Poached Loquats in Blood Orange Syrup

I received a bounty of fresh local loquats from some friends that live in Echo Park. Loquats are all over this part of LA and grow well in most areas of Southern California. We have streets lined with them and some people don't even realize that they are a great source of seasonal fruit. There are alot of varieties out there, but they fall into 2 major categories: white-fleshed and orange-fleshed. In the garden, we have some saplings growing from last year's seeds that came from the Pasadena area. They are tangy with a more citrus-y quality and I am almost certain they are the white-fleshed variety. The gift from Echo Park are the orange-fleshed type and they tasted almost like apricots. So, I was now faced with the dilemma of what to do with them. Most of the recipes I found are in the form of jams and preserves and even though I am starting to have some interest in home canning I am certainly not there yet. I did stumble on one for poached loquats and that got the juices flowing. As usual I wanted to be a little more creative then the original recipe, and above are the results. I decided to poach them in a juice of blood oranges and one or two navels from our garden and a little cinnamon for spice. It actually came out quite nicely, the only change I would make is to add some almond slivers and to serve warm, instead of chilled, and some nice pound cake or lady fingers would be a wonderful addition.

Serves 2

20-30 loquats, peeled, cored and seeded
juice of 3-4 blood oranges
juice of 2 navel oranges
about 1 cup sugar (I used some orange blossom infused sugar that I made from the blossoms on our tree)
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick

1. Bring to boil the water, juice, cinnamon and sugar in a sauce pan.
2. Add the loquats, remove the cinnamon and turn off the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the loquats when tender and set aside.
4. Bring the sauce back to a boil and reduce until it becomes loose and syrupy.
5. To serve, put loquats in a bowl and pour the syrup over.

Optional: add slivered almonds and serve with pound cake or lady fingers. this dish can also be served chilled.