This may not seem like a big deal to most of you Americans, but over here in Belgium (and I think a lot of European countries further up north) both were non-existent until a few weeks ago. We've had lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit and mandarines since forever, but kumquats and now sweeties? It's a good day to be a Belgian citrus fan.

First thing I did when I got home with my newly bought organic citrus fruit was look up on the internet how to actually eat a kumquat. I had no idea! This video was pretty informative: http://dadecity.tbo.com/video.shtml

Just like the video suggested I kept chewing it so that the sweet rind would compensate the tartness of the juice. Tastes like more!

As for the sweetie, it tastes just like that, a sweet grapefruit. And I love it.

I for one welcome our new kumquat and sweetie overlords.

What kind of kumquat? I have a Meiwa kumquat that was planted in 1999 and the fruit has a sweet spicy flavor. This kumquat does not have tart flavor not even slightly tart . My grandmother had a kumquat with very tart fruit. I remember picking the fruit and eating right off the tree although at that time I did not really like tart flavor.

I couldn't get the video to open, but I bite the round end off a kumquat, then squeeze it a bit to pop out any seeds. Then I can eat the rest without worrying about chewing on the seeds.

Strange... I have seen kumquats and sweeties on the Belgian market for many years...