Sqirl's Kishu Kosho

at Sqirl · $21.75

Since 2011, Linda from Rancho DelSol has been vocal as to her requited love (they are prolific) of the Kishu Mandarin. The honorable David Karp calls this fruit, “the most delicious of mandarins,” and I encourage you all to find yourself a thinly skinned, juice-ladened Kishu and savor as many of them as you can…next January 2023. Until then, there’s this wonderful preserved version. I have only used this fruit for juice and dehydrated decoration as its thin skin has made only a rare marmalade appearance. Yet, after seeing Culture Pickle Shop in Berkeley salt ferment the Kishu a few years back, it's been in the back of my mind to give this citrus a whirl with a similar method to how we salt ferment our yuzu and Meyers. We sell our Meyers and Yuzu just in their natural, puree form - perfect with fish, brassicas and rice - a little going a long way in citrus notes and as a salt replacement. We wanted to see what would happen if we married the Kishu with our Jalapeño ferment (what we use for our hot sauce). The result is something similar in color to a Yuzu Kosho (Japanese yuzu pepper paste), yet it has a softer texture as we do not strain out the gut healthy liquid - meaning it can be mixed into a rice or vegetables with ease or added into a sauce as a layering ingredient. It's FANTASTIC!!