Fruits: Apples • Asian Pears • Avocados • Grapefruit • Grapes • Guavas • Kiwis • Kumquats • Lemons • Limes • Mandarins • Oranges • Pears • Persimmons • Pomegranates * • Pomelos
Vegetables: Artichokes * • Arugula • Asparagus ** • Beets • Bok Choy • Broccoli • Broccoli Raab • Brussels Sprouts • Burdock • Cabbage • Cardoons • Carrots • Cauliflower • Celeriac • Celery • Chard • Chicory • Collards • Cress • Dandelion • Endive • Fava Greens • Fennel • Garlic • Horseradish • Kale • Kohlrabi • Leeks • Mushrooms • Mustard Greens • Nettles • Onions • Orach • Oranges • Parsnips • Potatoes • Radishes • Rutabagas • Salsify * • Shallots • Spinach • Sprouts • Winter Squash • Sunchokes • Sweet Potatoes • Turnips • Fish: Abalone (farmed) • Dungeness Crab, Lingcod (Rod and Reel)# • Rock Cod (Rockfish, Rod and Reel, Purse Seine, Trap)# • Sablefish (Black Cod, Longline, Pots)# • Sanddabs (Pacific)# Sardines (Pacific) • Sole (Dover and Petrale, Longline, Rod and Reel)# • Spot Prawns# • Squid (Market, Purse Seine)#
* December only
** February only
# Rated “Good Alternative” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. All other seafood listed is rated “Best Choice.” See www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx for more information.
WHAT’S IN SEASON: Persimmons
Demystifying a winter culinary jewel
By Jamie Collins
Photography by Geneva Liimatta
It is very appropriate that I bite into my first Fuyu persimmon of the season as I sit down to write about them. I add some dry, aged goat cheese and oil-cured olives to the mix, and persimmon inspiration begins to bubble to the surface. What’s not to love about these versatile and tasty fruits that are available throughout the winter months?
HISTORY AND VARIETIES
Persimmon trees like both mild summer months and mild winters, so our region is a perfect place for growing them. On Monterey Bay, many country properties with a little extra land are home to persimmon trees. Take Carmel Valley for instance; in the winter, you can drive through and see the unpicked, bright orange, acorn-shaped fruit hanging in an amazing display of color long after the leaves have fallen off. I like to fantasize that Carmel Valley cowboys made brandy out of them in the old days, to keep them warm on horseback during cold winter days.
Whether to pick the fruit or keep them on the tree can be a hard decision. I’m guilty of letting the fruit hang on the trees so that I can gaze through my bedroom window at the sight of them brightening a dark winter morning with their orange glow.
The botanical genus of an edible persimmon tree is Diospyros, meaning “divine fruit,” and botanically speaking, persimmon fruits are actually berries. The word persimmon comes from the American Indian word putchamin, which means “dried fruit,” probably due to the Algonquin tribe’s practice of drying them for sustenance in the winter.
The first European to mention trying the fruit was explorer Don Fernando de Soto in 1539 when he learned about it from Indians in Florida. However, the first descriptive diary entry came from Captain John Smith during the 17th century, and noted “if it not be ripe it will draw a man’s mouth awry with much torment, but when it is ripe, it is as delicious as an apricock.” (Apricock was the old name for apricot.) Capt. Smith must have been talking about an astringent variety, such as the Japanese cultivar Hachiya, which is commonly available in our local markets.
Hachiya fruit ranges in size from six ounces to one pound and boasts a robust shape encased in a bright, pumpkin-orange skin. To avoid the astringency of unripe Hachiya, the variety needs to be in a pre-exploding state of ripeness—look for a very thin skin and insides that resemble thick jelly, sweet and slightly spicy with a substantial pulp. And by the time they are ripe, they need to be worked with quickly, as it is a fine line between perfectly edible and rotting persimmon fruit.
But the rewards are worth paying attention. Ripe Hachiya varieties can be eaten right out of the skins with a spoon, or by removing the calyx (the dry leaf-like part on the top of the fruit) and eating from the inside out. They are often baked into breads and cookies or cooked into seasonal puddings. Most common is a steamed pudding originating in the Midwest, which is topped with brandy butter and crème Anglaise—a sugar, egg yolk, cream and vanilla mixture. The consistency of this pudding is like pumpkin pie, but looks like a brownie and tastes like something in between the two. (More on cooking with persimmons later.
The other variety grown locally is the Fuyu persimmon, which is not astringent and is different from the Hachiya in other ways. Smaller in size, squat like a little pumpkin and resembling an orange heirloom tomato, Fuyu persimmons can be eaten right off the tree in a crunchy state once the fruit is completely orange. They are sweet and mild, and eaten as you would an apple. Other crisp varieties similar to Fuyu are Gosho, Imoto, Izu, Jiro, Maekawa Jiro and Suruga. (The prevalence of Japanese names reflects that Japan—along with China and Korea—are the world’s largest producers of persimmons.)
