Well, there is one way to get another harvest entry under “k”, and that is to use the alternate spelling! We inherited two little kumquat trees at Dreamland and this year they didn’t disappoint.

So according to the popular mass-updated on-line encyclopaedia, “Kumquats (or cumquats in Australian English), Citrus japonica, are a group of small fruit-bearing trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae. Their edible fruit closely resembles the orange in colour and shape but is much smaller, being approximately the size of a large olive. Kumquat is a fairly cold-hardy citrus.” Well, that explains why it survives our frosty winter quite well. I would also say the resemblance to an orange stops at its appearance. It doesn’t taste anything like orange, not to me anyway. I find it quite tart. However at times when I walk past the bush I often grab one or two and just eat them skin and all – it is quite refreshing especially on a blazing hot day.

Patricia and her mom made some marmalade from one of the harvests. It came out quite nice – even the kids eat it on toast, and that says a lot – in my mind, marmalade is not a typical kids’ favourite. Or maybe I just had under-developed taste buds when I was a kid!