I am blessed with an overabundance of Hachiya persimmons…as is everyone else with a persimmon tree this time of year. This is the first year I’ve lived with this tree, and I have never even tasted, let alone prepared one of the little beasties.
I do know that I must wait until they are very mushy. I have a two recipes (one for cookies, one for pudding), and I can make those for the holidays, when there will be people around to eat them, but otherwise I’m stumped. Google searches have not proved to be much help (although that might be due to DOE [dumb operator error] rather than lack of actual information…)
I’d love to find some savory recipes; any recipes/ideas/suggestions/reasons why nobody uses these things in savory food?
We found ourselves with a Hachiya tree in the yard if the home we began renting 5 years ago. We had zero experience with them and almost everything I Googled was for sweet products AND used them on their harder state (sliced or shredded). Picking them hard and trying to ripen them is problematic to say the least. If you pick after they turn orange they will ripen on a window sill, but it takes time.
The fruit, on the tee, that outlasts the birds is really delicious when just getting on the soft side. Waiting til they get ‘mushy’ is not all that necessary, but they ARE sweeter then. I’m thinking that you can use them in the way you’d use peaches, figs, or pears. I’ve cut them up and put them in with lamb shanks or white meated fish during roasting.
The skins, unless they’re somehow different in your climate, are really no tougher than on an apple. You may want to peel them, but not really necessary depending on what you’re doing with them. Certainly no issue at all when the fruit is on the soft side.
I, too, have a (stupid) persimmon tree in my yard.
Aside from making a sauce for ice cream and pancakes/french toast, for savory applications, it works well blended and mixed into your typical teriyaki sauce.
For a twist on chimichurri, add some pureed persimmons into your mix (and omit any type of oils you might typically use).
Thanks for the suggestions, ipsedixit. Neither one would have ever occurred to me. I will report on what I try once the fruit ripens.
It’s a lovely tree, although the poor thing has been neglected. It’s in desperate need of a good pruning; I’ve already had to thin the fruit and whack away at the branches that snapped because I didn’t thin the fruit early enough…
This year out tree has most of its fruit concentrated on one side. I’ve never thinned out the fruit because the birds get at most of what’s on the higher branches anyway. But that fruit gets heavier and heavier as it matures and the side with the fruit is dragging almost to the ground at this point. So far nothing has broken off, but we’ve harvested some to take to a dear friend who gives us bags and bags of oranges every summer.
I actually like to stagger the persimmons harvest.
Start plucking those rock hard Hachiyas, put in them a paper bag, seal it, and let them soften. Then consume.
Otherwise, they’ll all ripen at once, and there’s not enough persimmon eaters known to this poor soul to consume them all. And what you’re left with is a “party at ipsedixit’s house” by the local squirrels, cats and possums.
Cats…not more cats, please. The place is thick with 'em. I think people from town come and dump them because “it’s a farm, there will be lots of mice for them to eat”.
Thanks for the suggestions, ipse; I’ll pick some and bag 'em up and put 'em on the counter. There should be room now that the tomatoes are almost gone… I see green tomato chutney in my future.
Ipse, we’ve tried the paper bag (even with apples inside) and no ripening after a couple of weeks. A 95 year-old woman we know said to just leave them out in a sun lit window. That seems to work as well as anything. Actually they’re almost all off the tree now anyway.
When I have more ripe persimmons than I need I freeze the pulp. Most recipes I’ve come across use two cups so I freeze it in two cup portions.
A 94 year old farmer at our local farmer’s market taught us a trick to get rid of the astringency. Pour a shot of hard liquor (whiskey, rum, vodka, whatever) in a glass. Put the persimmons and the shot of liquor under a plastic covering (bucket, large bowl, whatever) for a few days. It works like a charm.