What's a girl to do with 37 cups of kumquats when she just made a ton of marmalade and jelly the month before, and is determined to eliminate food waste?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!

WARNING: Once you realize how easy it is to make ice cream and frozen yogurt, you're going to become addicted. This is an awesome option for people like myself, who don't like smoothies.

This is probably the best recipe I've ever come up with (dusts shoulders off), but ice cream, in general, is a great way to use an excess of fruit before it goes bad... and it's way more fun than simply freezing the fruit!

The beautiful part about kumquats in an ice cream is that the peels are already sweet, so once you run the whole fruits through the food processor, they take on a delightful candied texture and flavor without any additional work. Yum!

I wanted a little more complexity in my ice cream, so I added dashes of clove and cardamom for an exotic twist. I'm sure there are plenty of other variations, though, so have fun with it! 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups kumquats, sliced and seeded*

• 5 cups whole milk

• 4 cups half and half

• 3 cups sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom

• tiny dash salt (to balance sweetness)

*Don't get too fussy with this since they're going into a food processor, but it is important to remove all the seeds to prevent a pithy flavor. I've found the best way to seed a kumquat is to half the kumquat, width-wise, and gently squeeze to loosen seeds.

*This gallery contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and give the product a whirl, I get a tiny fee for spreading the news at no extra cost to you.

Directions:

1. Pre-freeze ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

2. Puree kumquats in food processor until smooth. Remember that any chunks of peel will take on a candied texture in the ice cream, which is delightful.

3. Transfer pureed kumquats to large bowl and mix in sugar, spices, tiny dash of salt. Once combined, stir in milk and cream.

4. Pour kumquat mixture into ice cream maker, process according to manufacturer's manual. This will probably make several batches, store liquid kumquat and cream mixture in refrigerator in a covered, non-reactive container until ready to use.

5. Store ice cream in freezer, and enjoy!

This recipe was such a huge hit, I actually made it twice. Lord knows I had enough kumquats, so why not? Everyone who has tried it has raved, and eliminating food waste never tasted sweeter.

Next time you're trying to figure out what to do with an excess of fruit, remember that ice cream is a perfectly delicious way to extend the shelf-life of your food!