The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kumquats give cocktails a seasonal burst of citrus
Quirky fruit is having its close-up at metro Atlanta bars.
Kumquats are having a moment at some Atlanta area bars.
The orange-colored, oval fruit pairs with just about any spirit on the backbar, and they are perfect for muddling, although some bartenders prefer to make a syrup.
The olive-sized kumquat has a flavor profile somewhere between a tangerine and a lime. Kumquats are sweet, floral and have a tangy zing. And you don’t have to peel them — the entire fruit can be eaten, including the sweet rind.
At Summerhill’s Little Bear (71 Georgia Ave., Atlanta. 404-500-5396, littlebearatl.com), kumquats are used in a cocktail called a sunspot. Chef-owner Jarrett Stieber said the drink was developed by bar manager Charles Howk, who “was mostly inspired by how bright and sunny the kumquat’s flavor was and wanted to accentuate it.”
Besides a kumquat cordial, the drink includes Meyer lemon and uses charanda — similar to rum — as the base spirit, further accentuating the brightness. Blue Doris liqueur adds a floral pop, and there’s a little earthy pine from a tincture of hyssop and young hemlock tips. Adding a touch of chile oil on top “gives the lean drink some body and brings a funky depth to the cocktail,” Howk said.
Matt Watkins, beverage manager at the Deer and the Dove (155 Sycamore St., Decatur. 404-748-4617, deerdove.com), said kumquat season reminds him of his grandmother. “She used to make kumquat pie every winter, so I love working with them, too,” he said. In his kumquat smash, tequila and rum play off each other and a kumquat shrub provides a burst of citrus.
“I made a kumquat and ginger shrub to curb the vegetal agave notes of the tequila just a bit,” Watkins said. The Cocchi Rosa Italian aperitif adds a bitter touch, while bringing out the fruit. The cocktail highlights the tart, refreshing harmony between sweetness and tang from kumquat.
The 1960s-inspired bar Vesper (924 Garrett St., Atlanta. 404-963-6902, vesperatl. com) uses kumquat syrup for a zero-proof winter margarita. It combines a base of Ritual nonalcoholic tequila alternative with house-made sour mix and kumquat syrup, and gets a fizzy lift and a dash of sweetness from Sprite. A full-proof version also is available.
Meanwhile, at home, my Fresh Harvest weekly produce box often comes with kumquats during February. Inspired by local menus, I mixed a rosemary kumquat gin fizz. It was easy, aromatic and bright. The juniper in the gin (I used local Murrell’s Row) played well with the uplifting citrus and wintery rosemary.
When my husband told me the other day he loves me more than peanut butter, I knew that after 26 years, our marriage remained on solid footing.
The man is clearly passionate about the stuff, smearing it on his waffles for breakfast, swirling it onto ice cream, blending it into smoothies and simply eating it by the spoonful. For his birthday last year, he was thrilled with the gift I got him: a selection of peanut butter-flavored stouts.
In this cookie, the nut butter is the primary ingredient, rather than being second to flour and refined sugar, as it is in many recipes. In fact, these cookies have no flour or refined sugar at all because they are sweetened with date sugar.
I’ve been playing around with date sugar a lot lately and really enjoying the results. Made simply of dried, ground dates, it offers a whole-food way to sweeten foods. It’s not sugar-free — the dates’ inherent sugar is what makes it sweet — but it also contains the fruit’s fiber and antioxidants, and it has a gentler impact on blood sugar than refined sugar.
To make the cookies, you simply beat the peanut butter with softened butter, egg and vanilla extract, then add the date sugar, which has been mixed with some baking soda. Then stir in the chocolate and scoop the batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Giving each dough mound the classic crosshatch pattern with the tines of a fork gives the cookies visual appeal and also flattens them, as they don’t spread much with baking. Once the cookies are out of the oven, it’s best to wait until they are completely cool before eating to ensure they firm up, but I won’t pretend I could resist gobbling up a soft, warm one.
ence in the jerky that Cole made.
“I ordered top round, but instead I got 20 pounds of eye of round, and I had to work with it,” he said. “I was not thrilled, especially because the difference in the cut of beef made a difference in the texture. The resulting jerky was tender, not chewy like you expect jerky to be.”
But when he gave some to his mother, who shared it with some of her work colleagues, “they went nuts for it,” Cole said, “and then we tested it with the Snap-on guys, and they all loved it.”
Cole started selling the jerky at festivals held in Hiawassee at the Georgia Mountain Fair, and he built a smokehouse. After a year of construction and four months of testing and validation, his company got its U.S. Department of Agriculture certification, allowing its products to be sold.
GA Jerk is a team of four: Cole, Sara Moyer, Dane Rowlett and Reggie Holden. They process 50 pounds of beef at a time in the kitchen. “We receive 150 to 200 pounds of meat on Wednesday,” Cole said, “slice and marinate it on Friday, then cook in 50-pound batches Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, depending on how much we’re making. We chop it into pieces, bag it up and then chill it. All that is done by hand. Then it starts again with the next order of beef.”
The jerky comes in original and spicy flavors, but Cole is working on teriyaki, gluten-free and sugar-free versions he hopes will be approved by the USDA before the end of the year.
Cole’s beef jerky is sold in six states, and he participated in the Georgia Grown exhibit at Atlanta’s January wholesale gift market, so he’s expecting orders to come in from 18 new wholesale accounts as far away as Oklahoma and Minnesota. And the GA Jerk booth still can be found at festivals almost every weekend.