Loquat-Orange Preserves

buttoni · 04-11-2012, 09:09 AM

This was certainly a pleasant surprise yesterday. My mother kept telling me I should try making loquat jam when I lived in Texas City and had a tree there, but they're so small, I never bothered to peel them for jam making. I have a tree in my current yard, too, but it has JUST started producing.

When we bought out current house 10 years ago, there was a young loquat tree in the back yard. Clearly planted by previous owners, but in a very shady area of the yard. Either they didn’t know it would need full sun or perhaps the line of trees along the fence were not so big and blocking its sunlight when they first planted it. Either way, it wasn’t flowering at all and just provided a bit of green in winter when most else is leafless. Didn’t produce flowers or fruit for years. Then about 2 years ago, we cut out a hackberry tree nearby and suddenly the loquat was getting a wee bit of dappled sunlight throughout the day for the very first time in its life, no doubt. The next season it produced a few bloom pods, but no fruit. The next, many more bloom pods, but still very little fruit, maybe a dozen or so. This year, it has gone wild producing hundreds and hundreds of loquats!! I pick up about 3# off the ground and off low limbs every single day! I’ve always heard they make great preserves, but they’re so small (most 1-1½”), I thought “what a pain” to peel and seed these tiny things for so little fruit yield. Yesterday I bit the bullet and decided to try my first batch of loquat preserves.

Loquats don’t have a lot of flavor to me. Sort of a cross between a plum, apple and pear. But I decided to add a little of my no-cook Meyer Lemon-Orange Marmalade to the preserves and EUREKA! That was magical indeed. Even my husband was quite pleased with these preserves, and he’s quite the jam connoisseur!

This recipe is not acceptable until the higher up fruits rung of the OWL ladder. But if you have a loquat tree, I highly recommend you not ignore those annoying fruit on the ground any longer and give this a try! Well worth the 45 minutes it took to get the fruit peeled and prepared. I plunged them into boiling water a couple minutes to help loosen the peeling like you can do when peeling tomatoes for canning. The cooking part only took 4-5 minutes and the results were FANTASTIC! I’ll not be ignoring my loquat crop anymore!

As with all things using sweetener, I strongly recommend adding half the sweetener and tasting and add remaining sweetener to suit YOUR taste. Everyone’s sweetness preferences vary and I lean toweard the sweet side.

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb. ripe (fully yellow, not green) loquats, raw (weighed unpeeled)
2 c. equivalent sugar (I used 2 c.granular Splenda) (use 50 drops EZsweets small bottle)
2 T. erythritol (or 2 T. more Splenda)
1 c. water
2 pkgs. unflavored Knox gelatin
1/2 c. sugar-free marmalade (I used my no-cook Meyer Lemon-Orange recipe)

DIRECTIONS: Wash and stem the loquats. Bring some water to a boil, enough to just cover the fruit and simmer 2-3 minutes. Remove, drain and cool. When you can handle them, peel skin down, slice in center and dig out seed cluster. When all fruit have been peeled and seeded put the fruit and all listed ingredients (except gelatin) into large saucepan, bring to a boil. Lower to medium and cook just until loquats are tender but not reduced to mush, or about 4-5 minutes. Add gelatin last and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat, cool and spoon into airtight lidded jars. Makes about 4 c. preserves. It will get thicker in the refrigerator overnight. I’m trying freezing my second jar to see how that goes and will post back my findings.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 4 cups, or 64 Tbsp. Each tablespoon contains:

13.45 calories
.05 g fat
2.73 g carbs, .4 g fiber, 2.33 g NET CARBS
.85 g protein
59% potassium
2.3 mg sodium

Nigel · 04-11-2012, 10:16 AM

What a great idea!! Years ago, I lived in Corpus Christi and had a loquat tree in my yard. I ate a few of them, but mostly the birds had a feast as I didn't know what to do with them either.

Can you tell me what kind of bread is in the picture with the jam--it looks good too?

pooticus · 04-11-2012, 10:25 AM

Yum. I've always wanted to try loquats. My mom and dad used to pick em and eat em from the trees here in Houston when they were growing up. Never tried them. The pic and recipe look yum!

buttoni · 04-11-2012, 12:43 PM

I don't like them straight from the tree, even if ripe. Cooking them seems to enhance the flavor for me, Susie.

Nigel, that's a slice of my Peggy's Sliced Bread that I've had in the refrigerator going on a week now. I just toasted it this morning for the pic.

Just so you guys know, I'm running down to San Antonio tomorrow for a couple days. Don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring posts or questions. Some tax stuff I need to close out for my Mom. Should be back by Sat. or Sunday.

Jennifer Eloff · 04-11-2012, 04:36 PM

Wow, I've not had that fruit since I was a young child - in fact, I can't remember it too well.

