The weekend before Thanksgiving, I spent a few minutes (literally) making the Kumquat Digestif from Sunset’s November 2009 issue. My intention was to let it steep for the recommended month, then serve it post-feast on New Year’s Eve. That didn’t happen ~ our return from the East Coast the day before meant we celebrated New Year’s on East Coast time and were in bed at 9:30 after a simple whip-it-up-quick pasta supper. Whee!
Two months later, on a recent rainy February evening, Mom and I poured ourselves a glass as an aperitif. Straight-up, we both found it a bit sweet before dinner but once mixed with an equal measure of top shelf vodka and some ice cubes, it hit the spot. The thyme added a lower register note to balance the citrus’ higher register character and the sweetness from the sugar syrup was mitigated by the smoothness of the additional vodka.
The following evening, Mom and I repeated the aperitif exercise and sipped the cocktail alongside appetizers of olives and goat cheese with the Olympics on TV in the background.
With my 2-cup supply now perilously low, I went back to the produce aisles in the hope that a kumquat or two is remains to be found on store shelves. Luckily, kumquats and other citrus are still everywhere (local grocery stores and Farmer’s Market). I bought 20 kumquats and some lemon thyme and plan to produce the digestif again over the weekend. This time, I will reduce the amount of sugar syrup by half. I imagine it will taste even better on a warm early summer evening. Stay tuned.Labels: aperitif, digestif, kumquats, sunset magazine