2020 Bumper Crop KAKI - Poached KAKI, KAKI Roll Ups, KAKI Fruit Salad, KAKI Pecan Scones, KAKI Pudding

 There were enough KAKI for all the birds and whatever in the fields to share and more for me to share with my families.  I also found out that persimmons - KAKI is my side kick natural medicine I needed to help me with digestive system.  Since after the gallbladder removal surgery, I don't think I had a quiet day. I could not sleep well, eat well, and challenging to plan the day.  After finding out some food sources that could help me to regulate my digestive system - honestly - to "firm up" to be regular, I found KAKI to be one of the fruits to help me.  Other foods are - rice with wild grains, beans, potatoes.  KAKI is now part of my ingredients for my meals.

POACHED KAKI

Select smaller KAKI, wash and peel.

Add Sweet red wine Marsala and Pomegranate syrup.

Add the whole bottle of Marsala and enough pomegranate syrup to sweeten.

Add a stick of Cinnamon - you know how to tell the real cinnamon from the wanna be, right?

Poach in low heat for 4 hours if you want the red color of the wine to infused into KAKI.

Turn them over a couple of times during the 4 hours.

I served it with  my homemade Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream.  The taste together with the Poached KAKI was a discovery to enjoy at least once to twice a year.

KAKI FRUIT ROLL UPS 

To make my KAKI fruit Roll Ups, I added one Granny Smith Apple, a pinch of salt, 1 tsp of Ball brand Fruit Fresh (Ascorbic Acid), 1/4 C Lime juice. A few shakes of Cayenne pepper.  Persimmon in general is bland.  It has a distinct taste of its own, but it not exactly a fruit that would stand out when cooked or mixed with some other fruits.  Acid bring out the flavor a bit more.

Puree them well.

 

 Spread a think coat of organic avocado oil on the dehydration sheet.  

Then spread a even layer of KAKI puree.

*I made a mistake by spreading them too thick.  It took a long long time to dehydrate when it is too thick.

Make sure the top of the fruit roll is dry before turning off the dehydrator.  Dehydrate longer if it looks mushy or tacky to prevent from fungus growth, etc.  Ply off and Slice with scissors into serving pieces and wrap up with plastic wrap.

 

KAKI Fruit Salad or with Chayote and Fennel Salad

KAKI slices goes very well in a salad with vinaigrette dressing. 

Banana, Dragonfruits, Pears, KAKI

Chayote, cucumber, fennel, pomegranate, KAKI with vinaigrette dressing

KAKI PECAN SCONES with Poppy Seeds

I think adding a tangy fruits like chopped dried apricots might have worked out good also.  Try to use the crispy KAKI instead of one that is already getting a bit soft.

KAKI PUDDING

It looks like KAKI pudding is quite popular in Japan.  I watched it in YouTube and tried it myself, but because I added Fruit Fresh - acid, it did not jell up as much.  The texture turned out more like a Smoothie than pudding like. 

Remove all the seeds

Add equal amount of Half-and-Half.  Blend together

Pour into containers.  Chill 2 hours.  Serve.

Chili Peppers in my Garden - in November?

 This year's pandemic and how the plants behaving are something to pay attention to.  I found two Chili peppers in my vege garden in middle of November.  I was very surprised to find them.  They are so pretty, and super hot.  It maybe a Jalapeno??

Test Transplanting / Graft Red Ruby BOTAN / Moon Cactus - Failed - Update on 12/29/20

Updates at the bottom: 12/29/2020 Failed.

 I bought his Red Ruby BOTAN / Moon Cactus a few years ago.  It grew big, but it seems to have contracted some kind of fungus.  Some of the baby moons, look okay, but others seem to have contracted the fungus.  After researching, I decided to transplant it by using some of the Dragonfruits branches.  Whether it is successful or not is yet to be seen.  One of the four isn't doing well.  I followed a couple websites where the students illustrated what needs to happen in order for a successful transplant or grafting needs to occur.  I did not understand the first transplant I did a few years back, and I did not understand the chemical connection that needed to happen between the two plants' cuts at the center stem.  I am sure you have your favorite YouTube sites for all these, but here is how mine turned out.  This will be their 2nd week since the grafting.  I am not sure how they will turn out from here.  I am hoping to revive the large Moon.

 

This is my large Moon queen.  It's about four years old.  It grew many princess.  As you can see, there is sign of dark fungus problem.  It's been there for many years.  I don't know how to get rid of it, so I though I would try repotting. Before I decided to do transplant, I tried repotting, but I noticed the Dragonfruit plant started to have a pale color near the soil... it means it is rottening.  So, I decided to cut some of the new Dragonfruit branches and use them to do grafting.  

See the yellowing at the stem near the soil after repotting as a solution 1.    Notice the fungus illness at each new shoots toward the bottom of the Moon globe.

Time to change.  Removed the cactus.  Washed the pot, sanitized it, put the soil in, then, I forgot to put some rocks at the bottom, so, I dump the soil out, put some pebbles at the bottom, then filled with Cactus soil

With sanitized knife, I cut the Moon globe off.  I think I am supposed to slice it off straight, but as you can see, it has many princess in the way, so I end up cutting in.

I am not sure it's a good thing or not, I cleaned out the bottom and sliced the Dragonfruit branch top to match the cut.

It was pointed out in some of the YouTube illustration that the Dragonfruit branch's center core needs to have a firm contact with the Moon Cactus' center.

I did my best to do so.  I also noticed that both plants produce some kind of sticky enzyme.  It acted like a glue, I thought.  After placing them together, I used a stretchable band-aid to tie them in place.

While I was at it, I took a few of the baby princess moon off from the Queen and grafted them in.  Hope they will survive.

Update: 12/29/20

Sadly the transplant connection did not form.  The BOTAN was not in healthy condition to begin with, but it was a hope that it would revive after the transplant.  It just rotted off.