An Ode to Wild Persimmons (+My Mother’s Recipe for Persimmon Bread)... and roast possum!

judsoncarroll4

Here is my new article for TGN, that i mentioned last night:

https://thegrownetwork.com/wild-persimmons/

Acequiamadre

Last weekend I was all up in wild persimmons. Our homestead has an old tree, which I usually ignore. This year, however, most of our fruit was hit by a late frost, but our wild persimmons are still going strong. I wish I had seen your article last weekend, while I was exploring how to work around the seeds. Loved your article by the way.

I grew up with a country store and I feel there should be a book of the many country stores that enrich our communities from coast to coast (and the wonderful people that run them).

My step-grandma's old fruit-cone worked wonders, for those who want to try your bread:

(how do I make the pictures smaller?)

judsoncarroll4

That is the ideal tool.. I wish I knew where mine is!

Acequiamadre

Agreed--I use it for so many things! If anyone ever sees one at a thirft store or garage sale--pick it up!

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/878454#Comment_878454

Great for making bisque style soups, too

Gail H

@judsoncarroll4 What a nice article! I really enjoyed it.

I just love persimmons and have three trees in the yard. They produce a lot of persimmons, but they are pretty large as persimmons go and not as sweet as some. My husband and I went walking on Wednesday and found a tree with small, almost mahogany colored fruit. The pulp was incredibly fragrant and flavorful. I've tucked it away in the freezer to make something special at Thanksgiving.

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/878463#Comment_878463

Thanks! I agree, there is a lot of variation in the flavor of the fruit depending on the site.

judsoncarroll4

@Merin Porter my article disappeared!

MaryRowe

@judsoncarroll4 I thought it was just a problem on my end! The first day you posted your article I took a quick look, it looked really good and brought back memories for me as well. But I didn't have time to read it properly just then. Next day when i went back to read it, I got "Log-in failed" instead. Tried a different way in, but no luck. So I've been wondering what happened. Sure hope somebody can find it!

judsoncarroll4

My Persimmon article is back online - thanks @Merin Porter !

https://thegrownetwork.com/wild-persimmons/

silvertipgrizz

That cone strainer brings back so many good memories of my mama...she could make almost anything taste good..

Thanks for posting this..

MaryRowe

Great article now that it's back up and I finally read it. Brings back fond memories of talking about local foods and eating well despite hard times with the old timers who lived around here, now sadly mostly passed on. It's basically that same Scots-Irish culture, must be as strong in rural Missouri as in NC. We're a little north of the real stronghold--the Ozarks proper--here, but the Scots-Irish actually settled this area first in the 1820's, and then moved down into the Ozarks from here.

I went out to gather persimmons yesterday, and came back with a bare handful--critters beat me to most of them already! I doubt I'll even have a cup of strained pulp to try your bread recipe. I was thinking of maybe a small pudding instead. But your article inspired thoughts of greater things: don't have any coon or possum, but I did pull a couple of very nice pork steaks out of the freezer, and I'm thinking tonight is pork steak with sweet taters and persimmon sauce--just off now to see how fancy I can get with that sauce. Thanks for the inspiration!

MaryRowe

Oh, and I meant to ask--however did you find a picture of a possum that looks so pretty? (graceful-looking little thing, fluffy white fur, big round eye, etc.)--it's almost smiling!--Nothing at all like the big fat ratty-furred gotch-eared gnarly snarly things that hang around here!

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/878859#Comment_878859

I'm sure your pork recipe will be awesome. I have to credit @Merin Porter for the photos. She's good at that. I've never been much of one to take photos or have mine taken. I'm just now beginning to make my blog posts a bit more visually interesting.

Thomas

@Acequiamadre ; love that fruit cone!

@judsoncarroll4 ; love persimmons, especially in bread.

julieart01

Love the fruit cone!

I love these muffins with persimmons. If you do not have persimmons then you can use chopped apples or apple sauce.

It is so versatile in that you can add or subtract what ever you like in the recipe and it still works. The original recipe calls for banana and honey but I do not add honey any more. Originally I used coconut nectar but it is expensive.  Now I use 1/4 cup of chopped dates, plus persimmons and raisins instead.

You can add quinoa for extra protein. I have even made these with sour dough starter instead of the almond flour. You can use flax eggs instead of real eggs if they are a problem for you. They freeze really well so you can double the recipe and only have to make once.

This is a double batch so 24 muffins depending on how much stuff you add...

3 cups of almond flour, or Einkorn flour or any flour that you like.

pinch of good sea or Himalayan sea salt

3 eggs plus

1 T chia seeds + 3 T water and 2 T ground flax seeds + 4 T water or 3 more eggs

( I use the flax egg + eggs as I want to include flax in the recipe as it is good for our hormones.)

Ground chia seeds are great for additional nutrition.

2 T hemp seeds (can add more for extra protein)

1 small zucchini grated or one cup

1 small carrot grated

1 ripe banana mashed

2 T melted coconut oil

1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 cup rolled oats

handful of pepita seeds

handful of raisins

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Tablespoon of honey (optional) I do not add.

Optional

2-3 Tablespoon of yogurt (good if your batter is dry and needs more liquid. can skip if you wish a diary free muffin)  

I like to add chopped apples or pears or persimmons or pomegranates or blueberries for sweetness and moisture.

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another.

Add chopped dates, seeds, raisins, hemp seeds, pecans, carrots, zucchini, to dry ingredients to coat them with flour and stir with your hands so that they are not clumped together.

I mix banana, eggs, flax/chia, coconut oil, honey if using all together then pour into dry mix.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. I accidentally forgot to set the timer once and cooked them for 30 minutes and liked them better well done and caramelized so now I set timer for 20 minutes, then cook an additional 5 minutes and another 5 but am checking them so that they do not burn. Kind of depends on how much moisture is in the batch but I do love them caramelized!

I have silicone muffin liners and love them as they pop out nicely and I do not have to oil and dust the pan. The paper muffin liners stick to the muffins and are hard to get off.

We freeze our bananas as they ripen and you can use frozen banana. Just mash it up like you would a non frozen banana.

Let me know how you like them!

judsoncarroll4

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/885716#Comment_885716

Thanks for the recipes!