Cumquat Marmalade

I love cumquat marmalade. I used to have terrible trouble sourcing it - you couldn't buy it anywhere and I only knew people with ornamental trees who were loath to part with the fruit. Now it is relatively easy to find for sale and I have friends with a giant tree who encourage people to come and raid it every year.

It is a little bit fiddly to make, cutting all the tiny fruit by hand and picking out the seeds. Sometimes (usually) I leave the seeds in, once you've started cooking it, they tend to float to the top and you can pick them out.

I've got two copies of the recipe, we think the one on the left is my great-great-grandmother's (Mildred [or Big Nan]) and the one on the right is my great-grandmother's (Olive [or Little Nan]). The recipe also works well for lemon marmalade.

Big Nan's Cumquat Jam
4 lbs Cumquats
6 lbs sugar
1 quart water
Prick or cut cumquats and then put on stove with water and boil until soft.
Add sugar and boil for half an hour

Little Nan's Cumquat Jam
4lbs Cumquats
6lbs sugar
1 qrt water
Wash and cut cumquats in slices. Add water, stand over night. Boil until soft, add sugar, boil for two and a half hours.

My version is relative (by weight) to how many cumquats I picked.
2 parts Cumquats
3 parts sugar
1 part water
Wash and cut cumquats in quarters. Add water and stand overnight.
Boil until soft then add sugar and boil until it passes the test where it turns to jelly on the plate you had in the freezer.
Fish out the seeds that have floated to the top.