Loquat Marmalade

[gnappi]

My GF shocked me tonight and made loquat marmalade. We passed a large late season loquat tree last week and bought 3 pounds of loquat for the seeds to make Italian loquat liqueur and while the seeds are drying she decided to make marmalade... WOW! I gotta tell you the fruit was really substandard, but because the fruit were so late I had taken cuttings to graft onto my tree but wound up throwing them away. But the marmedade is outstanding, I can't wait till next season to make the marmalade with good tasting fruit. Yet ANOTHER idea for you folks that may have substandard fruit.

If I had known this I would not have killed my Christmas loquat last year. 

[ScottR]

Interesting never thought of Loquat marmalade sounds good though, but even more interesting is your mention of Italian loquat liqueur. Can you share how it's made or would you have to kill me if you did
My wife is half Italian and she makes fruit infused liqueurs with Vodka & Brandy soaked fruit for a few months then strain and add simple sugar syrup, the best one she has made was passiflora edulis after it was made and sat for two year's it mellows out with no alcohol taste but drink too much and you'll know it! 

[shaneatwell]

Excellent!

[gnappi]

I don't have the recipe for either, she's from Sicily and has everything in metric, but I'll ask for it, convert and post back. There are lots of recipes on the web for it, she said they are not authentic, like they're done, "on the other side" :-)

I do know one thing about it, she is very, VERY specific that the seeds MUST BE DRIED IN THE SUN for as long as it takes for the skin to peel off by simply rubbing the seeds together. Typically 5-10 days and she absolutely WILL NOT do it any other way.

She has a LOT of disdain for methods like oven roasting, microwave, boiling, hot air or any other method of getting the seeds prepared "correctly"meaning sun dried.

Her marmalade is also not like any recipes I read online which we viewed tonight. She uses no orange, or pectin, and no skin or the inner thin casing that holds the seed away from the fruit meat. She uses just the meat, a labor intensive method but the results were spectacular.

Her culture is thousands of years old and I'm not about to disagree with her since everything she makes is simply (I'm not using the word lightly here) sublime.

PS, she won't use vodka, she said it's crap. She will only use grain alcohol. She makes a half dozen of these Italian / Sicilian drinks, one better than the next. Again I don't disagree. Think Limoncello made with "TANGERINES" instead...WOW!!! Again her opinion of the online recipes for limoncello are VERY dim.

[RiversOFT]

Share the recipe! Lol

[pineislander]

Several Loquat jam recipes versions here, including the seed liqueur.
A marmalade generally has whole bits of fruit versus a jam which is a finer consistency of pulp.
You can modify a jam recipe towards marmalade by substituting chunks of seeded fruit for part of the sieved pulp.
http://www.eattheweeds.com/loquat-getting-a-grip-on-grappa/

[Doglips]

I had one year that I got loquat butter from a local producer, sooo good.
All subsequent years didn't have any, so bummed.

Loquats do very well as jam, jelly preserve, conserve, marmalade, butter, et al.
More sour is more better when it comes to making the above.

[gnappi]

Funny you should say more sour is better, I would think sweeter varieties would use less sugar in the making, and you could always add a dash of lemon to add some zing.

[pineislander]

In most cases there is a minimum ph range of 2.3-3.3 needed to get a good gel 'set' and retard spoilage in jams/marmalades, etc.

Years ago I had a small tropical fruit cannery making value-added products for the tourist trade.

[Doglips]

Funny you should say more sour is better, I would think sweeter varieties would use less sugar in the making, and you could always add a dash of lemon to add some zing.

You can always add sugar, you can't add flavor.  Cooking fruit dulls flavors.  The same reason why sour cherries make better pies, than sweet.

[TCGardener]

 My wife made loquat jams every spring. She even made a loquat upside down cake with them. Sadly we lost our Loquat tree to Hurricane Mathew last year.
We made lemoncello a number of times but with vodka. I thought the grain alcohol would be to strong. Would like to know more about how your wife make it and the loquat seed liquor.