There is also a black variety of persimmons, native to Mexico, making a rare appearance at farmers’ markets. It is known as chocolate or coffee cake persimmon in the States and is sometimes called black sapote (although there is no relation to the true tropical sapote fruit). The black persimmon looks like a cross between the Hachiya and the Fuyu in shape, but needs to be fully ripe like the Hachiya to be edible.
Not all persimmon trees bear fruit. A member of the same botanic family, Ebenaceae, as ebony, they are sometimes used for their wood, most often in making percussion instruments like drumsticks and wooden flutes, or, more recently, long bows for archery.
WAYS TO PREPARE PERSIMMON FRUIT
Not only are persimmons beautiful, they are also delicious, and there are many different ways to prepare them. The Hachiya and the Fuyu lend themselves best to very different culinary adventures, however.
Fuyus add color to your holiday spread, and are great accompaniments to cheese platters, complementing the strong flavors with their slightly sweet and crisp flesh. They are a tasty and crunchy accent to sandwiches of all kinds, my favorite being an addition to a soft herbed goat cheese and roasted pork loin panini. Fuyus are also the persimmons that are sliced to go into salads and garnish desserts. Persimmon, fennel, kale and quinoa salad never disappoints.
Hachiyas are good for anything dessert-oriented. Start by preparing a naturally gelatinous, sweet base from the Hachiyas by cooking down the pulp of eight Hachiyas for 12 hours in a crock pot, stirring occasionally and then adding some vanilla, agave syrup or honey, cinnamon, and the juice and zest of two lemons. This base, or persimmon “cook-down,” can be baked into breads and puddings, used to cook meats such as pork roasts and goat, or simply spread on toast as persimmon butter. The pulp can also be a base for seasonal beer making or left to ferment into probiotic fruit vinegar.
Last season I was turned on to traditionally dried Hachiya persimmons, a labor-intensive technique practiced by Japanese farmers and offered by Hamada Farms, a family farm that sells at the Old Monterey Market Place on Alvarado Street Tuesday afternoons. Cliff Hamada was kind enough to explain the process of drying whole persimmons in the old-world Japanese style that the Hamadas have been practicing for more than 100 years and three generations. “First you start with Hachiya persimmons that are just breaking color and are rock-hard,” he explained. “When you harvest from the tree, be sure to cut the stem in a ‘T’—this is how the fruit will hang on the string to dry. Take a potato peeler, peel off the first layer of skin. Hang the persimmons on a string, in the sun or in a warm kitchen, ensuring that they don’t touch and air can circulate. Massage each persimmon to break up the fibers at least twice a week for 2–3 weeks until they are dry. Store in a cool place once they are dried.”
I soon found myself getting addicted to the massaged, dried Hachiya, which I dipped whole in some quality black coffee for a sweet breakfast treat.
Chef Cal Stamenov, executive chef at Marinus and Wickets at Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, shared with me his favorite way to eat a Hachiya persimmon—and it is also one of the easiest preparations you’ll find.
“Harvest them with the stem attached after they are fully ripe and are like a water balloon, and put them in the freezer overnight,” Stamenov says. “Remove them when they are frosty for a delicious dessert.”
HEALTH BENEFITS
Persimmons contain high levels of fiber, and significant amounts of essential minerals and antioxidants. They are also rich in vitamin C, potassium and beta-carotene. Research shows that eating persimmons regulates how the body deals with fat, and may help prevent heart disease. In Chinese medicine, they are known to regulate chi, or energy.
GROWING PERSIMMONS
Persimmon trees are planted 15 to 20 feet apart and prefer to be protected from wind and extreme temperatures. Wonderfully drought tolerant once established, persimmons are not susceptible to disease or pests unless the tree becomes weak from poor care. Persimmon trees start to produce fruit well after they are established—around their sixth year. Trees can grow to 25 feet, and pruning can keep the tree a manageable size and the yield consistent year to year.
This year, I’m contemplating not leaving the persimmons on the tree all winter for visual candy to be enjoyed out my bedroom window. Instead, I think I will harvest them early, bring them in from the cold and show them a little love—maybe even a few weekly massages.
Jamie Collins of Serendipity Farms has been growing organic row crops at the mouth of Carmel Valley for more than 10 years. She distributes her produce through a CSA, u-picks and farmers’ markets.
RECIPES
Dungeness Crab Salad with
Persimmon Carpaccio and Yuzu Vinaigrette
About the author
At Edible Monterey Bay, our mission is to celebrate the local food culture of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. We believe in sustainability, and we believe everyone has a right to healthful, clean and affordable food. We think knowing where our food comes from is powerful, and we hope our magazine, website and newsletters inspire readers to get to know and support our local growers, fishers, chefs, vintners and food artisans.
