making variations over years but this is the best and using only three ingredients.
I sliced the fruit collected the pips into Muslim cloth boiled altogether with a tspn of cumin. Upon cooling it had set so thick I later reheated for bottling adding half cup water and perfection.
Too many other recipes have too much water that it never sets but I will always make this recipe from now on. Thank you 🌺
Thanks for sharing your version and adjustments with us. Just know that adding water will reduce the shelflife of your marmalade and that you will have to water bath can it and use it up sooner, than if you would make it without water.
My kumquats had seeds in them and quite a pain to take them all out. I added Chinese 5 spice and it smells lovely already. Hopefully the seeds I couldn't catch don't ruin this. Lol.
Hi Allyson, did you get to try your marmalade already? It might be helpful to others how the seeds made it taste like.
Tried it.👍Loved it.
Added some cinnamon and vanilla essences.
And little lemon. Taste awesome 🙈♥️
Fantastic! Love the flavor ideas. thanks for sharing Stella 🙂