Sweet simmered kumquats

For candied kumquats (kinkan kanroni), remove the calyx (heta) from the kumquat. The calyx is a woody part and is hard, so it always has to come off. If the kumquats you use are too ripe, the flesh becomes too soft and they won't keep well, but if they aren't ripe enough, they develop bitterness and don't turn out delicious — it's a subtly tricky balance.

Score the kumquats with a knife and boil them, which is done in order to remove the seeds inside. Keep the number of knife cuts to a minimum, and since you can't get the seeds out unless the inner membrane is cut through, you make the cuts reasonably deep — but if you cut too deep and the fruit comes apart entirely, it can no longer be used for a celebratory occasion. As soon as you've scored the kumquats, drop them into water with a little vinegar added — this isn't about soaking them in water per se, but about keeping the spot touched by the metal (the knife) from oxidizing on contact with air if left as is. From the knife cuts, probe in with a bamboo skewer and remove the seeds one by one, which is fairly demanding work — honestly, the moment you find yourself thinking a seedless kumquat variety would be the best thing ever is right about here (laughs). Before doing this work, you need to boil the kumquats once to soften them, or they'll crack apart, so you put them in boiling water and cook them to a certain degree — but since they'll be fully cooked through later when simmered in syrup, you're careful not to cook them all the way through at this stage. Once they start cooking, they generally begin to float, so you judge by the firmness of the skin at that point and transfer them into ice water. There's individual variation in size and ripeness, so the boiling time differs piece by piece too, so you scoop them out as each one starts to float. Strictly speaking, the sugar content differs depending on how ripe each kumquat is, so not just the boiling method but, to be precise, the amount of sugar and the steaming time all end up varying as well. Even if you feel a piece came out a bit too firm at this stage, you can't boil it a second time, so in the end, once you've soaked it in water and removed the seeds, you steam it once, and that's when you make adjustments for the pieces that were undercooked — though it really is quite a delicate adjustment.

You then let them soak in sugar water or syrup, but at this stage excess moisture is the thing to avoid most, so since they've already been dropped into water once, you always drain them thoroughly and bring them to a consistent temperature before adding them in. If you add them in still cold, the sugar water — which has just dissolved into the right consistency — will suddenly cool and seize up. That's why you bring everything to the same temperature first, so it can blend together properly.