Nagami Kumquat

Kumquats were first documented in Chinese literature in the 12th century and were long cultivated and given as gifts in China for Lunar New Year, prized for their bright, decorative orange color during the dark winter months. A Scottish botanist and plant hunter, Robert Fortune, collecting for the London Horticultural Society, brought kumquat trees to Europe in 1846, and they reached North America shortly afterward; the genus Fortunella was later named in his honor when taxonomists split kumquats off from true citrus in 1915 (a classification some modern botanists have since argued should be reversed). Nagami, the oval-fruited type, was introduced from Japan to Florida growers in the late 1800s and has remained the standard, most widely available kumquat variety in Western cultivation since. Unlike almost every other citrus, kumquats are eaten skin-on — the rind is sweet while the flesh inside is tart, an inversion of normal citrus flavor logic that first-time tasters often find genuinely surprising.