Emily Jung Miller
Kumquat #1060 Purchase
Seventh in a series of monthly sketches exploring my Hakka Chinese heritage and personal family history through traditional foods and recipes. I chose kumquats as my subject for April, since they are ripe in late winter and early spring, and almost never available during the rest of the year.
Kumquats are rarely found in American grocery stores, and expensive when available, so it is always a joy for me to meet someone with a backyard tree. Years ago on Kauai, I remember making a delicious marmalade from a big bag of kumquats I was given, when someone's tree had a bumper crop. These kumquats I painted were a gift from friends who have a tree in their Santa Barbara California backyard.
The kumquat is a tiny, sour orange native to southern China. Kumquats were brought to Europe and North America in the mid-19th century. My Hakka grandmother had a kumquat tree growing in her backyard in southern California, and I have happy childhood memories of searching through the glossy green leaves of the little tree for the ripest fruits during our annual gathering at her house for Lunar New Year. Kumquats have sour pulp and sweet rinds, and are usually eaten whole in a single bite. I often picked and ate them at the bare minimum of ripeness!
The English word kumquat is a borrowing of the Cantonese gām gwāt (金橘), from gām 金 'golden' + gwāt 橘 'tangerine'. My Chinese family name, Jung 鍾, also contains the character for gold 金 and so I feel a special kinship to the kumquat! The second character in kumquat 橘 means tangerine, and contains the character for tree or wood 木. Chinese characters are often combinations of other characters, which leads to the single word 'kumquat' 金橘 containing three nested characters meaning Golden Tangerine Tree. The characters for kumquat 金橘 are pronounced jin ju in Mandarin.
These small trees are often potted and given as Lunar New Year gifts, sometimes decorated with red envelopes tied to the branches. Kumquat fruits are traditionally preserved in either salt or honey, and made into a medicinal tea for soothing winter colds and coughs. In Han Yen-chih's 12th century publication Chu lu (Monograph on Oranges), the kumquat is described as being mostly grown and sold as a potted ornamental tree. The author describes it as "growing alongside mountain paths" which makes me wonder if it has a special affinity with Hakka culture, as many Hakka regions are also mountainous.
In the text of the Chu lu, kumquat is translated to English as Chin chu, using the Mandarin pronunciation.
The song lyrics cited in the text are fairly contemporary to the Chu lu, written by a well-known Song dynasty scholar from the northern part of Chekiang province (Hang-chou-fu, now known as Hangzhou).
Kumquats are rarely found in American grocery stores, and expensive when available, so it is always a joy for me to meet someone with a backyard tree. Years ago on Kauai, I remember making a delicious marmalade from a big bag of kumquats I was given, when someone's tree had a bumper crop. These kumquats I painted were a gift from friends who have a tree in their Santa Barbara California backyard.
The kumquat is a tiny, sour orange native to southern China. Kumquats were brought to Europe and North America in the mid-19th century. My Hakka grandmother had a kumquat tree growing in her backyard in southern California, and I have happy childhood memories of searching through the glossy green leaves of the little tree for the ripest fruits during our annual gathering at her house for Lunar New Year. Kumquats have sour pulp and sweet rinds, and are usually eaten whole in a single bite. I often picked and ate them at the bare minimum of ripeness!
The English word kumquat is a borrowing of the Cantonese gām gwāt (金橘), from gām 金 'golden' + gwāt 橘 'tangerine'. My Chinese family name, Jung 鍾, also contains the character for gold 金 and so I feel a special kinship to the kumquat! The second character in kumquat 橘 means tangerine, and contains the character for tree or wood 木. Chinese characters are often combinations of other characters, which leads to the single word 'kumquat' 金橘 containing three nested characters meaning Golden Tangerine Tree. The characters for kumquat 金橘 are pronounced jin ju in Mandarin.
These small trees are often potted and given as Lunar New Year gifts, sometimes decorated with red envelopes tied to the branches. Kumquat fruits are traditionally preserved in either salt or honey, and made into a medicinal tea for soothing winter colds and coughs. In Han Yen-chih's 12th century publication Chu lu (Monograph on Oranges), the kumquat is described as being mostly grown and sold as a potted ornamental tree. The author describes it as "growing alongside mountain paths" which makes me wonder if it has a special affinity with Hakka culture, as many Hakka regions are also mountainous.
Notes on the Chu lu
The full title of Han Yen-chih's publication is Chu lu (Monograph on the Oranges of Wen-chou Chekiang). Wen-chou is a mid-coast city in Eastern China now known as Wenzhou, in the province of Zhejiang (formerly Chekiang).In the text of the Chu lu, kumquat is translated to English as Chin chu, using the Mandarin pronunciation.
The song lyrics cited in the text are fairly contemporary to the Chu lu, written by a well-known Song dynasty scholar from the northern part of Chekiang province (Hang-chou-fu, now known as Hangzhou).
"The dewy leaves and cloudy branches are the deep shades of winter,
While the brilliant clustered fruits are like drooping stars reflecting
upon a small pearly screen."
— Chou Pang-yen (Mei-cheng)
Watercolor, 2026
4" x 6"
Original Painting Unavailable
Purchase Kumquat, Golden Orange Greens Art Prints:
| 5x7" Paper giclee |
$40
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| 8x10" Paper giclee |
$45
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| 11x14" Paper giclee |
$100
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| 16x20" Paper giclee |
$165
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| 12x16" Canvas wrap |
$165
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| 18x24" Canvas wrap |
$250
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Need a different size? Ask about custom print sizes and formats
Custom painting commissions are now open for August 2026! I am accepting commissions for sizes 16x20" and larger.
