Autumn leaves
Persimmon is an autumn fruit. The leaves change for intense green to auburn red. It is often the last fruit tree to shed it leaves. A sight for sore eyes.
Recently Spain became the major exporter, closely followed by China. While Russia is the biggest importer.
Persimmon comes as diospyros. From the Greek, Dios (Zeus) and pyros (fire). The oriental, and original version, is known as Diospyros Kaki. And it is the last name many other countries adopted to name this fruit. As in Italian, cachi (pronounced as kaki).
Eat yourself healthy with persimmon
Persimmon is a kinky fruit. It is rich in vitamine A and C. They also have antioxidants, which help reduce the risk of many serious health conditions including cancer and stroke.
There are two types of persimmons, astringent and non-astringent. Non-astringent persimmons may be eaten while hard or after they soften. Astringent persimmons should only be eaten after they have fully ripened, turning soft and deep in color.
Persimmon jam
Persimmon jam is a delicious preserve. Great for breakfast, spread on bread or served with white yoghurt.
It is easy to prepare. For each unit of persimmons add one third of apples. Go easy on the sugar, not adding more than one third of the total weight.
Bring the mix to a simmer for about 40 minutes. Half way through add vanilla seeds and the juice of one lemon.
Use the non-astringent type to make jam. Or leave the astringent ones ripen in a paper bag for some days before using them.
Piece of cake
You can use jam to top of a tart. Add it after baking the dough. Or use jelly.
Persimmon jelly is though a little harder to prepare. First of all because all the seeds have to go. So more than blending, you better filter the pulp. Traditionally people use kanten, better known as agar agar to thicken.
For the non-vegetarians this can be substituted with isinglass.
Savory persimmon
Serving meat with fruit is not all the unusual anymore. Serving it with persimmon is. Pork meat as well as chicken match perfectly.
You need a blender to obtain this delicious cream. Peel and deseed the fruit, add olive oil and salt. Blend it till you obtain a smooth purée. Adding a little grappa or rum enriches this even more.
Do not heat this purée since it loses much of its characteristics.
