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The months of January and February equal citrus time in the South! This small batch kumquat marmalade is able to be made in just a few hours on your weekend, and will make a couple pints of tasty spread for your toast and sandwiches for the week.
If you love sweet citrusy recipes, you’ll definitely want to try my recipes for these blissful grapefruit bars and these wonderful warm lemon pudding cakes.
Introduction
About two weeks ago, my sweet neighbor Miss Donna gave me some kumquats from her tree, which inspired me to try making my first-ever batch of kumquat marmalade. While it was still warm from the stove, I spread it on a buttered English muffin—and I was hooked! This small batch kumquat marmalade was so easy and delicious, I want to share it with you.
This is a perfect beginner-friendly recipe—no canning required. With just sugar, citrus, and perhaps a cinnamon stick or star anise, you’ll create a bright, tart preserve that’s far better than store-bought versions. Since January and February are the peak citrus months in the American South, now is the perfect time to enjoy fruits like kumquats, Meyer lemons, and clementines.
Why This Recipe Works
- No Pectin Required: The natural pectin found in the fruit means no additional pectin is required for this marmalade to thicken.
- No Canning Required: this recipe requires no canning and is fast and easy!
- Easy to Adapt: Feel free to swap out the citrus if you don’t have kumquats on hand or if you want to experiment with a blend of different citrus.
Ingredients
This easy kumquat marmalade takes only six ingredients! It’s extremely cheap to make, it makes a gorgeous gift…there’s so many reasons to enjoy it. Let’s chat about the key ingredients for this marmalade…
- Fresh Kumquats: This citrus fruit is in season in January and February here in the South. If you don’t have a tree on your property, get some from your local grocery store.
- Lemon: I add a touch of lemon zest and juice to bring a subtle tang and extra flavor to the marmalade.
- Star Anise: This brings a wonderful flavor that goes perfectly with the fruit! Try a cinnamon stick if you don’t have a star anise in your pantry.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Kumquat Marmalade
Scroll down for the complete printable recipe and watch the video in the recipe card for a visual demonstration.
- Prepare the kumquats. Wash and dry the fruit, then quarter them and remove the seeds. Cut off the peels and remove the pith from half of the peels (if desired). Cut the peels and fruit into very small pieces.
- Macerate the fruit. Put the chopped kumquat peels and fruit into a large, heavy-based pot and toss it with lemon zest and juice, cayenne, star anise, sugar, and water and let the mixture sit for 2 hours.
- Simmer the marmalade. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn the heat down to medium and simmer until the marmalade has a temperature of 215-220°F. Let it cool off the heat for 10 minutes.
- Store in jars. Scoop the marmalade into sterilized jars, screw on the lids, and let them cool at room temperature. Store in the fridge and enjoy on toast or any recipe in which you use marmalade.
Recipe FAQs
For this no-canning-involved kumquat marmalade, you only need two clean pint jars since the marmalade goes straight into the fridge and is eaten within a couple of weeks. If you plan to make a larger batch and store it in the pantry, invest in new pint-size or smaller canning jars with new lids and bands, and follow the water bath canning instructions on the packaging to safely seal them for long-term storage.
You can use a variety of citrus to make marmalade, including kumquats, oranges, lemons, limes, or grapefruit. Meyer lemons are especially good for marmalade since they’re naturally sweet, while regular lemons may need a little extra sugar. Feel free to get creative! Try blending different citrus fruits or even adding a splash of bourbon to elevate your preserves.
For the best flavor in kumquat marmalade, consider removing the bitter white pith from half of the fruit. Since the sweet part of a kumquat is the outer rind and the flesh is tart, too much pith can make the preserve overly bitter. But removing it all reduces the yield and can make the marmalade too sweet. Removing the pith from half of the peels balances the flavors perfectly. If you leave all the pith in, add an extra 1/8 to 1/4 cup of sugar to help offset the bitterness.