Sounds delightful, Peggy! What a lucky hubby!

Nigel · 04-12-2012, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buttoni

I don't like them straight from the tree, even if ripe. Cooking them seems to enhance the flavor for me, Susie.

Nigel, that's a slice of my Peggy's Sliced Bread that I've had in the refrigerator going on a week now. I just toasted it this morning for the pic.

Just so you guys know, I'm running down to San Antonio tomorrow for a couple days. Don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring posts or questions. Some tax stuff I need to close out for my Mom. Should be back by Sat. or Sunday.

Thanks. I have copied that recipe. Now I've just gotta make it.
Have a good trip. If you wanna go shopping, they have Sprouts on Callaghan and another one on Nacogdoches, just in case you don't have one in your area. There is also a Whole Paycheck..lol Whole Foods on Basse Rd.

buttoni · 04-12-2012, 05:34 PM

Whole Paycheck.....I like that Nigel. LOLOLOL Must remember that one.

There's Sprouts in Round Rock we frequent from time to time. Have to drive into Austin for Whole Paycheck, though.

Hate Austin traffic. I read somewhere last year it's the 11th worst traffic city in the U.S.!! I believe it.

Nigel · 04-14-2012, 11:34 AM

It's a small world. My little sister lives in Round Rock and has been there for about 5-6 years. Pretty wild, huh?

So now that I'm paying attention (haha!!) I used to work for McLane's out of Temple. Yep, small world. I lived in SA at the time, but we had to go to Temple once a year for a meeting there.

JustPeachy · 04-14-2012, 01:27 PM

We had a tree that my daddy planted in the front yard that produced tons. This was in coastal Georgia though. We always called them Japanese Plums and the neighborhood kids always asked to have some when they were ripe. We just ate them straight from the tree.

When hubby and I went to the Cape to see one of the last shuttle lift-offs there were trees with fruit and I got a handful to grow. I have 2 small ones currently that are in containers. I won a 2nd place ribbon at the local county fair last summer for one of them.

Wish they were big enough to bare fruit!

04-11-2012, 09:09 AM	#1
buttoni Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Temple, TX Posts: 3,298 Gallery: buttoni Stats: 196/170/150 WOE: Primal 8/12 Start Date: 4/21/09 Height 5'5", Age 64	Loquat-Orange Preserves This was certainly a pleasant surprise yesterday. My mother kept telling me I should try making loquat jam when I lived in Texas City and had a tree there, but they're so small, I never bothered to peel them for jam making. I have a tree in my current yard, too, but it has JUST started producing. When we bought out current house 10 years ago, there was a young loquat tree in the back yard. Clearly planted by previous owners, but in a very shady area of the yard. Either they didn’t know it would need full sun or perhaps the line of trees along the fence were not so big and blocking its sunlight when they first planted it. Either way, it wasn’t flowering at all and just provided a bit of green in winter when most else is leafless. Didn’t produce flowers or fruit for years. Then about 2 years ago, we cut out a hackberry tree nearby and suddenly the loquat was getting a wee bit of dappled sunlight throughout the day for the very first time in its life, no doubt. The next season it produced a few bloom pods, but no fruit. The next, many more bloom pods, but still very little fruit, maybe a dozen or so. This year, it has gone wild producing hundreds and hundreds of loquats!! I pick up about 3# off the ground and off low limbs every single day! I’ve always heard they make great preserves, but they’re so small (most 1-1½”), I thought “what a pain” to peel and seed these tiny things for so little fruit yield. Yesterday I bit the bullet and decided to try my first batch of loquat preserves. Loquats don’t have a lot of flavor to me. Sort of a cross between a plum, apple and pear. But I decided to add a little of my no-cook Meyer Lemon-Orange Marmalade to the preserves and EUREKA! That was magical indeed. Even my husband was quite pleased with these preserves, and he’s quite the jam connoisseur! This recipe is not acceptable until the higher up fruits rung of the OWL ladder. But if you have a loquat tree, I highly recommend you not ignore those annoying fruit on the ground any longer and give this a try! Well worth the 45 minutes it took to get the fruit peeled and prepared. I plunged them into boiling water a couple minutes to help loosen the peeling like you can do when peeling tomatoes for canning. The cooking part only took 4-5 minutes and the results were FANTASTIC! I’ll not be ignoring my loquat crop anymore! As with all things using sweetener, I strongly recommend adding half the sweetener and tasting and add remaining sweetener to suit YOUR taste. Everyone’s sweetness preferences vary and I lean toweard the sweet side. INGREDIENTS: 3 lb. ripe (fully yellow, not green) loquats, raw (weighed unpeeled) 2 c. equivalent sugar (I used 2 c.granular Splenda) (use 50 drops EZsweets small bottle) 2 T. erythritol (or 2 T. more Splenda) 1 c. water 2 pkgs. unflavored Knox gelatin 1/2 c. sugar-free marmalade (I used my no-cook Meyer Lemon-Orange recipe) DIRECTIONS: Wash and stem the loquats. Bring some water to a boil, enough to just cover the fruit and simmer 2-3 minutes. Remove, drain and cool. When you can handle them, peel skin down, slice in center and dig out seed cluster. When all fruit have been peeled and seeded put the fruit and all listed ingredients (except gelatin) into large saucepan, bring to a boil. Lower to medium and cook just until loquats are tender but not reduced to mush, or about 4-5 minutes. Add gelatin last and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat, cool and spoon into airtight lidded jars. Makes about 4 c. preserves. It will get thicker in the refrigerator overnight. I’m trying freezing my second jar to see how that goes and will post back my findings. NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 4 cups, or 64 Tbsp. Each tablespoon contains: 13.45 calories .05 g fat 2.73 g carbs, .4 g fiber, 2.33 g NET CARBS .85 g protein 59% potassium 2.3 mg sodium __________________ My recipe website: http://buttoni.wordpress.com/

