Pears, Persimmons & Sourdough

Well, it's been a while! What can I say except that things got away from me. I visited family in November, my mother visited for 3 weeks in December, plus I had to deal with the 8 weeks long chest cold from hell. 

My chief culinary accomplishments of late fall and early winter include:

PEARS: My friend George forwarded me a note from a community list along with a photo of a gorgeously laden and tempting looking pear tree.  I harvested about 30+ lbs of small pears which seemed quite hard, along with my friend Veronika.  The location was near Oakland's Chinatown, so while we were back there, some neighbors came by and also harvested some pears.  V and I thought they were kind of firm but one lady bit into it and said they were good.

The pears were small, a bit mealy and very hard.  They had a yellow-green skin under a brown layer that scraped off with light application of fingernail or nylon scrubby pad.  I washed all the pears and laid them out to ripen on trays.  And waited.  And waited.  After 2 weeks, some of them just went mushy, so I did some research.

What I discovered is that there are some old varieties of pears that are only for cooking - I think these pears were Kiefer pears.  So, I poached some pears and they came out so amazingly delicious!  I canned the rest of the pears in several batches - some with light syrup and some with light syrup and spices (clove, cinnamon, star anise). I'll be set for a while for canned pears, I promise some lovely pear photos.

PEAR VINEGAR: As Marilee from Urban Legend Cellars said, "folks don't know how EASY it is to make vinegar!"  I put a big pile of pear peelings and cores into a gallon glass jar with distilled water - and I keep adding water and aerating it.  It's now growing a mother on top - just like kombucha or Bragg's apple cider vinegar!  Soon I will get up the nerve to taste my pear vinegar.  Expanded post with pictures coming soon.

GROUND CHERRY JELLY: the ground cherries kept going long after everything else quit.  The one Giant Ground Cherry plant I got from Annie's is still going out there - and I hope to promote those for the next season over the smaller kind.  I made up 12 half pints of jelly but it didn't set as firmly as I want, so the jars are still on the kitchen windowsill waiting to be remade (or poured over pound cake and ice cream, tough call).


PERSIMMONS: In early November, I made my annual harvest of persimmons from Larissa & Geoff's 3 story high Hachiya persimmon tree. After I picked about 200 persimmons in early November, left them to ripen while I was gone for a week - and ripen they did!  Then I and dried them all - with some pulp in the freezer as usual.  I made two giant trays of persimmon bread pudding for Holly & Marina's wedding reception - it was very well received and there were no leftovers!

SOURDOUGH: I took a Sour Flour class just a few days into the onset of the Horrible Chest Cold from Hell - and had mixed results with the starter (it eventually died).  I plan to get some starter from a neighbor named Ana.

GARDEN - Veggies vs Flowers: no, I did not manage to get my winter greens garden in properly this year again.  However, I did manage to keep alive my digitalis purpura and put it in the ground, along with some jasmine and a 2-stick rose plant - so there will be lovely scented flowering things along the fence in my garden.  The brugmansia that I got as a leafless wine barrel size root ball from Freecycle is flourishing in the side yard and sending up leaves and new growth, fingers x'd that I will have some lovely scented angel trumpets in the spring.

The broccoli di cicco has gone feral and seems to be flowering continuously - an attack of little grey aphid-y things on the broccoli, mustard and broccoli rab volunteers makes them inedible but I am leaving the large stand of broccoli di cicco because it seems to be making the honeybees very happy.  Once my other flowering plants start producing flowers, I will tear it out to make space for tomatoes.

What I love about my neighborhood is that you get random curb scores - I got a paper grocery sack half full of rhizomes labeled "FREE!" Purple and light blue irises!" which are going into the ground along the house by my steps this week.


Wow! And here I thought I hadn't done much - it turns out I've just been a lazy blogger! I promise to make it up to you, the one reader who still checks in on my blog occasionally (hi Aunt Sue!) and some backdated posts that I obviously owe are coming this week!

Persimmons are BACK! - Persimmon Bread Pudding for BREAKFAST!

If you're like me - an avid forager & kitchen witch - you might wake up one morning to discover that 40 of the 212 persimmons you harvested and have spread out on cookie sheets, trays and the little cardboard trays that once held pint and half pint canning jars - are ripe and already have been discovered by the ants.  Fortunately, the ants never get farther than under the little crown of four leaves at the stem and are easily evicted under running water.

After filling six dehydrator sheets with sliced persimmon, and putting 11 cups of persimmon pulp into freezer bags - you then discover that the gallon bag of croutons and the decidedly non-vegan chicken parts rescued from the freezer of a friend moving to Portland (to pass along to another friend for chicken stock - hey, the chicken is already dead!) - are taking up so much space that you don't have much room for more persimmon pulp in the freezer.

