Kumquat vs Loquat: What's the Difference?
Short answer: Despite the similar names, kumquats and loquats aren't related. A kumquat is a tiny citrus you eat whole, skin and all, with a sweet rind and tart flesh. A loquat is a small orange fruit in the rose family (like apples and pears), with sweet, juicy flesh and a few large seeds you don't eat.
| 🟠 Kumquat | 🧡 Loquat | |
|---|---|---|
| Taste | The thin peel is sweet and intensely aromatic; the flesh inside is sharply sour. Eaten whole, the two hit together — a built-in sweet-and-sour candy with a bitter marmalade finish. | Juicy and refreshing — apricot meets plum with citrus-floral high notes and a gentle astringency near the skin. Best slightly chilled, dead-ripe, when the balance tips just past tart. |
| Type | Citrus | Pome |
| Peak season | Winter | Spring |
| Origin | Southern China; cultivated there and in Japan for centuries | South-central China; long cultivated in Japan (hence the misleading species name "japonica") |
| Calories (per 100 g) | 71 | 47 |
| Sugar (per 100 g) | 9.4 g | 9 g |
| Vitamin C (per 100 g) | 43.9 mg | 1 mg |
| Typical price | Mid | Mid |
The kumquat and the loquat get muddled constantly because their names rhyme, but they’re not related and don’t even look alike up close.
A kumquat is a citrus - a tiny, olive-to-grape-sized orange fruit with a twist: you eat it whole, skin and all. The rind is sweet and fragrant while the flesh inside is sharply tart, so a single bite delivers sweet-then-sour in one go. They’re wonderful eaten out of hand, candied, or made into marmalade.
A loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) belongs to the rose family, alongside apples, pears, and plums. It’s a small, round-to-oval fruit with yellow-orange skin and sweet, juicy, slightly tangy flesh - and a cluster of large, glossy brown seeds in the centre that you spit out. You eat the soft flesh (and often the thin skin), not the seeds. So the memory trick is: the small one you pop whole is the kumquat; the softer, seedy, apricot-like one is the loquat.
Frequently asked questions
Are kumquats and loquats related?
No. It's just a rhyme. Kumquats are citrus (genus Fortunella/Citrus). Loquats are in the rose family (Eriobotrya japonica), related to apples and pears. They only share a season and a syllable.
Do you eat the skin?
On a kumquat, yes - the whole point is to eat it whole; the sweet rind balances the tart pulp. On a loquat you eat the flesh and usually the thin skin, but not the large glossy brown seeds inside.
Which is sweeter?
Ripe loquats are sweet and juicy with mild acidity. Kumquats are a sweet-and-sour experience: sweet peel, sharp pulp, eaten together.