Persimmons

[dogmom4]

What can I do with persimmons? I was given a large bag (way too many to eat). Can they be dried?

Stacy

[Violet]

Freezing

Persimmons

Preparation – Select orange-colored, soft-ripe persimmons. Sort, wash, peel and cut into sections. Press fruit through a sieve to make a purée. For a better product, to each quart of purée add 1/8 teaspoon (375 mg) ascorbic acid. purée made from native varieties needs no sugar. purée made from cultivated varieties may be packed with or without sugar.

 

Purée – Pack unsweetened purée into containers. Leave headspace. Seal and freeze. Or, mix 1 cup sugar with each quart (2 pounds) of purée and pack into containers. Leave headspace. Seal and freeze.

 

 

FREEZING PERSIMMONS

 

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In China and Japan, persimmons are always dried, but in

the U.S. they are most commonly frozen. Wash, peel and

slice the fruit, remove the seeds and freeze the fruit in a

dry pack or honey pack with a little added lemon juice. Or,

puree the slices in a blender or food processor. Add 2

tablespoons of lemon juice per pint, then freeze. You can

also freeze persimmons whole and unskinned. Serve them

partially thawed over ice cream. Seal, label and freeze.

 

Dehydrated Persimmons

(Excerpts from "Persimmons (Kaki) From Seed To Supper")

 

Firm-ripe Persimmons can be dried when they are fully colored orange. Soft-ripe Persimmons must be dried when they are fully colored orange yet still hard and astringent. The drying process sweetens the Persimmons to chewy pieces of near candy.

 

 

 

AIR DRYING WHOLE PERSIMMONS

Leave a bit of the branch attached to the stem so as to form to cross bar of a ‘T’ when harvesting the fully colored but hard and astringent Persimmons. Break off the Calyx (the remaining leaves of the blossom) and peel the persimmon. Loop a piece of string around the base of the ‘T’ and tie the persimmons to a pole. Hang it in a dry spot with good air circulation. In Japan, Persimmons are woven into straw braids and hung under the eaves of homes. They should be ready to eat in four to six weeks. Large fruit takes longer. I select the smallest fruit for air drying.

 

A more complex procedure is to watch until the persimmons turn brown. Start gently pinching the fruit to break up the pulp and promote even drying. Once the fruit becomes leathery, remove them from the strings. Heap them in a wax paper or plastic wrap lined box, fold over the wrap and close the box. They will turn white as the sweating sugar crystallizes on their surface.

 

 

PERSIMMON FRUIT ROLLS

A tasty and nutritious snack. Store in your refrigerator.

In a blender to purée

 

1 cup persimmon pulp with

1 tablespoon lime (or lemon) juice.

Pour mixture onto the fruit roll tray of your dehydrator and dry according to the dehydrator instructions (Probably 6 to 8 hours at 100° F.)

DEHYDRATOR PERSIMMONS

Peel the fully colored yet still hard and astringent Persimmons and slice them into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Leave the rounds whole or cut each round in half. Lay the rounds or half rounds on your.dehydrator trays. Follow the manufacturers instructions (Probably 24 to 36 hours at 115° F).

 

Use the stem and blossom end pieces for reconstituting in rum and baking. Save the succulent middle pieces for eating out of hand. They make a very tasty treat for any time, place or occasion.

 

 

Using Dried Persimmons

 

The drying process sweetens Persimmons to chewy pieces of near candy…so put them in a covered candy dish and have a far more healthy nibble than any confectioner ever devised. Drop some in your lunch bucket. Add them to your trail mix. Put some in a dish on your desk. Add them into cookies, cakes, puddings or cook some into oatmeal.

 

RUM RECONSTITUTED PERSIMMON

 

Treat these bits with respect, they are potent until they are cooked. Rum reconstituted persimmon bits are a great additive to any recipe calling for dried fruit.

Cut pieces of

dried persimmons

into small bits with kitchen shears. Place the bits in a jar, cover with

rum (your choice) and

soak 4 to 6 hours or overnight. The bits of persimmon will absorb rum and the rum will absorb sugar and flavor from the persimmons. Strain the persimmon bits for use in cookies, cakes or puddings.

Reserve the flavored rum for...

 

PERSIMMON LIQUEUR

 

What a left over!

Filtered or unfiltered, the sweet persimmon flavored rum is delicious. Chill it and serve in liqueur glasses