Pickled Loquats and a Loquat seed Liqueur

When I was a youngster we had a lodger. His name was Manolis and he was studying at the local community college.

Manolis was from the island of Crete from a very poor family and we had him living with us to look after and protect him. Sometimes they sent him parcels from Crete, and especially at the beginning of summer the parcels would contain Loquats.

They must have had a Loquat tree growing at the family home and his mother always put some in.

That was the first time I tried one as you couldn’t find them easily in the local street markets…not that it’s easy now but you can find them more easily than years ago.

It’s a special fruit… with large seeds, skin and quite sour. It’s not easy to peel them and generally it doesn’t seem worth the effort.

But it creates the most wonderful ingredient for pickling…so much so you won’t believe how lovely it is! It goes perfectly with meat (with oven baked lamb it’s a dream), but with cheese or in a roast chicken it’s great!

If you have a loquat tree growing nearby, try them and pickle them..and the juice that you will get from them is perfect for making a vinaigrette sauce for your salads too…

And from the seeds you can make a liqueur..

Let’s check out the recipe then!

Diffuculty: 2 out of 3

Duration:30 mins prep and 13 minutes boiling

Serves:2 jars

Ingredients

For the Pickle

I kg Loquats

300g Sugar

350g Apple vinegar

250g Water

1/2 Cinnamon stick (this is not necessary put it only if you like it)

1/2 tblsp Allspice whole

1/4 tsp whole Clove

For the drink

The seeds of the fruit above

700g vodka

a little bit of lemon rind

simple syrup (1 part water-1 part sugar)

Method

For the pickle

Put all the ingredients except the Loquats in a saucepan.

Start to heat them up on a medium heat and when they start to boil

lower the heat and simmer for 9-10 mins.

Take the mixture off the heat.

At the same time peel the Loquats by cutting them down the middle.

Remove the peel and the seeds.

With a sharp knife remove the interior membrane (I would suggest you do this preferably as it improves the flavour).

Put the loquats in a saucepan with the pre-prepared syrup.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 mins.

Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Take out the cinnamon if added.

Put the Loquats into jars.

Fill each jar with the liquid.

The are preserved in the fridge for 6 months.

For the Liqueur

Put the well cleaned seeds in a jar.

Add Vodka and place in a sunny spot for one and a half months.

Drain the liquid and keep separately. Put into the liquid as much syrup as we like according to how sweet we want it to be and them return the jar to the sunny spot for two more weeks before trying the liqueur.