Seems like everything is coming early this year. Summer came early, pears and apples are early, and now persimmons are early. Whatever the case is, if you love persimmons as much as I do then you look forward to the gathering of these small golden treats every year.
Persimmons can be gathered off the ground around the tree when they start to fall and are orangish in color. Never pick a green persimmon, unless you want to experience severe cotton mouth. Collect as many persimmons as you can find and run them through a food mill to remove the big seeds and skin. The pulp can be frozen and used in recipes all season and into the next.
The following recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison’s “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” (an all time favorite cookbook). It’s a wonderful seasonal bread that is dark in color, has a moist crumb, and a delicious persimmon flavor.
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of cane sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of persimmon puree mixed with 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp of ground cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Butter and flour a 4×10 bread pan
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy
Add eggs one at a time
Stir in the persimmon mixture
Stir the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients
Stir just to combine
Bake for about 50 minutes
Cool for at least 10 minutes
To find local and unique produce items for sale, such as persimmons, check out Pick-A-Pepper.com
photo credit
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