Saturday, November 21, 2009

Dried Persimmons Progress Report #2

I am posting the images of air drying HACHIYA (astringent, cone shaped) Persimmons from Day 1 through Day 13. I think the drying process maybe much faster in California, U.S.A. because of the humidity difference between US and Asia.   If the normal air drying of persimmons take 6 to 8 weeks than mine is drying super fast, but of course, there are other factors to consider.   I only have 11 hanging persimmons, one persimmon per string vs strands and strands of persimmons being air dried.   Hope this images will help any new persimmon enthusiasts on  "How to Dry Persimmons" or "What to do with HACHIYA Persimmons".  So this is how they would look air drying persimmons.  (Please read The Fall Jewel - Persimmons (Dried KAKI) http://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/2009/11/fall-jewel-persimmons-dried-kaki.html  for "how to prepare" in my previous blogs.)
(Double click on the image to view vimage in larger size.)

 











 
 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

FUYU Bundt Cake



FUYU Persimmons are our favorites or any of the non-astringent crunchy type persimmons are.  The best one to bite into is the Giant FUYU KAKI.  Love the crunchy and sweet taste and interesting level of textures in one fruit.  And we love the beautiful orange color in the autumn.
I came across this recipe from http://www.sdfarmbureau.org/FUYU/recipe.html.
I find it interesting that FUYU persimmons are used rather than the cone shaped astringent type for baking. But I jump right into and tested it.  The bundt cake came out beautifully.  I think it tasted better on the 2nd day.
My variation to this recipe is that I used 4 tsp of lemon juice rather than 2.  (I didn't want to waste the extra two tsp of fresh lemon juice that I got from the lemon in my garden.)

Enjoy!





Persimmon Oatmeal Cookies


While researching about 'how to dry persimmons' on the net, I came across persimmon cookies recipe at this site.  I am not going to print it here as it is not my recipe.  But here is the site address:  http://www.seedtosupper.com/persimmons.html  and you can get much more interesting facts on persimmons than mine.
For this recipe, 1 cup of fully ripened persimmon pulp was used.  My taste test on this is that I don't really taste the persimmons in it.  I taste more of the oatmeal and spices than persimmons in it.
Perhaps, cutting down on the oatmeal entirely or measure down to 2/3 or 1/2 or 3/4 Cup would do.
Only testing would tell.  But it is a good recipe to start my adventure with baking with HACHIYA persimmons.

Modification in the recipe of mine included the following ingredients:
1 tsp Vanilla
3 Shakes of Chili Pepper Flakes
a Couple of shakes of Lemon Zest ... about 1/8 tsp but could have used 1 tsp of fresh lemon zest.