Then, the next morning - say, today - you wake up and find that only 3-4 persimmons, small ones at that, are really super ripe and it's not worth adding them to the dehydrator when you can kill two birds with one stone by using up some of those fabulous sourdough croutons.

Ladies & Gems - I give you:


Persimmon Bread Pudding


INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups bread cut into 1"-1.5" chunks (last night's leftover baguette baseball bat is ok!)
• 3 cups almond milk (regular or vanilla)
• 2-3 small Hachiya persimmons so ripe that you have to take care not to pierce the skin with your fingertip
• 1/3-1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 Tb ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground clove
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup raisins or currants or dried cranberries (or some other dried fruit - chopped dried apricots, nectarines or apples might be nice!)
• 3/4 coarsely chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour almond milk into your blender up to the 2 cup mark.
2. Cut hachiyas in half and scoop out pulp with a big tablespoon, straight into the blender.
3. Check the level - add more almond milk to bring it up to 3 or 3.5 cups.
4. Add maple syrup (reserving 3 TB), cinnamon, clove, vanilla to the blender cup - put the lid on and process til smooth.
5. Pour custard onto bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl - let soak 5-10 minutes, depending on how tough your bread is already.  You want it to absorb a lot of the liquid and there will still be some liquid floating around.
6. Mix in raisins and toasted nuts gently - don't mash up the bread!
7. Transfer to a lightly greased gratin dish or baking dish - the depth of the dish affects the cooking time and the final outcome.  If you like a soft, custardy bread pudding, use a deeper dish - if you like it to be a little more chewy and crispy, use a more shallow dish.
8. Drizzle reserved maple syrup on top.
9. Bake in 375 oven for 20 minutes - the bread pudding will bubble and get puffy - it will settle a bit after it cools.

Eat it warm or cold!

December Projects

MUSHROOMS! More rain this week - but also a bit of chill.  Heading out shortly to collect more chanterelles - put up a mere 2# in the freezer (done by dry sautee of thinly sliced mushrooms, reserving the juice they release to freeze, too). 


LEMONS are still in my kitchen, slowly getting juiced, frozen and even turned into lemonade & lemon drops.  I'm going to make up a couple batches of lemon chutney, but probably will create variations on my last two versions for sweet & savory lemon chutney -- of course I still have Hachiyas, but also still have some sweet red peppers and plenty of homemade cayenne pepper flakes.  I also plan to make up a batch of marmalade and some candied lemon peel.

DESSERT!  On Monday, I made a pair of apple pies - apple rum raisin with allspice (and somehow I'm out of allspice?) and apple strawberry with ginger.  I also still have key lime juice and plan to experiment with variations on a key lime pie recipe that I found in a thread on the Post Punk Kitchen forum that doesn't use tofu or packaged pudding, and am going to sub almond milk and coconut milk to make a key lime pie to bring along to my birthday tomorrow.

BIRTHDAY party is tomorrow at Encuentro, kicking off a weekend of good food and soaking in hot water.  At last weekend's 40th annual Fungus Fair, Scott & I splurged on a white truffle and a couple  winter black truffles at from the lovely wife of Todd, the King of Mushrooms.  I'm bringing the marble rolling pin, semolina flour and a hand crank pasta machine to make some pasta to go with those mushrooms on this weekend's get away, along with leftover birthday pie, chanterelles, homemade marinara sauce and a candy thermometer so I can make vegan caramels (why not?).

Persimmon Rose Preserves

Today, I decided to put away the rest of my persimmon pulp in the freezer, in 2 cup batches, for future use in salad dressing.  The last 6 cups, unpureed pulp, became an other batch of preserves - with a hint of rose - it came out absolutely fantastic:

Ingredients:

• 6 c persimmon pulp
• 2.5 c sugar
• 1/4 rose water
• pectin per instructions

YIELD:
6 - 8 oz jars
6 - 4 oz jars

Fourteen Cups of Flour Later...

I just made a 7x of the Basic Persimmon Cookie recipe, and have a few notes:

• when you hit the "blend" button to puree the persimmons, make sure the lid is secured tightly as the persimmons tend to be thick and will "jump" when the blades move
• when you are cleaning up the 1 cup of persimmon from the wall, counter & floor, don't forget to unplug the blender (or make sure the lid is on tightly) when you move it to clean around it or you will end up with another 4 cups of persimmon sprayed up into your closed cabinet and all over your dishes
• get out the Very Large Food Service stainless steel mixing bowl before it gets dark & cold outside
• blending in the baking soda &  powder with the puree is a very good idea - it's more evenly distributed in the overall mix for large batches
  
• potholders

Now, I just have to get these cookies bagged and put into store in my friend's empty freezer and figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my weekend.

