Green Star Apple

Green Star Apple (vú sữa)

We found this interesting fruit in Marrickville last weekend. This suburb is our favourite place to do Vietnamese groceries. They have complete Vietnamese herbs and spices selection at low prices. The butcheries also provide fresh meats.

Although we have been to Marrickville many times before, we saw this fruit for the first time. Thu said that it is rare and we should try it. He remembers that it's nice and sweet. We bought one and it was $3 (quite pricey I thought). Just found an information from Google: green star apple tree bears fruit year around after it reaches about seven years of age. It's truly a rare fruit!

Anyway, I couldn't wait any longer to eat this fruit when we reached home. I have never tried it before. I cut in half and it was very pretty.

I asked Thu how to eat it?!? He said it's like eating kiwi but leave a bit more flesh near the skin as it will be a bit bitter. And... I loved it! Not much fragrance but the texture was unique. Here is the picture when I enjoyed my half of Vietnamese Green Star Apple.
 

Kumquat Marmalade

Yup, I am still in the mood of processing my kumquats! I made kumquat marmalade this weekend. It used simple ingredients but took a while to prepare. Its unique taste comes from the sweetness and fragrance of kumquat's rind. I am planning to use this marmalade for jam drop biscuits.

The recipe I used is from recipezaar. It was originally from 1947 American cookbook. It is reasonably easy and doesn't use gelatin/pectin.

Ingredients:

• 450 grams of kumquats (sliced and seeded)
• half lemon (sliced and seeded)
• 950 ml water
• 2 cups sugar (I used 1.75 cups sugar)

Preparations:
Wash and dry kumquats.

Slice kumquats thinly and remove seeds. Add lemon rind and its flesh (remove the white part).

Add water and let it stand overnight.

Heat in sauce pan to boiling point and cook until peel is tender and clear. Let it stand overnight.

Add sugar and cook very slowly (keep stirring) until the mixture thickens. Keep marmalade in sterilised jar.