PERSIMMON BREAD

The young women bagging my groceries when seeing the three persimmons asked, “What are those?”

“Those are persimmons,” I answered.

“What do you do with them? What do they taste like?” She asked.

“I am going to make persimmon bread and they taste a bit like sweet apples, honey-like.”

I had never heard of persimmons until I saw an ink wash of them in my book, Creativity and Taoism:

This ink wash of six persimmons by Mu ch’i, the pen name of Fa chang, a Ch’an monk from Szechuan, born in the early part of the 13th century, is regarded as one of the best works ever produced by Chinese artists.

I was so inspired by this work of art, I re-created it with six tomatoes:

But Bruce, what about the Persimmon Bread? Coming, my friends. I halved the recipe (From a favorite website; Natasha’s Kitchen), making one loaf, but I did used three persimmons. Other changes noted below.

Ingredients

2 large eggs, room temperature (I used 1 egg.)
1 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/2 cup.)
1 Tbsp real vanilla extract
3 cups ripe fuyu persimmon, pureed (a little over 1 1/2 lbs) (DO NOT USE Hachiya persimmons)
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (I used 5.)
2 tsp baking soda, sifted to make there aren’t lumps (I used 1 tsp.)
1/4 tsp (generous pinch) of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 1/2 cups.)
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces, toasted (I used 3/4 cup.)
1 cup raisins (I used 3/4 cup craisins.)

Instructions

Prep: Preheat oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9 x5 loaf pan. Toast walnut pieces on a dry skillet until aromatic and lightly golden.
Remove tops of persimmon with a sharp knife. Cut into quarters and remove any seeds if present then puree in a Cuisinart. I left the skins on.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, cup sugar and vanilla. Mix in persimmon puree and the melted butter.
Add baking soda, tsp salt and cinnamon and whisk to combine. Whisk in flour until blended.
Fold in walnuts and craisins until evenly dispersed and pour the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 – 50 min or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 min then turn out onto wire rack to cool to room temp.

ENJOY!