http://www.tampabays10.com/news/citizenjournalist/story.aspx?storyid=99578&catid=193

What is a Kumquat?
Posted By: Mitchell Wallace

The sweet and adventurous gathered in Dade City for the 12th Annual Kumquat Festival. The festival, spread among several city blocks, drew thousands of people on a weekend when glamorous Super Bowl activities kept celebs and starry-eyed onlookers busy in Tampa.

The word "KUMQUAT" was everywhere, from keychains to t-shirts and banners. But ask any festival goer what a kumquat is, and you'd get answers nearly as funny as the word itself.

Just to set the record straight, we found a professional kumquat explainer in the Growers Tent. We also found Katy, a grower whose 40-acres of groves are right in Dade City. She wore kumquat earrings.

Rebecca, who had just had her face painted, didn't know what a kumquat was, but figured they must taste good. They do.

The reward for the adventurous was delicious kumquat pie, marmalade, bar-b-que sauce, jellies and bags of the sweet and sour citrus. In between the Kumquat Grower's Tent and the Car Show, kids piled on for wagon rides, stared at the antique fire trucks and marveled at the butterflies that lit on their hands in the butterfly screen house.

Kettle Korn sizzled in huge copper kettles and ice cream churned powered by an antique John Deere two-cycle engine.

The Dade City Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event actually began about three weeks earlier when the kumquat recipe contest began. That was followed by the traditional beauty contestants being named Kumquat Queen. Local singers, musicians and dancers provided hours of free entertainment on the finale.
By Kathy Wingard

Thanks Alan for the nice article.

Our very own member, PolarBear, has his own citrus pages website:
http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/

and has excellent description about Kumquats:
http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/kumquats.html


To quote from Jorma's site:

History and classification
"Kumquats are believed to be native to China. They were described in Chinese literature in 1178 A.D. A European writer in 1646 mentioned the fruit as having been described to him by a Portuguese missionary who had laboured 22 years in China. In 1712, kumquats were included in a list of plants cultivated in Japan. The name kumquat (cumquat) is supposed to have come from the earliest known Chinese name, chin kan, which is translated as meaning "gold orange." In Japan, where this fruit has been grown for centuries, the name kin kan is said to have the same meaning.

Markedly resembling the other citrus fruits in general and obviously closely related to the Calamondin and some of the small-fruited mandarins, the kumquats were included in the genus Citrus until comparatively recently when Swingle established the genus Fortunella, which was soon accorded virtually universal acceptance.

The principal differences on the basis of which the separation was made included the following: (1) ovary locules many fewer than Citrus (three to five, rarely six or seven); (2) not more than two collateral ovules per locule (as compared to four to twelve); (3) stigma very broadly cavernous; (4) fruits very small with sweet, edible, more or less pulpy rind; and (5) small, more or less angular flower buds."

Click on Polarbear (Jorma)'s site to learn more about other citrus cultivars:
http://users.kymp.net/citruspages/