Persimmon Jam

PERSIMMONS are a bit tricky.  They are not exactly chop or mash-able.  So, I put them in the blender and whiz them - but that introduces a few air bubbles into the puree.  It spreads really nicely on dehydrator sheets for fruit leather, though.  Since persimmon pulp is taking over my fridge, I decided to try making some jam out of the pulp - put it in the blender and ended up with a thick, persimmon-butter like jam.  It's so good - my taster says that he can't believe that there are no other spices added because the persimmon flavor is so rich and yet so subtle and complex.

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 cups of pureed persimmon pulp
• 3 cups of sugar
• pectin as directed by Pomona's Pectin

NOTES:
Heat up the puree in the pot before adding the sugar.  It helps if you thoroughly mix the pectin with the sugar, first.  However, since the persimmon is so thick - I found that the sugar and pectin didn't dissolve very well.  Next time, I will try reserving some of the puree mix the pectin and sugar in the blender before adding it to the rest of the pulp already hot in the pot.

YIELD:

• 11 - 8 oz jars persimmon jam
• 5 - 4 oz jars persimmon jam

Sweet Red Pepper & Persimmon Chutney

Chutney is one of my favorite things - on bread, on potatoes, on a nice vegan wheat gluten "field roast" - and it's a great way to use up a lot of persimmon!  Using the same winning spice combination as the Fig-Early Girl Tomato chutney recipe from 2 months ago, I whipped up a big pot (but not too big - lest I get myself into trouble as I did with the gigantic proportions of last year's persimmon chutney recipes!).  This time - I built the recipe to the pot, minding the proportions of my favorite chutneys, and happened to have on hand a pile of sweet red peppers from Mariquita's Mystery Box - so the combination fell into place.

Sweet Red Pepper & Persimmon Chutney

• 6.5# persimmon pulp - scooped from skins & coarsely chopped (you don't want it to be fibrous/stringy after it cooks)
• 3# finely chopped white or yellow onions
• 2# - 2.5# finely chopped sweet red peppers (stems, membrane & seeds removed)
  
• 2.5 oz garlic, fine chop
• 2.5 oz ginger - chop, put into blender with 1/2 c vinegar and add water as needed - blend til smooth and then press through metal strainer with a rubber spatula - reblend with a bit more water if you think you can get more pulp out (goal: no ginger "hairs" in chutney this year!)
• 2 c. apple cider vinegar
• 2 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 Tb chili flakes
• 2 Tb salt
• 1 tsp each: white pepper, coriander, fenugreek, black mustard - ground in spice grinder & added to pot

Simmer til onions & peppers are soft.  Pack in jars & process in hot water.  Eat what doesn't fit into jars with a spoon or on warm bread.  Yum.

YIELD:

• 4 - 12 oz jars sweet red pepper & persimmon chutney
  
• 16 - 8 oz jars sweet red pepper & persimmon chutney
• 9 - 4 oz jars sweet red pepper & persimmon chutney

Persimmon Cookies - Update!

As it turns out, the basic recipe is probably the best one.  The additional persimmon did not make the cookies taste more persimmon-y - though the texture was pretty good out of the oven.  The real test has been the way the cookies stand up to the passage of time.  The original recipe came out a lot more cakey and has kept from hardening very well in the past week.  The modified recipe - well - warming them in the toaster oven makes them less hockey-puck like, but they are still dryer inside.  So, how does this work -  you put in more moist ingredients and the cookie dries out faster?  More research needed - sticking with the original basic persimmon/pumpkin cookie recipe as posted.

Persimmon Cookies

After reviewing 2 dozen recipes for persimmon cookies online, it seemed that they were all so very similar, despite claims of individual authorship or creation.  One website has three different persimmon cookie recipes - which all have the same ratio of the same ingredients!   For further analysis, I pulled about 18 of them into an excel spreadsheet and organized the ingredients so that I could see the patterns.  You can download my spreadsheet as a 2 page PDF (printable as horizontal-legal).

With few exceptions, the basic persimmon (or even pumpkin) cookie looks like this:

Basic Persimmon Cookie

• 2 c flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
  
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 c fat (shortening/butter)
• 1 c fruit, pureed
• 1 egg (or replacer of your choice)
• 1 c raisins
• 1 c nuts (optional)
  
• salt (from a pinch to 1 tsp)
• cinnamon (1/2 to 1 tsp)
• ground cloves (1/4 to 1/2 tsp)
  
• other spices - ground nutmeg, vanilla, cardamom

Instructions: cream sugar & fat.  Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl.  Add persimmon & egg to creamed sugar/fat & reblend.  Add dry ingredients.  Add raisins.  Spoon onto cookie sheet, bake 12-15 minutes.

