How To Eat Misbeliefs
loquat jam, a neighborhood harvests, and supporting each other
Hey Potheads! Before we get into this week’s post I wanted to let you know that I’m hosting a lil q & a in Kansas City on May 1 to celebrate the release of my bud Mamrie Hart’s new cookbook All I Think About Is Food. It will be a goofy night at Tom’s Town Distillery and I’d love for you to come if you live near by. All the info you need is right here but you can always DM if you have any questions. Ok, now back to business.
Right now, the trees all over my city are heavy with loquats. The branches are hanging lower and lower, and I’m having to duck down on my morning walking with my dog to avoid smacking my head. The sidewalks are littered with ripe fruit discarded by the branches above or by picky squirrels who love to toss stuff away after a single bit. I hardly see anyone picking them. It’s just me, the squirrels, and the crows. In a time when so many of us are worried about our food budgets thanks to gutted federal, state, and local programs plus yo-yo tariffs that are issued and repealed with less care than 13-year-olds put into a list of their crushes, I’d expect a little more competition for free food. But no. We have become so divorced from the production of what we eat that most people don’t see all that fruit rotting on the branches as wasteful. They don’t see it at all.
Loquats are small round or oval shaped golden yellow fruit that grows in clusters in trees of the same name. They have large brown seeds in the center and taste like a cross between a kiwi, mango, and an apricot. Their soft, thin skin means that you’ll rarely see them in any markets because they bruise and brown too easily for commercial shipping- not unlike the paw paw. This doesn’t mean they aren’t delicious. They just aren’t compatible with our modern food system. So many of the varieties of fruits and veggies that line our market shelves are only there because they’re able to be stored the longest without spoiling, not because they taste the best. Our pleasure has nothing to do with it.
Loquats trees originated in southern China and have slowly made their way around the world. Sometimes you’ll see them called Japanese plums since they’ve been cultivated there for over a thousand years, but their botanical name is eriobotrya japonica. No matter what you call them, you’ll find them anywhere winters are mild and the summers are warm. Here in North America, you can find them growing all over California, Southern Texas, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. In New Orleans, where they dot the city just like here in LA, they’re called misbeliefs, which is clearly the best name for this or any fruit. The name is believed to have originated with French Creole speakers who called them mispolese trees which English speakers then morphed into misbeliefs.
So why am I telling you so much about a fruit that may or may not grow where you live? I believe that if we are going to survive this difficult moment in history, we are going to have to get creative and start seeing the world in a different way. We all need to get outside, get off our phones, and get in touch with people in our communities. There are trees heavy with fruit all around us and we are letting these resources rot while we all doom scroll. Myself very much included. My wife keeps telling me to get off my computer, to get off my phone, to stop reading every signal stupid update coming out of the current US administration. But it’s harder than it sounds. We are living through an unnatural disaster, and my brain wants to feel in control. I keep thinking I am one breaking news alert or article away from figuring out how to best protect myself and my family. But I’m not.
The best thing we can do is to start small, get back in touch with our communities, and all they have to offer for resistance and resilience. We can take care of each other if we just try. Get involved with your local labor rights organizations, library, after school program, whatever your life and bandwidth will allow. Go on a walk and see what kind of edible plants are growing around you. Think about what you can make with them and share with your neighbors. In an attempt to get people to care about loquats, I harvest all the trees I can find and make jam. I share the jam with my neighbors and point to the trees so that maybe next year I won’t be the only one who can see all the gifts in our communities that we aren’t taking advantage of. Maybe next year’s harvest won’t go to waste. Maybe next year we’ll have a much better world because we took care of each other. Hope isn’t out of my budget just yet.
Here is my recipe for loquat jam. It’s great on crackers, a warm baguette, toast, or just eat it out of the jar. You are legally required to share some with your neighbors if you make it, ok? Ok.
Loquat/Misbelief Jam
two 16 oz jars
8 cups prepared loquats, quartered with the blossom end, pits, and the white film around them removed
3 ½ cups cane sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Seeds scrapped from 1 vanilla bean or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
In a large pot, mix together the prepared loquats and sugar. Let that sit for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours, so that the fruit can start to release some of its juice.
When you’re ready to jam, add the lemon juice, seeds from the vanilla bean, and the now empty vanilla pod into the pot over a medium heat. Let the pot come to a gentle simmer, stirring regularly, for 30-45 minutes until the fruit has broken down and the jam has turned an amber, almost orange hue. Leave it chunky or let it cool for a bit then stick your immersion blender in the pot and puree those loquats. Up to you.
Pour into two 16 ounce jars with tight fitting lids and store it in your fridge. This should last you at least 3 months.
Tomorrow, I’m sharing some videos to help those of you who are visual learners make the most of your chickpea flour on the stove top before we move on to baking and frying. Not on the list? Come baby. We’re waiting for you.
What fruits are growing where you live? Do you ever harvest them and share them with your neighbors? Let me know in the comments.
xoxo,
Michelle
There's a loquat tree down the street from me! It's huge! It grows over someone's fence into a public area. Last year I saw someone stop and fight with the crows to pick a bunch. That may be me this year now that you've posted this jam recipe.
We have a few mulberry trees in our neighborhood, and the only one who seems to enjoy them is the bear that stops by every spring to eat them.