Sunday, October 12, 2008

let me tell you about persimmons!

i didn't even know what the hell these things were until i moved to indiana. hoosiers are big on making pulp from the persimmon and transforming it into delicious pudding. i have an aversion to bread puddings, so i shied away for several years. i finally tasted some a few thanksgivings ago and was hooked! persimmons are technically berries, and originated in china and other asian countries. the indiana variety are really small about the size of a gumball. the caliornia variety that i've purchased in the store are the size of my fist and REALLY expensive--$1.50 each! i've found that they don't have a dominant flavor, they just taste like sweet goo. NOTE: persimmons should be processed or eaten once soft, not hard or you'll be gettin' a huge mouth of alum like flavor. lucky for me, my neighbor has a couple of trees and has given me permission to grab as many as i can.

the pulping process is tedious. hard core foodies usually own a food mill, but i don't--so i use a small fine mesh strainer and wire wisk to grind the berries into said pulp. the indiana variety has a TON of seeds, so sorting the seeds from the pulp is what makes these babies such a pain in the ass. once finished, the pulp has the consistency of an egg, so i'm wondering if it could be used as a vegan egg in baking instead of using a banana. i don't mind using bananas, occasionally i'd like my baked goods to not have that dominating banana flavor. i'll have to try it! anyway, here's the recipe for the persimmon pudding that i LOVE. of course i've given it a vegan make over! food porn pic is on the "yum kippur" entry from a few days ago:

Persimmon Pudding- Originally from Marty Connerly of Rush, Cty. IN, Veganized by Jen Molica

preheat your oven to 325 and spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray.

water mixture: combine the following ingredients in the baking pan
1 1/2 c turbinado
1 T molasses
2/3 stick of Earth Balance
1 c boiling water

place the pan in oven and allow the mixture to melt and get really bubbly. leave pan in oven while preparing batter.

batter mixture: combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl
1 c turbinado
2 "eggs"- i used one large overripe banana
3 t baking powder
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 c soy milk (i'm sure you could use rice milk or a nut milk)
2 c ww pastry flour
1 c persimmon pulp (i used used both indiana and california varieties, either will work)
1/3 stick of earth balance
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t. nutmeg

mix batter ingredients thoroughly. take the baking pan out of the oven and pour the batter over the water mixture. DO NOT STIR. the batter will be surrounded by the glaze and eventually soak in during baking making it all really deliciously gooey.
bake for one hour at 325. serve warm with a scoop of vanilla soy delicious if you please.
pictured below are the berries and the pulp.

5 comments:

Yipsl said...

still no comments? well, here's mine - this is scrumptious and popular stuff with a mostly non-vegan cast and crew at the community theater production that my daughter and I have been with for years. I bring this to the potluck table and it disappears. it's rehearsal season, and also persimmon season, once again, in California. I volunteer with Food Nt Bombs and get lots of donated produce, and sometimes we have too many ripe persimmons - both the Hachiya type, which are astringent as all get-out until they are ripe and gooey, and the Fuyus, which can be eaten crispy like an apple but which go on and ripen to goo at room temperature, and need to be processed too.

Yipsl said...

still no comments? well, here's mine - this is scrumptious and popular stuff with a mostly non-vegan cast and crew at the community theater production that my daughter and I have been with for years. I bring this to the potluck table and it disappears. it's rehearsal season, and also persimmon season, once again, in California. I volunteer with Food Nt Bombs and get lots of donated produce, and sometimes we have too many ripe persimmons - both the Hachiya type, which are astringent as all get-out until they are ripe and gooey, and the Fuyus, which can be eaten crispy like an apple but which go on and ripen to goo at room temperature, and need to be processed too.

Anonymous said...

Hey there~
I have just had an abundance of (very) ripe persimmons fall into my lap, and my vegan son happens to be home for Thanksgiving weekend. So I will try your recipe - it sounds delicious. :)
~Chris

Yipsl said...

I also have too many ripe persimmons, so here we go again!

Anonymous said...

Here I am, a year later, looking up your recipe. It was a huge success last year, and I made several batches and froze them for future use. They have disappeared over time, and as Thanksgiving approaches, I know exactly what will be for dessert this year. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
~Chris