Operation Kumquat

Have you ever eaten a whole kumquat? You should. 

In a continuing effort to expand the culinary horizons of my berry-crazed fruit worshipers, we sampled our first kumquats this week. When I say "we" I mean it. Neither Mufasa nor I could remember having tasted a kumquat before.

These olive-sized beauts look like baby oranges and are completely edible. You can eat the rind, which proved an endless source of delight to my children. The thin orange peel is sweet and floral, which is a very good thing since the juicy inner pulp can be shockingly tart.

I took one bite and just about sucked my cheeks down my throat. The pulp was so acidic that I considered scrapping the experiment with the kids all together. But then I ate another one. Three kumquats later, my lips and tongue numb, I was completely addicted.

Kumquats!

 As an added bonus, slicing these little lovelies gave us a chance to sharpen our knife skills.

By the way, this Kuhn Rikon serrated paring knife is my absolute favorite for teaching kids how to cut. It's sharp enough that it glides through the skin of most fruits and vegetables but not so sharp that it draws blood with any frequency. It's small enough for little fingers to handle, cheap enough that I don't worry about throwing it in the dishwasher, and it comes in bright colors that kids love to use.

Time for the taste test...

Bean preferred the sweet rind to the pulp.

Seriously sour. He ate four.

Bean liked the sweet rind. Looly and Roo fell hard for the acrid pulp and spent the afternoon trying to outdo one another's sour face. Between the three of them, they finished a pint.