Manolo for the Big Girl Fashion, Lifestyle, and Humor for the Plus Sized Woman.

December 5, 2009

In Which Twistie Gets a Windfall

Filed under: Food,Recipes — Twistie @ 8:30 am

Have I mentioned how much I love my friendly neighborhood independent grocery store? Because I do. I really, really do.

‘But Twistie,’ you exclaim! ‘Wherefore this sudden outburst of possibly inappropriate affection for a mere grocery store?’

And I can but reply that this affection is in no way inappropriate. In fact, it is particularly appropriate affection. In particular my affection is for the charming gentleman who tends the fruits and vegetables. I have always enjoyed seeing him because he’s easy on the eyes, has a delightful smile, and always seems happy to see me. I also enjoy seeing him because he always points out the best, freshest goodies to arrive.

After today, though, I will have another reason to like seeing him. You see, there were some persimmons just reaching past their prime. They are now sitting on my kitchen counter, courtesy of the courteous gentleman who tends the fruits and vegetables. He handed them to me in a bag with the legend ‘no charge’ on it and told me to have fun.

So now I need to figure out what to do with all those lovely persimmons. Do I bake them into a cake? Cookies? A pie? Bread? Do I steam them into a pudding?

By the end of the day I’ll have not only figured it out, but created something delicious. After all, I found this site that includes recipes like curried persimmon soup and persimmon rice pudding and persimmon marmalade.

So, if you got a windfall of very, very ripe persimmons, what would you do with them?

Persimmons_on_plate

17 Comments

  1. A friend of mine would recommend persimmon cheesecake.

    # 2 cups pureed persimmons
    # 3 packages cream cheese, softened
    # 1 1/4 cups sugar
    # 3/4 cup sour cream
    # 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    # 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
    # 6 eggs

    # 1 package gingersnap cookies, crushed or crumbled in food processor
    # enough melted butter to make crust stick together

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

    Crush or crumble enough cookies to coat the bottom of a 9″ springform pan. Add melted butter and work with fingers until mixture is able to be pressed into the bottom of the pan to form a crust. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes, remove and allow to cool.

    Mix persimmon puree/pulp, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and eggs until uniform and slightly thickened. Pour into pan on top of gingersnap crust. (You can use a water bath if you want, for a more even crust.) Bake for 50-60 minutes.

    Comment by Dez — December 5, 2009 @ 12:43 pm

  2. we had persimmon tragedy last nite. went out for my husband’s birthday at a super-lauded local place (perbacco, 2 stars from the NYT!) and had a grievous persimmon mousse dessert. the mousse (and the cubed persimmons scattered on the plate) — tasteless. the “lemongrass jelly” it was served on top: tasteless with bonus super-icky texture. my table was sad, sad, sad.

    Comment by marjorie — December 5, 2009 @ 1:13 pm

  3. @Dez: That sounds yummy in the extreme.

    @marjorie: I grieve for you. That is indeed sad, sad, sad.

    Comment by Twistie — December 5, 2009 @ 3:12 pm

  4. PERSIMMON PUDDING PERSIMMON PUDDING OMG MAKE PERSIMMON PUDDING! Not that recipe though. Where is the cocoa? Sadly I don’t have my grandmother’s recipe on hand to show you the One True Persimmon Pudding, but it really needs to have cocoa. It’ll end up tasting like a mix between fudge and pumpkin pie.

    Comment by harveypenguin — December 5, 2009 @ 3:21 pm

  5. Fear not, harveypenguin, for there is always cocoa powder in my kitchen and it’s easy to add a bit into many recipes. Besides, that particular recipe was more of an example of the many wonderful ways one can use persimmons rather than a Holy Grail of persimmon pudding.

    Mmmm…fudgy pumpkin pie…(does best Homer Simpson impression)

    Comment by Twistie — December 5, 2009 @ 3:42 pm

  6. Also, make sure you mix together the baking soda and persimmon pulp and let it get all fizzy before folding in the other ingredients. It’ll make the pudding nice and light. I have VERY STRONG OPINIONS about persimmon pudding, if you haven’t noticed.

    Comment by harveypenguin — December 5, 2009 @ 4:11 pm

  7. Here are a few recipes from some food bloggers I really trust. I haven’t tried any of them personally, but they look so good!

    http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2009/10/baking-with-persimmons-and-some.html

    http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2005/11/persimmon_bread.html

    http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/01/turnabout_time_1.html

    Comment by Dot — December 5, 2009 @ 6:11 pm

  8. Just smell them. I could do that for hours.

    Comment by Margo — December 5, 2009 @ 9:28 pm

  9. I live in Chinatown, and I’ve never known what to do with the little buggers. They’re EVERYWHERE!!!! Given the texture, I’d be most likely to throw them at an aggressive seagull or country-western busker, but they’re just too expensive for that.

    Comment by raincoaster — December 5, 2009 @ 11:16 pm

  10. I would make my great-grandmother’s persimmon pudding! We only ever make it during the holidays because you have to squish the persimmons, which sounds perfect for yours since they are soft and squishy. Darn, now I want persimmon pudding!

    Comment by Jessica — December 6, 2009 @ 12:49 am

  11. If they’re really, really ripe, I love to eat them practically unembellished. I can’t think of Christmas without them.

    Marjorie, you ate persimmon mousse at a restaurant called “Perbacco” and it was grievous? That should never happen.

    Comment by chachaheels — December 6, 2009 @ 7:48 am

  12. I love persimmons sooooo much. There are one of the few fruits you can get only in season, even for love or money. Every October, I rush to the Vietnamese grocery store, where they charge less for a pound of persimmons than my regular store charges for a single fruit, and stock up. Then I just eat them plain, savoring every sweet bite. But these are the kind that don’t have to be perfectly ripe before eating. Do you have the kind that make you pucker if you bite them one second before ripeness?

    Comment by class factotum — December 6, 2009 @ 12:11 pm

  13. I’m voting for the curried persimmon soup myself, done up nicely and sent to me me me.

    Comment by Lisa — December 6, 2009 @ 2:19 pm

  14. My grandfather slices them and puts them in the food dehydrator. They don’t dry out entirely, like banana chips, but they also don’t get chewy like fruit leather. They’re just nicely chewy. Then you can put them in a plastic container and eat them for snacks. Of course, you need a food dehydrator, so that might not work.

    Comment by Dawn — December 6, 2009 @ 4:40 pm

  15. Rice pudding :-)

    Do what you like with the persimmons, but send the rice pudding over here, plz.

    Comment by Fenny — December 6, 2009 @ 8:20 pm

  16. Am I the only one who can’t stand persimmons? They’re so cheap in Texas right now, and I try to eat local foods in season, but yuck. I think it may be related to my hatred of papaya. Those really are the only two plant foods I can’t stand — I like basically all other fruits and vegetables a lot.

    Comment by Chiken — December 7, 2009 @ 12:49 pm

  17. The easiest and, in my opinion, best, thing to do with very ripe persimmons is: take the stem part off. Into that opening pour a little fruit liqueur of your choice. (I like triple sec). Let sit for, say, 15 minutes. Eat with a spoon.

    Comment by Linda — December 7, 2009 @ 2:03 pm

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