Jam is simply fruit cooked with sugar (and possibly pectin to thicken it) into a spreadable mixture. On the other hand, marmalade is always made from citrus fruits and includes the peels along with the fruit for a chunkier texture and slightly bitter flavor.
Serving Kumquat Marmalade
This kumquat marmalade would be perfect on almost any bread or toast! I highly recommend trying it with my buttermilk bread, Irish soda bread with raisins, fruit bread, or even this banana nut bread. Or opt for something simple and spread it on a toasted English muffin. What could be better?
Expert Tips
- Trim off the pith from half of the kumquat peels. This gives the marmalade a balanced flavor and saves you time. The difference in yield can swing by 4-8 ounces or more, depending on how much pith you trim off.
- Cook the marmalade until it reaches a temperature of 215-220°F to ensure that it thickens and sets properly when it cools.
- For Refrigerator Storage: Sterilize the canning jars and lids by boiling them in water for approximately 10 minutes. Fill the jars. Ensure that the ingredients do not reach the edge, leaving about 1/2-inch headspace. Tightly close the lids and refrigerate.
- For Pantry Storage: Sterilize the canning jars and lids by boiling them in water for approximately 10 minutes. Fill the jars, leaving about 1/2-inch headspace, then screw on the lids tightly. Place a piece of cloth in the bottom of a pot and put the jars on top; make sure no jars are touching. Fill the pot with water to cover the jars, then heat it to a boil and boil for about 20 minutes. Remove the jars using gloves or tongs and let them cool on a towel on the counter. If you are unable to press the button in the center of the lid down, the jar is properly sealed and you can safely store the jam at room temp.
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Small Batch Kumquat Marmalade
Video
Equipment
- heavy bottomed pot
- candy thermometer
- jars with tight fitting lids and bands/seals
Ingredients
- 2 cups kumquats, halved, quartered, seeds and pith removed, and then finely chopped
- 1 medium lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 star anise pod, or 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 pinch cayenne
- 1 cup water
Instructions
Prepare the Kumquats
- Wash and dry them, then quarter them and remove the seeds.
- Using a very sharp paring knife, trim off the peels and remove the white pith from half of the peels.
- Chop both the peels and the quartered fruit into very small pieces.
Making the Marmalade
- Place the prepared kumquats into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Add the lemon zest and juice, a large pinch of cayenne, a star anise, the sugar, and the water. Stir well, then cover and allow the fruit to macerate for a minimum of 2 hours (I do 3 hours) at room temperature.
- After the fruit has macerated, place the pot over medium-high heat and bring the entire mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium. Remove the star anise after about 20 minutes. (If using a cinnamon stick, remove after 40 minutes.)
- Continue cooking and stirring often until the mixture is thick, similar to the consistency of gravy. Use a candy thermometer to check the mixture's temperature; once it hits 215-220° F, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
- Spoon the warm marmalade into sterilized jars. Secure lids and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. You will have roughly 2 pints of marmalade with half of the pith removed.
Notes
- Trim off the pith from half of the kumquat peels. This gives the marmalade a balanced flavor and saves you time. The difference in yield can swing by 4-8 ounces or more, depending on how much pith you trim off.
- Cook the marmalade until it reaches a temperature of 215-220°F to ensure that it thickens and sets properly when it cools.
- For Refrigerator Storage: Sterilize the canning jars and lids by boiling them in water for approximately 10 minutes. Fill the jars. Ensure that the ingredients do not reach the edge, leaving about 1/2-inch headspace. Tightly close the lids and refrigerate.
- For Pantry Storage: Sterilize the canning jars and lids by boiling them in water for approximately 10 minutes. Fill the jars, leaving about 1/2-inch headspace, then screw on the lids tightly. Place a piece of cloth in the bottom of a pot and put the jars on top; make sure no jars are touching. Fill the pot with water to cover the jars, then heat it to a boil and boil for about 20 minutes. Remove the jars using gloves or tongs and let them cool on a towel on the counter. If you are unable to press the button in the center of the lid down, the jar is properly sealed and you can safely store the jam at room temp.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe is fine – tasty product. But the amount it makes is inaccurate: Carefully measured and compressed chopped, prepared fruit – the recipe made 16 ounces.
