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.
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!
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 English word kumquat is a borrowing of the Cantonese gām gwāt (金橘), from gām 金 'golden' + gwāt 橘 'tangerine'. These same characters are pronounced jin ju in Mandarin. The second character 橘 is a combination of the characters for tree or wood 木, plus the character for tangerine. My Chinese family name, Jung 鍾, also contains the character for gold 金 and so I feel a special kinship to the kumquat!
These small trees are often potted and given as Lunar New Year gifts, sometimes decorated with red envelopes tied to the branches. Kumquats 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).
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!
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 English word kumquat is a borrowing of the Cantonese gām gwāt (金橘), from gām 金 'golden' + gwāt 橘 'tangerine'. These same characters are pronounced jin ju in Mandarin. The second character 橘 is a combination of the characters for tree or wood 木, plus the character for tangerine. My Chinese family name, Jung 鍾, also contains the character for gold 金 and so I feel a special kinship to the kumquat!
These small trees are often potted and given as Lunar New Year gifts, sometimes decorated with red envelopes tied to the branches. Kumquats 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, Still Life Art Prints:
| 5x7 matted to 11x14" Art print |
$32
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| 8x10 matted to 11x14" Art print |
$40
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| 11x14" Paper giclee |
$100
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| 16x20" Paper giclee |
$165
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| Set of 8 Greeting Cards + Envelopes |
$30
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| Single Greeting Card + Envelope | $4 |
Need a different size? Ask about custom print sizes and formats
Limited spaces are now open for custom painting commissions in 2026! I am accepting commissions for sizes 16x20" and larger.