04-12-2012, 05:34 PM	#7
buttoni Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Temple, TX Posts: 3,298 Gallery: buttoni Stats: 196/170/150 WOE: Primal 8/12 Start Date: 4/21/09 Height 5'5", Age 64	Whole Paycheck.....I like that Nigel. LOLOLOL Must remember that one. There's Sprouts in Round Rock we frequent from time to time. Have to drive into Austin for Whole Paycheck, though. Hate Austin traffic. I read somewhere last year it's the 11th worst traffic city in the U.S.!! I believe it. Last edited by buttoni; 04-12-2012 at 05:35 PM..

04-14-2012, 11:34 AM	#8
Nigel Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3,067 Gallery: Nigel	It's a small world. My little sister lives in Round Rock and has been there for about 5-6 years. Pretty wild, huh? So now that I'm paying attention (haha!!) I used to work for McLane's out of Temple. Yep, small world. I lived in SA at the time, but we had to go to Temple once a year for a meeting there. Last edited by Nigel; 04-14-2012 at 11:36 AM..

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04-11-2012, 10:16 AM	#2
Nigel Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 3,067 Gallery: Nigel	What a great idea!! Years ago, I lived in Corpus Christi and had a loquat tree in my yard. I ate a few of them, but mostly the birds had a feast as I didn't know what to do with them either. Can you tell me what kind of bread is in the picture with the jam--it looks good too?

04-11-2012, 10:25 AM	#3
pooticus Way too much time on my hands! Join Date: May 2004 Location: somewhere over the rainbow Posts: 21,049 Gallery: pooticus Stats: 314/220.4/150 WOE: PersonalPlan Start Date: Nov.20, 2007 (restart)	Yum. I've always wanted to try loquats. My mom and dad used to pick em and eat em from the trees here in Houston when they were growing up. Never tried them. The pic and recipe look yum!

04-11-2012, 12:43 PM	#4
buttoni Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Temple, TX Posts: 3,298 Gallery: buttoni Stats: 196/170/150 WOE: Primal 8/12 Start Date: 4/21/09 Height 5'5", Age 64	I don't like them straight from the tree, even if ripe. Cooking them seems to enhance the flavor for me, Susie. Nigel, that's a slice of my Peggy's Sliced Bread that I've had in the refrigerator going on a week now. I just toasted it this morning for the pic. Just so you guys know, I'm running down to San Antonio tomorrow for a couple days. Don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring posts or questions. Some tax stuff I need to close out for my Mom. Should be back by Sat. or Sunday.

04-11-2012, 04:36 PM	#5
Jennifer Eloff Very Gabby LCF Member!!! Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Tropics Posts: 3,074 Gallery: Jennifer Eloff WOE: Atkins/Moderate Carbs Start Date: 1999	Wow, I've not had that fruit since I was a young child - in fact, I can't remember it too well. Sounds delightful, Peggy! What a lucky hubby!

04-14-2012, 01:27 PM	#9
JustPeachy Senior LCF Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: North Chattanooga, Tenn. Posts: 321 Gallery: JustPeachy Stats: 242/216/155 WOE: LC Start Date: Nov. 2011	We had a tree that my daddy planted in the front yard that produced tons. This was in coastal Georgia though. We always called them Japanese Plums and the neighborhood kids always asked to have some when they were ripe. We just ate them straight from the tree. When hubby and I went to the Cape to see one of the last shuttle lift-offs there were trees with fruit and I got a handful to grow. I have 2 small ones currently that are in containers. I won a 2nd place ribbon at the local county fair last summer for one of them. Wish they were big enough to bare fruit!