Sunday, April 01, 2007

Lo, 'Quats!


For the past two years, I've used the fruit from my front yard loquat tree to make loquat jam under my own Black Dog label. Last year's was a cinnamon-loquat variety, liked by at least one Pennsylvania four-and-a-half-year old. The year before that, I submitted a couple of jars in the category of Jam-Tropical Fruit-Any to the State Fair of Texas. I got a not-quite-respectable 10th place. What color ribbon would you get if they handed out ribbons for 10th place? Probably "loquat."

I had all but written off this year's crop due to the dry winter we've had. What few loquats there were on the tree had a scrawniness to them that did not bode well. Then, in the last few weeks, we've had rain. And the loquats have responded. Looks like I know what I'll be doing next weekend. Loquats are delicate things that don't store well, so I pretty much have to pick, peel, cook and jar them all on the same day.


Loquats, being semi-tropical, are some of the first tree fruit to ripen during the calendar year and are subject to the vagaries of central Texas winter weather. So, in order to protect next year's crop, I've decided to knit individual cozies that could be slipped over each delicate fruit as it emerges. The one here is a prototype. If I used leftover sock yarn from all of my projects, I should have a head start on next year. To get an idea of the scope of this project, see the second picture -- the loquat cozy is circled in red.

Better get to knitting...

11 comments:

  1. At first I thought you'd gone insane, but then I remembered what today was! But really -- do you make loquat jam/preserves?

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  2. Yes, I do. Want some? I still have plenty from last year's batch. Email me your address and I'll send you some.

    You can't grow loquats in Iowa!

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  3. YOU ARE INSANE!

    Is this just because youa re not allowed to knit clothes for Silas?

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  4. Jeez... and I thought Google's sewer-broadband was scary. This is just... wow. ;)

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  5. Steve,
    The only reason I wouldn't have been fooled though is that I too have loquat trees and mine have no fruit yet:-)
    Did you really enter the State Fair?
    To those who've not tasted last yr's batch - it's divine. Subtle and satisfying for afternoon tea.
    Donna

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  6. If you submitted a sample to the Hyattsville, Maryland, extremely localized fairy fair, I bet you would win first prize.

    I gotta coupla loquats that need to be kept warm. Start kitting me a cozy that will hold two at a time, whaddya say? :)

    Uncle C

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  7. The only weird thing about this post is that you guys didn't believe it. I know it's April 1 and all... but I can totally believe that Steven would knit loquat cozies.

    And it would be worth it, as I, for one, really enjoy the loquat jam!

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  8. Ok, I see now that I was completly duped by this. This shouldn't suprise you, Steven, since I was the one who thought Zelig was a documentary....

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  9. hah, this is great.

    HAHlarious. wish i would have read it on the 1st.

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  10. I would like to know how to make them. I have a tree, I thought it was kom quats, are loquats and kom quats the same thing.

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  11. Kep80 --

    Couldn't respond to your post because of the way Blogger works. But here goes.

    This was an April Fool's joke from a couple of years ago. I just knitted a little something in the round an then decreased and ran the yarn through it -- nothing fancy.

    And, despite their spellings, loquats (distantly related to apples) and kumquats (a citrus fruit) are quite different.

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