[zands]

Funny you should say more sour is better, I would think sweeter varieties would use less sugar in the making, and you could always add a dash of lemon to add some zing.

You can always add sugar, you can't add flavor.  Cooking fruit dulls flavors.  The same reason why sour cherries make better pies, than sweet.

Same holds true for ye real old fashioned American apple pies. They are made with 50/50 split of tart apples and sweeter apples. The sweetener be it sugar or something healthier, works its magic on the tart and sour flavors.

BTW the healthiest sugar I have seen is the kind you see in Hispanic marts from Colombia, that comes in a hard brick. It is a real whole brown sugar. Not refined at all. Even the local Walmart has it or Broward Meat and Fish, Bravo market etc



Panela sugar  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panela

! No longer available

[Irish2heart]

Gnappi, please post your Wifes recipies! They sound like they are wonderful.

[gnappi]

She's not my wife, my girlfriend. I'll ask her today.

[ScottR]

OK, Gary give that girl friend of your's many kisses and tell her she has a following on this forum that are interested in her recipies!
Please------------------

[gnappi]

They make it like this in Sicily. No pectin is used.

Put the whole loquats in a pot, cover with water and boil till tender. Remove, drain let cool, peel the skins off, remoce pits and dice the fruit.

She mashes or shreds up the fruit VERY fine in a Moulin Legumes mashing tool.

Reduce or increase amounts as needed:

For firm results that are like little all fruit disc cakes use equal parts 1lb loquat Ilb sugar and 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon, juice from 1/2 lemon and cook over very low heat till it firms up. Put the loquat paste in a damp jelly mold or small dish and cover with fine net (finer than cheese cloth much like a wedding veil) and leave in the sun for 2 or 3 days till dry and firm.

They will keep over a year unrefrigerated wrapped in parchment paper and can be brought hiking out in a lunch box.

For marmelade in a jar use 1/2 as much sugar cook as above but store in a jar in refrigerator. I will post pics of the little fruit cakes (not my kid) if I can when I get home.

[ScottR]

Thanks Gary,give your girl friend a big kiss

[Tropheus76]

This got me interested since A: I like brewing odd things and B: loquats are one of my favorite fruit trees and I collect them. So I hunted a recipe I will try next year.
Homemade Italian Loquat Seed Liqueur (Alessandra Vinciguerra) Recipe

From correspondent Bob Beer, originally from Alessandra Vinciguerra and given to the Mediterranean Garden Group

If you live in the south and have a ready source of loquats (which are absolutely nothing at all like kumquats!), here is an interesting one to try, made of their seeds. Loquat seeds have an aroma reminiscent of bitter almonds (the flavoring of almond extract).

Dry 200g of loquat seeds in sun for a week. Put in a bottle with 400g spirit [grain alcohol -ed.], a piece of lemon rind and a piece of vanilla bean. Keep covered in sun for 1 month, shaking it occasionally. Prepare syrup of 300g sugar and 300g water. Boil, then when cool mix with spirit, filter and bottle. Keep to season at least 2 months before drinking.

[Note from correspondent - while the recipe calls for grain alcohol, he supposes vodka could be used in a pinch. And consider aging for more like 6 months - his first batch started out quite harsh, but has since mellowed to be reminiscent of Amaretto.

Editor's note - if I were making this, I'd try with 1/4 lemon rind (sliced and scraped), and 1/2 vanilla bean, split. As always, experiment to taste.]

Units of measurement (unless stated otherwise)
1 cup = 8 ounces = 236ml
   1 quart = 32 ounces = 944ml
1 tbsp (tablespoon) = 1/2 ounce = 15ml
   1 fifth = 25.6 ounces = 750ml
1 tsp (teaspoon) = 1/6 ounce = 5ml
   1 pint = 16 ounces = 472ml