There is a sentence you don't hear every day....When life gives you Buddha's Hand!
Well, strangely enough, a few weeks ago life handed me a whole bag of Buddha's Hand, as well as some Kumquats, and some pink variegated Eureka lemons.
It was Monday afternoon (Monday is usually our Sunday), and we were visiting some friends in their Tenderloin apartment and enjoying their delicious homemade Chamomile and Vanilla iced tea. Before we left, K announced that we had to take some of this citrus with us! Some regular of the restaurant where she works gave it to her a few days ago. They were from the citrus ranch where this person grew up. Of course I would take them! Thank you very much! And so I left K and K's with a heavy bag of gorgeous and fraguant Buddha's Hands, Kumquats and pink variegated Eureka Lemons.
When we got home, I washed them and carefully placed them in one of my beloved vintage bowls
(this is one of the two that were a bit overpriced, but totally worth it...).
For a few days, I just let them sit there. Their colors brightening my every entrance to the kitchen, , their presence bringing home the concepts of local food, of sharing with the community, of fresh picked fruits, of friendship, and the Buddha's Hand's intoxicating perfume flooding our home.
From the moment I got them, I knew I was going to make marmalade. I just needed the idea to marinate in my mind for a little while before manifesting. During those days I also did some research, looking into different jam and candied citrus recipes, to figure out what the best techniques and preparation methods would be to accomplish the delicious result of my vision (which I could already taste in my head). I find that my food is so much better when I do that.
Then one day, after work, I got to work. I started with the Buddha's Hand. I sliced it and found some pulp inside one of them. Luckily I had just read that some fruits have it and others don't. This was my first with pulp, and had I not read that information, I might have thought the fruit was starting to rot. That's not to say I wouldn't have used it anyways. Anything that smells that wonderful could not have been bad. I cut around said pulp, and sliced the fruit in 1/4 inch slices.
I covered it with water, brought it to a boil, drained it and repeated three times. Buddha's hand is mostly pith, which is the bitter part of citrus fruits. In some fruits, almost all the flavor is in the pulp and the oils of the peel, but in this one, there is a significant amount of flavor in the pith as well. Boiling it like this cleans it of some of it's bitterness, without clearing it of it's distinct flavor.
After the third cleanse, I covered it with water again, this time with equal amounts of sugar and a pinch of salt. I brought it to a boil, turned it down to a simmer, and added the fresh sliced kumquats.
I let it simmer for a while, stirring and tasting it often. As I usually do, I decided that it was too sweet, and that it needed a little more acid to balance it out (this not only happens when I cook sweets, anyone who knows my cooking well can attest to the fact that any given dish is almost always finished with a little lime, a little lemon, or a little vinegar, you know, some acid...). So I halved one of those beautiful lemons with their yellow and green stripes on the outside, and pink pulp on the inside, and squeezed its juice into my concoction. Another taste revealed that it was almost there, just a little more lemon juice and perfect!
I got enough for three jars. That's exactly the amount I wanted! One for us, one for K and K who gave us the fruits, and one from my friend G from work, with whom I had shared my vision (I find it's very unfair to share a food vision with someone and not share the food result with them as well, provided they live close enough).
This serendipitous marmalade is the best marmalade I've ever had. It has all the attributes that I enjoy the most in jams and marmalade - sweetness, tartness, spreadability, bright and intense flavor, versatility for pairings - balanced amazingly with the slight bitterness and the familiar yet surprising flavor of Buddha's Hand.
When my friend G had it at work she said it tasted just like Lemon Drops (the candy not the coktail you drunk!). When my friend E was having it a few days later at the farm, he was thinking the same thing as I told him that story, and he almost finished my sentence. I didn't grow up with Lemon Drops, but I knew exactly what they were talking about.
My one little eight ounce jar has turned into one of those food items that I enjoy so much, that I eat it very slowly, saving it, so that whenever I crave it again there will still be a little bit left. It's amazing how sometimes, something we have never tried or even heard of before, can end up being our favorite thing in the world.
This tasty batch of marmalade reminded that in the kitchen, just as in life and love, we always need to keep an open mind, try new things, and get inspired by whatever we have. Otherwise we could be missing out on our favorite ever.
