Osmanthus Panna Cotta with Kumquats in Vanilla Bean Syrup

The first time that I discovered kumquats was around the third grade, I think (come to think of it more, that was probably around the same time I went through my zucchini phase, but that's a whole 'nother story).  I remember very clearly learning that these small, little orange-like things were actually sweet on the outside and sour inside and being absolutely fascinated by this opposite order of things--'cause it's universal Truth to a smart third grader who knows not to eat glue that you don't eat orange peels either, right?!  Upon finding this out, I was truly a kid obsessed, scarfing down every single kumquat that I could come across.  They weren't very common back then, even in the California-based Chinese communities around where I grew up, so it wasn't soon after they went out of season (post-Chinese New Year's) that I quickly forgot about them and moved on to the next great third-grade obsession.  (Which was probably that zucchini phase.)

dried osmanthus flowers

Fast-forward until now and all of a sudden, I'm seeing these tiny, little, magical oranges of my third grade days pop up everywhere, even when it's not Chinese New Year's!  Like on food blogs! and in Trader Joe's!  (You know you've made it when you're sold at TJ's.)  and so, when I saw the kumquats at the store, sitting there in miniature relief between the lemons and real, normal-sized oranges, I couldn't resist grabbing a box of them and taking them home to re-live the fascination of my youth.  I am nothing if not hugely food-nostalgic.

Thinking about food-induced nostalgia also got me thinking about osmanthus flowers, which are these incredibly sweet and amazing-smelling flowers (second photo above).  My grandma used to have an osmanthus tree outside her home in Taiwan, and she'd make this amazing rice wine and tang yuan dessert soup flavored with osmanthus flowers.  I've always loved the sweet, summery smell and subtle taste of the flowers, but ones in edible form have eluded me for years here in the States.  (As for osmanthus in their non-edible form, I'm often willing to take the long bike path home from school just to ride down a street lined with osmanthus trees.)  Until, one day, as if by more food magic, my friend Amy (who was one of my food tour-guides in NYC) shows up with dried osmanthus flowers!  Magic!  --or not: apparently you can find the dried buds in Asian grocery stores or tea shops, and I just hadn't been looking in the right aisles. :-)

Anyways, here they are: two flavors that heavily remind me of my childhood, united in one sweet and simple dessert: osmanthus-scented panna cotta with candied kumquats in vanilla bean syrup.  I have to say that the osmanthus flavor is incredibly faint, but since it was my first time working with it, I didn't want to end up with a dessert that was way too flowery.  Other than that, the combination of sweet, candied, ever-so-slightly-toothy kumquats and vanilla bean-kumquat syrup over a delicate, jiggly, creamy, and lightly-flavored panna cotta is just wonderful.  It's the perfect grown-up dessert encapsulation of the nostalgic flavors of my yesteryear memories.  :-)

Back in the present, here's what's been going on during the recent blog-silence and slowed twitter-stream: finishing up my dissertation proposal and having my dissertation proposal defense meeting with my entire committee in one room for the first time (< they call it a "meeting" instead of a "defense" so that we don't freak out too much, but, given that I'm always overly dramatic, the euphemism didn't really discourage me from doing so).  It went better than I could have ever hoped, and while I have a few more final touches to go from the meeting comments, now starts the actual dissertation work.  Woot(?)!  So, thank you for all y'all's virtual and IRL support and encouragement over the past few weeks!  There might also be some exciting food-bloggery news coming over the next few weeks if plans currently set in motion continue the way they should, so stay tuned!

Read on for recipe...