With the Fijian “winter” approaching in a few months, nature is once again signalling that her food medicines are coming into the season, especially the citrus fruits.
Lemon, lime, mandarin, pineapple, guava and cumquat are key sources of vitamin C for Pacific islanders – an important medicine to help build immunity and defence against disease.
Without a regular dose of vitamin C, we weaken our body’s defences. And at a time when we are learning to protect ourselves from viruses, making sure we eat lots of these types of foods has now become potentially lifesaving.
So it comes as no surprise that our markets and gardens are filled with citrus fruits but there is one fruit that has a sweetness of sour that I look forward to every year – cumquat. Citrus fruit, or moli, are an essential ingredient of Pacific island cuisine.
They are used for ‘curing’ fish and seafood, adding sourness to coconut milk and teas, and are perfect in jams, marmalades and cakes.
However, there is one member of the citrus family that can be eaten whole – skin and all – and that is cumquat.
Spelt with a “c” in Australia and a “k” elsewhere in the world, cumquats are now beginning to appear at the markets.
Compared to lemons, limes or oranges, the thin skins of these cute little fruits are slightly sweet, but when you bite into them, their juicy flesh offers a jolt of tartness that will make your cheeks suck in, lips pucker and eyes water.
My staffs think I’m crazy but eating cumquats like a grape is one of those little joys that I look forward to when they are in season.
This sensory, explosive experience is why I now have them in place of lemons across my entire lunch menu, as I want my guests to enjoy the same jolt to their palate.
The deep orange colour of the flesh and perfectly symmetrical locule segments are a visual marvel of nature, that draws the eye straight to them on the plate.
Raw, grilled or cooked
Cumquats taste best if they are gently rolled between the fingers before being eaten raw, as this releases the essential oils in the rind, which not only contain many healing properties, but also is where its citrusy flavour is hidden. Discovering the sweetness of sour in cumquats makes it an exotic addition to just about any seafood or coconut-based dish that needs tartness, which is why cumquats are at home in Pacific island cuisine. However, most just squeeze the cumquat for its juice, rather than serve it as an accompaniment to be eaten skin and all. Like most citrus fruits, when you grill a halved cumquat on a bbq grill or a very hot frypan, it gives it a subtle, smoky flavour and makes the fruit extra-juicy. Try serving your next fish dish with grilled cumquats, a dressed salad, mashed potato and a butter sauce with chopped salty capers or nama sea grapes. I promise. The addition of grilled cumquats, eaten together with everything else on the plate, will blow your mind.
Where are they from?
Cumquats are native to South-East China and tropical Malaysia, and their name derives from the Cantonese word “kam kwat”, which means “golden orange”. In ancient China they were revered by royalty and peasants alike, as they symbolised prosperity and wealth, and today the cumquat tree is still given as a traditional gift at Lunar New Year. There are two varieties of cumquats grown in Fiji that I know of. The most common is the round, Japanese-cultivated Marumi cumquat with its thin waxy skin, aromatic and spicy scent, with large essential oil glands. Marumi have acid-sweet, juicy flesh, with pulp in 4–7 segments, and 5-9 seeds. The other less common is the oblong-shaped but much-sweeter Meiwa. I’ve only seen these grown in people’s yards and are virtually seedless and less juicy, but with edible sweeter skin. The Meiwa variety are better used for jams and chutneys but are just as delicious eaten raw if you can find them.
Is it really a citrus fruit?
Cumquats are technically not citrus fruits like oranges and lemons, as they belong to a different genus of thin, edible-rinded fruits known as Fortunella. At the turn of the last century, botanists decided to distinguish these little sweet and sour balls from their more sour cousins, and named the species after an intrepid 19th-century plant explorer, Robert Fortune. A master of industrial espionage and fluent in the Mandarin language, the Scotsman was sent by the British Horticultural Society to infi ltrate and collect an assortment of flora in China. He managed to disguise himself as a peasant so well that he was able to travel to forbidden places unchallenged. Fortune smuggled out many of China’s highly coveted teas and indigenous plants, and is credited with introducing the art of miniature bonsai trees to the Western world. Although the cumquat was cultivated in Japan a century before, they were eventually introduced to Europe in 1846, Florida (USA) in 1855 and Hawai’i around 1888.
Health benefits of cumquats
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that cumquats contain a range of medicinal properties that heal, repair and revitalise the body.
Their high vitamin C content boosts our immune system, especially in preparation for the colder weather in a few months. They are also rich in vitamin A, fibre, potassium and calcium – basically, they are good for you! And remember those essential oils hidden in the thin skin of cumquats? They are known to boost your mood, rejuvenate your energy, purify the skin, remove toxins and fight bacteria. They’re basically a citrus bomb of medicine and flavour. Like oranges, cumquats are delicious in savoury dishes as mentioned earlier. Since cooking them mellows their acidity, they make great chutneys and relishes that complement lamb, pork and duck. Simply sliced raw, cumquats add zing to salads of bitter greens like roquette and watercress. But like everything in life, it’s all about expectations. If you eat a cumquat expecting total sweetness, you’ll get hit by its intense tartness and quickly discover the sweetness of sour. And if you’re like me, you’ll go back for more punishment.
- Lance Seeto is the host of FBC TV’s Exotic Delights, and chef owner of KANU Gastropub in Nadi.
