Hi, Friends of Cocktails! Last year, when the original Super Juice episode blew up, there were a lot of you who asked how to Super Juice other fruits. Among the requests was the tiny kumquat, which is one of my favorite citrus fruits, but using it in cocktails it would take way too long to juice enough of it so it makes perfect sense to turn it into Super Juice. We’ll also match the acidity to that of lemon and lime juice, so it will be easier to mix in cocktails, but it will still have plenty of kumquat flavor - and I’ll make not 1, not 2 but 3 cocktails with Kumquat Super Juice!
Kumquats might look like a love child between an orange and a cherry tomato, but this miniature citrus fruit packs a mixture of sweet & tart flavors and it’s delicious. According to webmd, the name “kumquat” combines the Chinese words “gam,” meaning gold, and “gwat,” another word for tangerines - so, gold tangerines. People first grew kumquat trees in China in the 1700s and the tree was then brought to Europe and the United States in the 1800s. It grows best in the warmer areas but can stand up to the cold reasonably well.
Kumquats are rich in vitamins C and A, the skin is full of fiber and antioxidants, so it’s packed with health benefits. Interestingly, the skin of the fruit is actually sweeter than the juice within and it’s completely edible - just wash your fruits, really well. Kumquats are at their best in late winter and early spring, so it’s perfect timing to turn this tiny citrus into super juice. For that we'll of course need kumquats, citric acid, water and ascorbic acid or vitamin C, but that’s optional. The original Super Juice technique, developed by Nickle Morris, covers just peels in acid, but there’s no point in peeling these little things.
I once again adjusted the ratios of acids to fruit and water. but don’t worry, there’s already a kumquat super juice calculator on my website to help you out with the math that you can check out here. So grab a scale and a muddler and let’s make Kumquat Super Juice.
Kumquat Super Juice
● 100g kumquats
● 25g citric acid
● 416.5g water
● Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) 0.04% of the weight of the strained juice
Weigh your kumquats and write this number down or just go ahead and add it straight into the Super Juice calculator. According to my tests the peels make up about 25-30% the weight of the fruit, juice is 15-20%, and the rest is the meat and the pith, so based on this we’ll add citric acid - for every 100g of kumquats add 25g of acid, representing the quarter of the total weight, equalling that of the peels. The acid will pull the essential oils from the fruit, but we’ll help it along by giving everything a good muddle before leaving it to sit for 1 hour.
After that we have a very acidic mix that’s bursting with kumquat flavor. We need to water it down so it’s ready to be used as a sour component in our cocktails. Take the weight of the acid we added and multiply it by 16.66, like we did for the other super juices. That will get the acidity level to 6%, the same as fresh lemon and lime juice. Blend the whole mixture for long enough to pulverize all parts of the kumquats and then strain it through a cloth filter. Squeeze out all the juice and weigh your yield. This is because I’m also adding a tiny amount of vitamin C - 0.4% of the total weight of the juice.
I’ve tested two batches of kumquat super juice for a little over a week, and the one with added ascorbic acid had a more intense aroma and flavor for longer, so not a necessary step, but it’s something I’d recommend you try - even with other Super Juices we made. Bottle, store in the fridge and use within a week for best results. I don’t even want to think how many kumquats we’d need to juice to make such an amount of juice! But now we have to test it in some cocktails to see what it pairs with nicely. We’ll make 2 sours with different spirits and techniques, and a Tom Collins.
If you have any other suggestions for what this might work great in, feel free to watch the full episode on YouTube and leave a comment!
Kumquat Cognac Sour
● 60mL (2oz) Remy Martin 1738
● 22.5mL (0.75oz) Kumquat Super Juice
● 22.5mL (0.75oz) simple syrup
● 2 drops saline solution
Add all the ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake everything for 10-15 seconds then double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a kumquat on a cocktail pick and give it a try. The French spirit is in the forefront, from the aroma to the palate, but the kumquat compliments it wonderfully. Think of a more subtle orange liqueur note from a Sidecar. That’s why I picked a Cognac Sour and it’s a great match. We can now move onto the next cocktail.
Kumquat Whiskey Sour
● 60mL (2oz) Maker’s Mark
● 22.5mL (0.75oz) Kumquat Super Juice
● 22.5mL (0.75oz) Super Syrup
● 2 drops saline solution
Begin by adding the ingredients to your shaker in the same way as the Cognac Sour, with the main difference being the addition of Super Syrup - the combination of the sweetener and the foaming agent we made a while ago. Shake the cocktail with ice first, to chill and dilute, then dump the ice and shake again to create the beautiful foam. With Super Syrup a reverse dry shake really creates a better result. Double strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice and garnish with another skewered kumquat and give it a try.
Many bartenders (and Martha Stewart) sometimes add orange juice to add a sweet twist to this classic cocktail. Here the Kumquat super juice plays its part perfectly - it’s sour with a subtle sweet orange note. Super Syrup gives the whole cocktail a silky mouthfeel, so it’s top grades for all parts of this cocktail. Now for the third cocktail, the Tom Collins, will be built in the glass, named after this cocktail - the Collins glass.
Kumquat Tom Collins
● 60mL (2oz) Plymouth Gin
● 22.5mL (0.75oz) Kumquat Super Juice
● 22.5mL (0.75oz) simple syrup
● 2 drops saline solution
● Soda to top
The base spirit has always been gin, but the original Tom Collins would be made with an Old Tom Gin, London Dry is the norm nowadays, but I think Plymouth Gin will pair nicely with kumquat. So add your ingredients into a Collins glass with ice and stir. A Collins wouldn’t be complete without soda, so top it up to the brim and mix the ingredients gently before adding the garnish. Skewered kumquat… and a cocktail cherry.
The Kumquat is prevalent on the aroma of this cocktail, but much more subtle on the palate. The light, refreshing cocktail incorporates gin’s botanicals with the citrusy kumquat in a beautiful way. Tom Collins has a lot of cousins so if you have a name for this one, let me know. All three combinations work great, but for my taste they’re just a touch on the sweeter side, because of the sweet peels from the kumquat in the super juice, if we compare it to lemon- or lime super juices. An extra barspoon or two of kumquat super juice in these wouldn't hurt
If you’ve got more kumquats on your hands and you want to try a different cocktail, Steve the Bartender made a Kumquat Quest cocktail a while ago on his channel, with vodka, Grand Marnier,lime juice, demerara syrup and of course kumquats. I’ll see you next week - or sooner, if you watch another Cocktail Time video. Cheers!
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