PB, I’m so glad you gave the recipe a try — and even happier to hear you’re enjoying the final jam! Thank you for your thoughtful note. You’re absolutely right that yields can vary, and it often comes down to how the fruit is prepped.
For example, if all of the pith (the white layer beneath the peel) is removed, the final volume of chopped fruit can shrink quite a bit. In my kitchen, I leave about half — sometimes up to three-quarters — of the pith when processing citrus. We love the slight bitterness it adds, and it helps boost the volume of the fruit mixture too. Depending on how much is left in or trimmed away, the difference in yield can easily swing by 4 to 8 ounces or more.
So if someone prefers a sweeter preserve and trims more carefully, they might get a smaller batch — but still a delicious one! ❤️ I always say: jam-making is a little bit art and a little bit adventure, and I love hearing how it turns out in different kitchens. 🙂 Jenny
HI Jenny,
I found and chose your recipe today as it was for a small batch and also adjustable. The marmaldae was delicious. I have a short cut for the removing the pith. I cut the citrus in half length wise and make a V- shaped channel with a sharp paring knife along either side of the long vein of pith. Often this exposes the seed which can be flicked out with the tip of the knife. I then cut the halves into quarters and chop finely.
Regrds
Jane
Jane, you’ve just schooled me and HUNDREDS of others – THANK YOU! And yes, the marmalade is fabulous, just that pith for me is an obvious struggle! So, Miss Jane, what other kitchen hacks do we need to know about? What’ve you got?? xo – Jenny
Made your kumquat jam last week and I didn’t remove the pith, rather cut them in quarters lengthwise then cut all quarters in halves. I flicked seeds out with the point of a paring knife so did not use the natural pectin from the seeds to thicken the jam. It made a bigger batch and it was delicious! The measurements I used made 6 half pints and 1 small half pint!
8 cups prepared fruit
2 cups water
4 cups sugar
3 T pectin (powdered from can)
3 star anise whole
Cooked it till it thickened and then put it sealable jars. I did remove the star anise when it started thickening. I did end up adding pectin because for me, it wasn’t thickening fast enough and fruit was cooking down to small amount.
Put a Tablespoon in a small bowl to see if it thickened in fridge. Waited to see if it did and then turned off stove, then jarred them. Used cool jam to enjoy a delicious peanut butter sandwich afterwards!
My sister provided the fruit from her yard in Bakersfield and she didn’t know what to do them, she was just enjoying how pretty they were on her tree! I live in a small town called Watsonville California, about five hrs. from Bakersfield! Have never seen Kumquats growing here! She didn’t even know what they were!
Will certainly make more when I can! I brought home a bag of them in a quart size zip lock bag and used most of them. Hope you will try it! Yes, I agree they were a lot of work but well worth it!
Usually sell my jams to afford buying more products for canning, however, what I would have to charge for my labor most people wouldn’t pay it. This will be strictly for my enjoyment and will probably share a jar with my sister who grew the fruit! Do you know if it freezes well for future use?
Lupe, I have been waiting for a canner person to jump on this method, and I’m soooo glad it was YOU! Yes, it is a lot of work, BUT…for many of us, cooking, baking, freezing, and canning is cathartic in some way, so it doesn’t necessarily “feel” like a lot of work. I have indeed frozen this jam for later use and it freezes well; perhaps a bit of darkening from the original sunny golden hue, but apart from that, no attribute changes. At one point, I had a marmalade cake on this website. It never garnered much traffic, so I deleted it. I published this jam post years after the cake despite this jam being THE marmalade used in the cake. Now I wish I would have left it because it was tasty and very, very elegant. I digress….Lupe, thank you! If you manage photos, please send so others can see your success. I find it helps when somebody is embarking on a recipe front that they’ve not attempted previously 🙂 Jenny