Pitaschio Butter & Candied Kumquat Toast

Directions

1. Make pistachio butter: process raw pistachio in your food processor, this will take at least 30 minutes.
2. When the nuts start to clump together, they will not move around the machine, so you'll need to stop it and break it up using a wooden spoon. Repeat this until you get a buttery consistency you prefer.
3. Once you've reached your desired texture, add spices and orange extracts. Salt to taste.
4. Make your candied kumquats: halve the kumquats and bring them to a boil three times, changing the water each time to remove the bitterness.
5. IF you are canning, Sanitize your glass vessels of choice by boiling them in hot water for 10 minutes. You should be able to make 5 half-pints with 3 pounds of fruit. Bonus: place 1 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick into each jar.
6. Into each jars, divide your kumquats.
7. Next, prepare your simple syrup. Scrape the beans from the vanilla pod and boil it with the water, sugar, cinnamon, and star anise pods for two minutes to dissolve the sugar.
8. Pour the syrup into your jars, leaving 1/4” headspace. Seal and process* for at least 10 minutes.
9. To make toasts: Spread a thin layer of pistachio onto each slice of bread and put enough kumquats on each slice so each bite has one half of the candied citrus. Enjoy. (I chose a spelt pain au levain with pear from Acme, SF)