Polly's Kumquat Jam

Every year I had to wait for Kumquat to turn orange ... until Fall.  Don't know why, but it takes forever for Orange, Lime, and Kumquat to turn orange in my garden.  But this year, winter's Kumquat turned orange on-time in spring for the harvest.  Actually, when I saw a bumper of Kumquats, I was hoping that they would fall off the tree.  All the plants must really love this year's rain and fair spring weather.  Kumquats did not fall off.  There were about 100 Kumquats on this 5 ft dwarf tree.  After a few days letting it sit in my kitchen, I thought why not try making this candied orange I saw on the NetFlix "Flavorful Origin".  Of course, I did not have the same large mandarins.  Mine are Kumquats.  I peeled each one of them - 100 of them all and deseeded each one.  Then,  processed the way the woman in the show did.  Melting sugar in the pot without water.  Squash the juice out after a day of soaking in the filtered water. Steamed for so many minutes. Then, mixed into sugar syrup. And cooked according to her recipe. Then, actually, it turned into a mush.  There are no candied Kumquats.  My plan B that I didn't have is to turn it into a jam or preserve.  I pressed them through the sieve and voila! done.  It has the wonderful tangy taste with slight hint of bitterness afterwards, but not like when eating them fresh that pucker up anyone's lips.
Will I want to make it again?  yes!

 Place in filtered water to remove bitterness.  Then, squash them to remove juices.

 Time to Steam.

Even for candies these got way too much seeds, I had to remove them.

 

 Now what happened. It's a mush!

Transfer from the steamer into a stainless steel pot. Add Sugar.  Do not stir.  Cook at low heat.  Sugar will eventually starting to melt.

 Scrape the sugar off the sides of the pot.  Add a bit of canning ascorbic acid or pectin.

 Strain.

 Push down.

 Discard.

 Beautiful Jam.

 

 Sterilize jars and caps.

Only three tiny jars from 100 Kumquats.  These won't last very long.  They will be appreciated on the morning toast or thumbprint cookies.  So, just make sure the jars and caps are sterilized.  Refrigerate after completely cooled.

 The peels got sun dried instead of dehydrator.  I was contemplating to just toss into my garden.

 But, my goodness.  After the sun dry, these peels are sweet.  So I stored them away in the sterilized jars for later snack.