About a year ago, my roommate, Joan, came home from visiting her mother in Louisiana and handed me a basket of kumquats she had picked off the tree in her mother’s yard. To the uninitiated, kumquats look like tiny oranges; they average about an inch in diameter and are bright orange, with a bumpy skin like an orange. I grinned, popped one into my mouth, and chomped down, skin and all. The instant the skin burst my mouth was flooded with the tangy, slightly sour taste of the juicy fruit, followed by the sweetness of the skin. I hadn’t seen kumquats in years and they certainly aren’t a staple in the grocery stores, but somehow I just knew they were supposed to be eaten skin and all.

Since that time I’ve had a craving for kumquats. They’re in season now and readily available at the downtown Farmer’s Market each weekend. I am simply incapable of walking by the kumquats without buying a basket. They make me feel good. Each time I bite into one, I get all Continue reading →

You might also like: