Persimmon Pulp-What to make?

Just purchased some "American" persimmon pulp from a local with a sign in her yard. I've made persimmon pudding in the past which I really like, but am looking for something new to try. Any ideas?

How about persimmon bread, Winger? It's kind of like banana bread, but with a really different flavor profile. Great vehicle for adding nuts, too.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Persimmon bread. Use a base recipe for a banana bread made with baking soda (because BS browns, she said, not intending a joke, and that's good), just sub the persimmon. To die for.

Persimmon cookies are also very popular around here this time of year.

The persimmon bread sounds mighty tempting.

I'll chime in on the persimmon bread. That little bit of sour tartness makes it great. Works nicely with a fruit danish patry, or even better, as a fruit biscuit, where you make a nice fluffy biscuit and put a large dab of the persimmon pulp plopped on the top before baking.

You only bought the pulp? That's an interesting way to sell the fruit!

Can you make a paste, as with quince?

You only bought the pulp? That's an interesting way to sell the fruit!

Other than at a farmer's market, have you ever seen American persimmons sold any other way?

You only bought the pulp? That's an interesting way to sell the fruit!

Other than at a farmer's market, have you ever seen American persimmons sold any other way?

American persimmons have thin skin and are often very fragile to the touch? (like the Hachiya)

I guess those are much less likely than the sturdy Fuyu to be sold in stores. But I've still never seen them sold only by the pulp!

American persimmons have thin skin and are often very fragile to the touch? (like the Hachiya)

I guess those are much less likely than the sturdy Fuyu to be sold in stores.

Bingo. Living in the middle of the "persimmon belt", I have never seen Am. pers. sold fresh at retail. Although I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some may be found at an occasional farmer's market. I suspect their fragility when ripe lends them to being exclusively, or mainly sold, after some sort of processing.

FWIW, I used to buy hachiya persimmons all the time at farmers markets in Berkeley (and probably at those supermarkets too) and here in Chapel Hill NC there are a bunch in the farmers market right now. They are challenging to get home, but it helps that here in NC I can put them directly in the car.

In Berkeley I would walk home or take the bus, and inevitably a good percentage got smashed on the way!

Fuyu persimmons are not uncommon in the better grocery stores around here. The Hachiyas are another story. I see them around once in a while, but they're never ripe. I guess you're supposed to take them home and let them sit around until they soften. I've never bought one, so I don't really know.

OK, editing now. Didn't even know there was an "American" persimmon, I don't think I've even seen the pulp around here.

I guess you're supposed to take them home and let them sit around until they soften. I've never bought one, so I don't really know.

If you do, Mike, make extra sure they are fully ripe. The taste of an American persimmon (which is I suppose the hachiya) when the slightest bit unripe, is akin to sucking on a lump of alum. When I was a kid we'd dare others to bite an unripe persimmon. We described it as "turning the mouth inside out."

[Jenise]

American persimmons have thin skin and are often very fragile to the touch? (like the Hachiya)

I guess those are much less likely than the sturdy Fuyu to be sold in stores.

Bingo. Living in the middle of the "persimmon belt", I have never seen Am. pers. sold fresh at retail. Although I wouldn't rule out the possibility that some may be found at an occasional farmer's market. I suspect their fragility when ripe lends them to being exclusively, or mainly sold, after some sort of processing.

They're sold fresh/whole in west coast supermarkets every season, but firm/unripened. I've never seen just pulp either!

They're sold fresh/whole in west coast supermarkets every season, but firm/unripened. I've never seen just pulp either!

That surprises me that the American persimmons, which are similar to, but not identical to Hachiya, are sold fresh on the west coast. I'm surprised there is a commercial market for them there. The trees are native to the Southeast US (mostly) and I wasn't aware of any large scale cultivation anywhere, as even here most of the fruit is foraged in the wild.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persimmon

[Jenise]

Winger, I grew up eating persimmons; the trees do well in the Southern California climate I grew up in. We lived next door to Whittier College and there was one tree that I pretty much had an exclusive on because the fruit ripened in late summer when there weren't any students around to compete with. I'd roll my Red Flyer down there with a step ladder and help myself, then take them home and patiently wait for them to ripen. I was in my teens before I ever encountered the fuyu type (usually called Sharon fruit in Europe, btw) and I remember being aghast when my grandmother explained that you eat them when they're firm--that was all wrong to me!