OK, let’s have a present of palms. How many of you might have even seen a kumquat, not to mention tasted one? That’s what I believed. I admit that I had by no means eaten one both. However, the small neighborhood of Dade City in southwest Florida’s Pasco County has made a cottage business of what has been described as “the tiny gem of the citrus family.”
Every January, kumquat lovers flock right here to pattern delicacies starting from kumquat pepper jelly and kumquat ice cream to kumquat beer, cider and sangria.
While I wasn’t fairly prepared for kumquat grownup drinks, I did make a cease at the sales space (one of roughly 300 at the pageant) handing out slices of kumquat pie. Similar in texture to Key lime pie, the kumquat model is nice the place the Key lime model is tart. Sorry, Key West, however I favor Dade City’s slice of pie.
Even the Dade City eating places weren’t kumquat-free zones. At the colorfully named Florida Cracker Lunch on Limoges, filled with pageant goers, I ordered the kumquat rooster and left not a single morsel on my plate.
If you’re the curious sort and surprise simply why the kumquat is king right here, you will get the solutions to all of your questions on a tour at Kumquat Growers. Take a stroll by way of the groves (which they are going to clarify usually are not at their greatest after the uncustomary chilly snap Florida has had the final two winters), after which go to the reward store with all method of kumquat-based merchandise. I left with a physique lotion that not solely softens the pores and skin, however will go away you smelling like a — you guessed it — kumquat.
Florida’s Sports Coast
There is extra to Pasco County than kumquats, versatile although they could be — far more. This half of Florida, a few 45-minute drive from Tampa, has develop into often known as the Sports Coast on account of the quantity of state-of-the-art services and coaching camps starting from gymnastics and seashore volleyball to pickleball and martial arts.
Athletes could come right here to tackle new challenges, however sports activities tourism has allowed armchair athletes to have some of the similar experiences as their skilled and newbie counterparts.
Even if you happen to’re not right here to enhance your golf stroke or your tennis serve, you received’t be missing in issues to do.
The picturesque city of New Port Richey is a reminder of what Florida seemed like in the days earlier than unchecked improvement. Small, unspoiled and brimming with attraction, it invitations the customer to decelerate and take life straightforward.
Wander alongside the Pithlachascotee River (don’t fear about attempting to pronounce it – even the locals name it the Cotee) which meanders below oak timber draped with Spanish moss.
Stop in for breakfast the place the locals go at Herschel’s Scratch Kitchen (the biscuits and gravy are epic), and store for beach-inspired objects at Lis’s Pieces Artisan Boutique (once I left, I took a turtle made of painted wooden and coloured seashore glass residence with me).
Have a correct tea at the oh-so-charming White Heron Tea Room, or dine on the balcony overlooking the fundamental road at The Social.
But no matter you do, don’t miss the Anclote Key Tour with Windsong Cruises. Grab your windbreaker and baseball cap, slather your self with sunscreen, and set sail with Captain Anthony on a three-hour cruise.
Like the hapless characters on Gilligan’s Island, we discovered ourselves stranded (briefly) on a abandoned island. But earlier than we received there, we had a take a look at the colourful Forties and Fifties-style bungalows on either side of the mangrove-lined channel as Captain Anthony wended his method out from the marina into open water.
At first, we focused on a dolphin out for a morning frolic earlier than turning our consideration to the ramshackle homes standing on wood stilts over the water.
Captain Anthony informed us that in the early half of the twentieth century, there have been 24 of these buildings, utilized by mullet fishermen each to retailer their catch and as shelter throughout storms.
Hurricane Gladys in 1968 diminished most of them to kindling, and at this time solely eight stilt homes stay as a beautiful reminder of outdated Florida.
Soon, we had been ashore on Anclote Key the place the blue-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico gently lapped the shell-strewn seashore.
Anclote is one of 4 islands that make up the 11,773-acre Anclote Key Preserve State Park. There aren’t any residents, until you depend the bald eagle, piping plover and oystercatcher, and if Captain Anthony is to be believed, “a few rattlesnakes.”
Luckily, I noticed no rattlers, however I did discover 1000’s of seashells stranded on the shore by the incoming tides. Along with accumulating shells, guests can snorkel, seashore comb, have a picnic, and even camp out below the stars.
All too quickly, it was time to return to “civilization” below the experience of Captain Anthony, a storytelling seaman in shorts and flip-flops.
Back at the marina, it appeared applicable to cease for lunch at Whiskey Joe’s the place fish was on the menu, each for me and the opportunistic pelicans who perched on the pilings hoping for a dropped crumb.
Extending the maritime feeling, I went again for dinner on the deck at Widow Fletcher’s the place diners can pattern native specialties from gator to grouper and catch the dazzling sundown.
The Pink Palace
Wandering down Main Street, guests typically cease to admire the sweet cane pink Spanish-style hacienda with its palm-filled courtyard anchored by a fountain.
This is the Hacienda Hotel, one of Florida’s famed pink resorts that had been the hang-out of celebrities and socialites throughout the Nineteen Twenties and Nineteen Thirties.
Alas, like the silent movie stars who had been diminished to anonymity when “talkies” got here into being, the Hacienda itself skilled exhausting occasions, falling into disrepair and obscurity.
Thankfully, restoration on this historic jewel started in 2019, and following a multimillion-dollar renovation, it’s as soon as once more open to friends. The foyer chandeliers and molding are authentic, and the registration desk is made of reclaimed cypress.
Tours of the property reveal a secret ground identified in its heyday as the “bordello,” a reference to the ladies and bootleg liquor smuggled in by way of a Prohibition-era tunnel main from the river.
Today’s friends needn’t fear as they’ll drink (and eat) to their coronary heart’s content material at Sasha’s, the Hacienda’s restaurant, or sip a cocktail in entrance of the foyer fire.
If it’s the essence of Old Florida that you’re looking for, there’s no higher place to search out it than on the state’s Sports Coast. And when you’re there, if you happen to haven’t already, attempt a kumquat.