RESULT: I made a 4x batch of this recipe and my conclusions and taster responses are as follows:

• Scott: tastes like Thanksgiving/Xmas, can't tell if it's persimmon or pumpkin
• Scott's vegan co-worker: approved.
• Front neighbors: offered that if they were millionaires, they'd give me the start-up cash to go into business creating my own line of foods.
• Me:  too sweet and not persimmon-y enough.

After thinking about it - and running some ideas past my friend Lacey (author of "I Can't Believe It's Vegan" and partner in new vegetarian wine bar in Oakland called Encuentro) in a chat session last night - I decided on these modifications to the recipe, including omitting nutmeg.

Vegan Persimmon Cookies, Take 2

• 2 c AP flour
• 1/2 c Sucanat
• 1/4 c shortening
• 1.5 c persimmon pulp
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 T flax meal + 3 T water
• 1 c raisins
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground cloves

Cream sugar & fat. Puree persimmon in blender, add baking soda/powder/salt/spices & blend again. Add persimmon to sugar/fat & cream again. Whip flaxseeds & water in blender or food processor til frothy. Add to wet mixture & combine thoroughly. Add flour & mix till combined, scraping the sides and bottom. Add raisins. Spoon onto silicone baking sheet liner with teaspoon, rounding batter with fingers or spatula. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. Optional: top cookie with 1/4 tsp size of persimmon paste.

RESULT:  if you overbake, the cookies are a bit dry.  The persimmon flavor comes through a bit better; the cookies are more cake-y than crisp/chewy.  I am going to do another batch with 1/3 c shortening instead of 1/4 c to see if that improves texture a bit. I am also going to do a version with granulated maple sugar instead of Succanat.  I'll just update this blog entry instead of starting over.

Persimmon Paste

A review of my freezer tells me two things - first, I still have frozen persimmon puree from last year.  Second, roasted tomato sauce, persimmon puree and carrot soup all look fairly similar in the freezer and should be labeled appropriately.

After rave reviews of my quince paste (dulce de membrillo) it occurred to me - why not do this with some other fruits? Like, for example, persimmon?

I measured out equal quantities of persimmon & sugar, mixed and heated it.  Concerned that it would not set as well as the dulce de membrillo (remember - quinces have more pectin in them than other fruit), I added some pectin (based on volume) and cinnnamon to the persimmon paste.

Let me tell you - this stuff sticks to the pan at higher temperatures a lot more readily than any jam or quince paste has!  You have to keep the heat low and stir often - once it reduces, then put it into low dishes or cookie sheets lined with canola oil rubbed parchment paper and put into the dehydrator.  The persimmon paste set a lot more quickly than the quince paste (likely the pectin) and according to one friend, "it tastes like Thanksgiving!"

Persimmons - 2009!

Today I went to my friend's house and helped harvest unripe persimmons.  We cleared probably less than 50% of the tree - there are still a lot on the tree.  It seems like more than last year - perhaps because we picked so many last year that the tree was very happy about it!  I brought home two big blue tubs weighing about 75# each. 

This year, instead of laying the persimmons out in a single layer on the floor and tables of my project room - I decided to utilize the solar dehydrator.  The weather is cool enough and the right setup would keep the ants out - Dobson, of course, helped.

Now, I just have to wait and start figuring out what to do with the ripened persimmons!

Fig Persimmon Chutney

In the spirit of experimentation and - I still have a lot of frozen persimmon, I decided to try this sort of recipe - I already have some modifications for next time but here's what I did first:

• 4# figs - quartered/coarsely chopped
• 6 c persimmon puree
  
• 3# onions - fine mince
• 4 serrano chiles, seeded & minced
• 1 1/4 oz fincely minced/grated fresh ginger
• 1 can pineapple rings, coarsely chopped & juice
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 3 star anise, 1/2 tsp fenugreek seed, 5 allspice berries, 1/2 tsp dehulled cardomom - ground
• 1 Tb salt
• 4 oz dried dates, chopped
• 1 c raisins
• 2 c apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 c dried flake coconut
• 1.5 c sucanat

This actually turned out quite nice, but it's more of a blend of flavors and the figs are rather lost. It doesn't have the same glamorous spice combo as the Fig-Tomato chutney. I think for the next time, I will reduce the amount of persimmon to 3-4 cups, leave out the coconut, star anise and pineapple rings, and adjust the spices.

