Three bright orange persimmons sat ripening on my kitchen counter for two weeks. Considering their botanical name "Diospryros" is Greek for "Food of the Gods", baking with these beautiful fruits is annual delight.
The three persimmons on my counter top had grown in an abundant annual crop on a tree in a friend's garden in West Petaluma. It seems to me that so many persimmons in this prolific growing region sadly go to waste, planted for decorative purposes initially. I try to put as many to good use as I possibly am able to!
Did you know that there are hundreds of varieties of persimmons? The most commercially viable two are those that we see and squeeze and wonder what to do with here in Sonoma County — the sub-tropical super-pulpy, astringent Hachiya, and the non-astringent, sliced or eaten like an apple (skin and all) Fuyu.
The United States has its own grape-sized native persimmon "Diospyros Virginiana" grown on small trees in the North East. The first of the sub-tropical varieties arrived on the West Coast some time in the mid 1800s.
Algonquin Indians named the native Persimmon on the East Coast Pasiminan or Pessamin depending upon their dialect and taught perplexed early European settlers to leave them on trees until after the first frost.
Today, a lot of people are still puzzled by the ripening process of persimmons. It's best to pick Hachiyas just before they get pulpy. Employ a little patience and if some fruit ripen faster than others, it's fine to freeze scooped pulp in an airtight container until the rest of the fruit reaches the same ripeness.
I've used the following recipe for one loaf at a time over several fall seasons. It takes five minutes to make and an hour to bake. Don't walk past a laden persimmon tree without scooping at least three of these lovely orange wonders.
Petaluma Persimmon Bread
1 cup pulp
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cloves
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. Mix pulp with milk, eggs, melted butter and vanilla. Stir in sugar, flour and baking soda. Add walnuts. Pour into loaf pan and bake for an hour.
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