And so we have Kumquat Jam!

Now, by any stretch of the imagination I am no cook. I can scramble eggs for the pups, I can put together a sandwich and I can make a dinner by opening cans, packets or defrosting - but baking? jam making?.............it's all a mystery to me.

So, what ever possessed me to decide to make Kumquat Jam?

Well, it seemed a shame to waste this home grown crop of fruit after I have nurtured it through the summer months and the recipe I downloaded from Google only required Kumquats, Sugar and a microwave, so even I should be capable of putting those 3 elements together and getting something from it.

OK, so for those of you new to a Kumquat, allow me to introduce the little fruit.

It's about an inch in size and in Spanish it's called a 'naranjita' which is quite literally 'little orange'.

So first of all we have to peel them, de-seed them and take out the centre - fiddly, time consuming but not impossible.

So, sleeves rolled up on off we go...

After about an hour (well maybe a little less) I had reduced the 2 dozen Kumquats to a small amount of fruit needed for the jam.

It looked enough for me to try it so, back to the kitchen.

Now the recipe needs about 1/3 sugar to the weight of Kumquats - needless to say I had such a small amount of fruit my scales didn't even move so it was a bit of guess work but I added sugar, stirred it in and put it in the microwave for about 4 minutes to bring it to the boil. Then it was a case of remove, stir and re-microwave a minute at a time until it was the right consistency.

And once it was jam like I put it into a ramikin to cool in the fridge.

I have to say, it looked okay, but it was too hot to try it so I had to be patient.

Now, what I didn't know is that it would continue to thicken as it cooled down so half an hour later when I went back to try it - it was a solid lump. Never one to give up, I boiled the kettle and added some boiling water to the dish, allowed it to soak a few minutes and stirred - and success. I had proper Kumquat Jam. It tastes orangey but with a sourness to it, but by adding more sugar initially it could be sweetened. You can also slice the Kumquat so that you include the rind if you prefer.

So, was this a way to pass a couple of hours or a means to using up fruit for a purpose? Well, this mornings breakfast was 2 slices of toast with Kumquat Jam made from home grown fruit. Not bad for a beginner.

Now, I have been given 2 dozen lemons so I'm off to get the ingredients to have a go at Lemon Curd!