When my friend Joan messaged me and said she’d picked some Loquats to bring me I was so excited! We had a Loquat tree growing up and I used to love to eat them right off the tree. These soft, little fruits resemble a small apple. The sweet flavor of a Loquat is often described as a combination of apricot, cherry, and plum. The trees can grow quite large and make great shade trees because of their long, large leaves.
Stone Fruits
Loquats are a stone fruit like apriocts or cherries. One interesting fact about these fruits is that their pits contain Cyanogenic Glycosides. When chewed, this natural toxin can release cyanide. Eating a lot of the chewed pits, can make you sick, but It’s not the same as ingesting cyanide salts. Plus, the pits are so hard, you’re more likely to break your teeth than you are to get cyanide poisoning. The fruit itself, just like an apricot, is harmless, and delicious.
Good For More Than Just Snacking
Snacking on a few of the sun-kissed fruit, I realized, other than just eating them, I had no idea what to do with a Loquat, and now I had a big bag of them! I assumed I could make jam with them. Loquats are actually quite versatile!
Loquats make great jams, jellies, and fruit butters. Surprisingly, they’re also used in cobblers, chicken dishes, vinaigrette dressings, and even cocktails. For my bounty, I decided a Loquat jam would be best. I found so many different recipes online. I read jam recipes that use vanilla, plum, and even spices like cardamom. They all sounded delicious, but I prefer more simple jam flavors that showcase the fruit. I decided to make my own recipe.
Cleaning a Loquat
I started by washing and cutting the Loquats. Some recipes called for cooking the chopped Loquats and mashing them in a sieve to remove the skins. The skins peel off very easily so I just peeled them by hand as I took out the pits and the membrane around the pits.
Loquats are funny little fruits. Even with their small size they can have 2, 3, and even 4 pits in one Loquat! These pits are contained inside a thin membrane similar to the membrane separating citrus sections.
Time to Make Jam
I measured the cleaned, and chopped Loquats to see how much fruit meat I had. It measured out to about 2 cups. I poured the pieces into a pot, and added ¾ c water. Putting the pot on medium/high heat to bring it to a boil, I stirred it frequently. Reducing the heat to Medium, I Iet it simmer about 20 minutes, and stirred it occasionally to make sure it didn’t scorch.
Next, I need to get the right consistency. I tried using a potato masher to smash down the fruit, but it wasn’t what I was looking for. Instead, I pulled out my immersion blender and gave the fruit a few pulses with it. I didn’t want to completely blend up the fruit. We like having some of the fruit bits in jam. It tasted delicious, but I thought adding some fresh squeezed orange juice would really enhance the favor of the Loquats. Grabbing one of the Navel oranges from my fruit basket, I squeezed it by hand right into the pot. I didn’t measure how much of the orange juice I squeezed it. I just squeezed as much as I could. It added the perfect touch!
It was finally time to add the sugar. I poured in 1 ¾ C sugar into the fruit mixture, and gave it a good stir. (I’m sure you could substitute honey instead of sugar. Use 1 1/2 C of honey in that case.) I turned the heat back on to medium to bring it back up to a simmer. I let the jam simmer for 30 minutes stirring continuously so the sugar wouldn’t’ burn. The end result was perfect!
Can It!
Keep your extra jam fresh and delicious by processing it in a Water Bath canner. You can learn more about this process in part 1 of my Home Canning Basics post.
Delicious Loquat Orange Marmalade
My Loquat Orange Marmalade was a gorgeous, golden orange color. It tasted so good I could not wait to eat it! I toasted a piece of homemade bread, added a little butter and spread on the jam. MMMMmmmm!
Loquats are my new obsession! I even saved a few of the pits to try and propagate my own Loquat tree for future use! Be sure to keep the seeds wet if you choose to do this too. Don’t let them dry out.
If you’ve never tried a Loquat, it’s worth the search! Their season has just started here in Southern California. You can find Loquats from now until July so keep your eyes open!
Want to know more about Loquats? Here’s some great information from the California Rare Fruit Growers site.
Loquat Orange Marmalade
Ingredients
- 2 C Loquats, cleaned, peeled, and chopped
- 3/4 C Water
- 1 Orange, juiced
- 1 3/4 C Sugar
Instructions
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Put the Loquat pieces into a large pot, and add the water. On medium/high heat to bring fruit to a boil, stirring it frequently. Reducing the heat to Medium, and simmer about 20 minutes. Stir it occasionally to make sure it doesn’t scorch.
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Mash or blend fruit to get the consistency you want. Keeping more fruit bits makes it more like a marmalade. Blending it more will give you a jam consistency.
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Add the juice from one orange to the fruit.
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Pour sugar into the fruit mixture, and gave it a good stir. Turn the heat back up to medium to bring it back up to a simmer. Let the jam simmer for 30 minutes stirring continuously so the sugar wouldn’t’ burn. The marmalade will thicken as it cools
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The marmalade will keep for 2 – 3 months in the refrigerator or you can Water Bath can it.
Recipe Notes
You could substitute 1 1/2 C honey instead of sugar.
If you choose to can the marmalade for later, process it in a Water Bath canner for 30 mins. You can follow my canning guide here.