As an aid to digestion and respiration, the kumquat, ‘lucky’ Lunar New Year fruit packed with vitamins, is right up there – and there are many ways to eat it
- Kumquats are said to bring good fortune at Lunar New Year, but they are packed with goodness too. Eat them raw in salads, with salt, pickled or in tea
- Four Seasons Hong Kong is using a sweeter version from Japan in a kumquat-themed seasonal afternoon tea set of savoury and sweet items
Kumquat trees adorned with red lai see fong (literally, good fortune envelopes) are auspicious decorations at the start of the Lunar New Year. Known in Hong Kong as kut – which sounds like the Cantonese word for luck – the name provides a widely used homophone, dai kut lai see (which translates loosely as great luck and good fortune).
Kumquats themselves, small orange citrus fruit the size of a large grape, are storehouses of nutrition, packed with vitamins C and E. This makes them a healthy snack, especially at this time of year. The executive pastry chef of the Four Seasons Hong Kong hotel, Ringo Chan Wing-hung, buys them whenever he sees them in markets, even though the ones grown in Hong Kong are known to be sour or even bitter.
A recent opportunity to try kumquats from Miyazaki prefecture in Kyushu, Japan, provided Chan with a whole new flavour profile.
“These are different [from local kumquats] – they are more sweet and the skin is soft. There is no bitter taste, and even two hours after eating it raw, I can still taste the citrus in my mouth,” he said.
Removing the seeds before using kumquat in dishes is tedious but worth the effort, and Chan has created a kumquat-themed afternoon tea set at the Four Seasons in Central, available until February 28.
