Read a great post on my friend Sanda's blog, Halcyon Days, (don't you love that name?) about the Persimmon as Art. She has wild Persimmons on her property. I am so jealous! Got me thinking about Persimmons, which I normally do this time of year.
When I was growing up we could only buy the one type of Persimmon - the Hachiya, which is shaped a little like a Bell Pepper. You don't eat them until they are ripe, not even to cook with. (High tannin, I believe - just puckers you up like nothing you have ever felt. Not a mistake you'll make twice.) If you compare the feel of the ripe fruit to that of a ripe avocado, the Persimmon should be just a little softer. At this point, you can puree the raw, peeled fruit and freeze to cook with later. Our family always made something called Persimmon Pudding for Winter holidays. (It is steamed and Martha Stewart has a good recipe.) If I was very lucky, there would be extra ones to peel and eat raw, like some giant orange strawberry. Not everyone likes the slightly slimy (or perhaps gelatinous is a better description) texture, but I do.
A few years ago (maybe 20?)the other type, the Fuyu Persimmon came on the American market. It is shaped like an apple and can be eaten like one while it is still crisp. They are also delicious, but I prefer a ripe Hachiya. I've cooked with the Fuyu, but needed to grate it - and the flavor wasn't as intense.
When I moved to Seattle, there were never Persimmons for sale, but after a while they started appearing in the stores. They were very expensive, maybe $4 each, but I really missed our Persimmon Pudding at Thanksgiving. So I would buy a few and wait for them to ripen. And wait and wait. Some never did, so weary from the long trip to Seattle from whatever warm climate they were grown in. Some succumbed to the ubiquitous fruit flies brought in from South America on the bananas. But then came the year I was in Southern California visiting my cousin Jill. And she suggested that I buy a case of Persimmons and an old suitcase from the Goodwill and take them back as luggage. Not many of you are old enough to remember it, but once upon a time, you could take two suitcases as baggage for free - yes! That's right, I spent $14 for a case of Persimmons, $1 for a suitcase, and finally got my Persimmon Pudding for Thanksgiving. And no one but me had seconds. Their loss, my gain. Maybe if I had made the Hard Sauce, from the recipe that Jill's mom, my aunt, found for me the following year, it might have been more popular. After all, mix Brandy with Confectioners Sugar, and you could get people to ask for seconds of Cardboard a la Hard Sauce. (Get why they call it "Hard"? Or would the reference be the "Sauce"?)
Hope I can find a few Persimmons at the grocery store to take pictures of today. Just in case anyone is in the dark as to this beautiful fruit.
Did you know there is a wild persimmon that grows here in OK? They are tiny, but taste oh so persimonny - and 'tis the season for picking.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diospyros_virginiana
I once tried to eat a persimmon and you are right, man, do they pucker you when they are not ripe!
ReplyDeleteHi Simone - I had no idea that Oklahoma had wild Persimmons, but my friends in the pool at the Y have convinced me that they have Feral Emus around Tulsa, so very little surprises me. I am going to be looking around for those Persimmons.
ReplyDeleteHi Debbi - It's been decades and I still remember biting into that unripe one. But it hasn't stopped me from eating the ripe Persimmons when I find them.
ReplyDeleteHi Beryl,
ReplyDeleteGreatly adds to my information on the persimmon. One of these days, perhaps I'll be able to gather enough of these wild persimmons to make a pudding. I'll be looking for the variety you mention in the larger grocery stores..
Hi Sanda - Thanks for writing about the Persimmon and the Pomegranate - some of my favorite Winter time fruits. Even if I find wild ones, I'll probably still buy the big ones to cook with. It's a lot of work to get them ready to use and with bigger ones, I only have to do half as many.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe I've ever met a persimmon. Must look out for them.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelley - Hope you can find one, but I must warn you that they are very sweet.
ReplyDeleteHi Beryl, since you commented last week on my pomegranate post that you found them at Aldi for $.49, I paid a visit to that store and found them for $.69. I was quite excited, since I am paying $2.49/each at Publix. Aldi is such a bargain and I'm definitely returning for more things, especially with the holidays coming. They also have a very good "Bahlsen-gingerbread/lebkuchen" imitation. My HB adores the Bahlsen version so I bought him a package and he said he can't tell the difference in the taste. They are much less expensive as well!
ReplyDeleteOh Sanda, if I'd known of your husband's fondness for that German Gingerbread, I would have alerted you sooner. I always bought the Bahlsen brand from the Cost Plus/World Market in Seattle, but (as with so many of my favorite stores) they don't have one in Tulsa. And I think Bahlsen might actually produce the cookies that Aldi's sells. I think they taste exactly the same and are so much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteWith Aldi's, you want to stock up, because they can run out prematurely. I totally missed the Almond Butter this year. I'm checking carefully so I don't miss the Marzipan, since that's my husband's favorite.
Every year I wait for persimmons, buy a few, wonder why and then do it all over again next year. Apparently I need to buy a lot of them and make a pudding.
ReplyDeleteDarla
Hi Darla - Absolutely! Persimmon Pudding is the best! Your blog is always fun for me, by the bye! I never figured out how to let you know that my son started his accounting career at the Weyerhaeuser Company in the Seattle area. But the Marin County Civic Center is an amazingly close guess. My other two children ended up in the Bay Area, and convinced him to move to California. He's in Irvine and I'm visiting him this week.
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