Chinese oranges or Kumquats in North India

This ornamental garden tree/shrub is a common sight in India. Winter is the time the fruit show up and ripen. Around Christmas, a Kumquat or Chinese orange tree, as it is better known is the gardener’s pride.

For those who don’t have open gardens any more, this shrub does just as well as a bonsai.

The fruit makes great marmalade, and tastes great even when squeezed into a glass of water with sugar, rock salt and a pinch of roasted cumin powder :-) Ayurvedically it is a good digestive and cleanser for digestive system, much like neembu-pani (lemon juice replaces kumquat in the above recipe).

The fruit though hardly seen in a fruit market is appreciated by garden owners and their friends, who get them as gifts at times.

It is a no fuss tree. It grows with minimal care. Just water and a few handfuls of organic manure is all it asks.