YIELD:
8 - 8 oz jars
12 - 4 oz jars

Vegan/Gluten-free & Soy-Free Mexican Chocolate Cake

After reading up on some vegan flourless chocolate cakes and applesauce cakes, I mostly adapted from this recipe on Karina's Kitchen blog, I have to offer you this persimmon chocolate cake which is vegan, gluten-free & soy-free, low fat and made without refined sugar but which tastes so rich and delicious, and is so easy to make that I made three of them.

Ron's Birthday Cake
Put dry ingredients into your mixing bowl or food processor cup:

3/4 c. sorghum flour
1/4 c. amaranth flour
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 cup organic sucanat
1 Tb dry Ener-G Egg Replacer
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
4 Tb Xocolatl cocoa powder (or regular cocoa powder)

Mix to blend dry ingredients, then addwet ingredients:

1 c persimmon puree
4 oz. melted dark chocolate
2 tablespoons Spectrum Organic Shortening
1/2 c raw agave nectar
2 tsp champagne vinegar
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp coffee extract - or - 1 Tb instant or finely ground coffee
1 tsp almond extract

Blend until smooth, then pour into prepared springform pan. Bake in pre-heated 350F oven till firm - about 30 to 35 minutes, depending on the size of your pan and altitude. Cool on a wire rack. Chill or eat right away with your fingers and call it a "test," before making another one.

I'll be serving this with a persimmon sauce that I made with 1 c. persimmon, 1 c. water, 1 c. sucanat and cooked down to nearly persimmon butter consistency.

Fight the HATE!

Tomorrow, December 10, is my birthday and International Human Rights Day. Call in GAY! Or come celebrate with me.

"On December 10, 2008 the gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by donating love to a variety of different causes.

On December 10, you are encouraged not to call in sick to work. You are encouraged to call in "gay"--and donate your time to service!

December 10, 2008 is International Human Rights Day. CLICK HERE to join us, and search or add to the list of human rights organizations that need our help RIGHT NOW. "

BIRTHDAY: To be quite honest - I had planned to take this day off anyway, so I am not going to be complying with the intent of the cause as I had already made reservations for fun things for my birthday.

I am a sagittarius and we get the entire month to celebrate to make up for thanksgiving, xmas, and all the other holidays hogging the air time.

* Last weekend, I took and passed the motorcycle safety course and DMV written test last weekend, followed by a celebratory dinner at Berkeley Cha-Ya.

* Last night I went to see "I Can't Think Straight" at the Roxie with two friends (followed by dinner at SF Cha-Ya, what can I say - I like their food).

* Tomorrow (actual bday), I plan to:

• do laundry & pack for my trip
• visiting a thrift store in my neighborhood with limited M-F 10-3 hours for the first time
• early lunch with a coworker who is calling in gay
• soaking at Kabuki Springs followed by "Nirvana" package from 3-6
• dinner at Millennium

* Thursday - Dame Edna "First Last Show"
* Weekend at Orr Hot Springs

PERSIMMONS: I am nearly done with persimmons. I know, it's silly. I have got to get the photos up. I didn't take a lot of photos of the table full of persimmons but James has one that I'll try to copy... some of the persimmons were so ripe that I ended up over drying them and they are a bit crispy but still delicious. I have a few more persimmons to dry - they are nearly ripe. I have a lot of pulp reserved for sorbet and frozen margaritas. Yum.

RESULTS: Panopoly of Persimmon Chutney

The results: I confess. I got myself into trouble with the first two recipes. I don't know what I was thinking though I did run it by my friend Eric to eyeball it and didn't hear back from him before I started.

Next time, I think I will just press the persimmons in the ricer - that way I don't have to worry about scraping the skins and will get more juice and reduce the amount of chunks in the chutney.

Chutney #1 turned out nice and sweet with a good bite. Next time - I would halve the apricots, apples and raisins. I upped the amount of persimmons because they were lost in the mix.

Chutney #2 is lemony with a kick, the red pepper chunks held up but it was still way more.

Chutney #3 is citrusy-gingery-tart, might need a bit more cooking time - I will heat it up before canning it tonight and add the pomegranate seeds last.

Revised recipes below, I will make reduced quantity versions to post later:


Persimmon Chutney #1 - chunky, fruity, tart

25 ripe Hachiya persimmons, pulp only
6 c apple cider vinegar
6 c brown sugar

1/2 c ginger, minced
2 T chili powder
1/4 c mustard seed,whole
2 T coriander seed, crushed
3 T fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cinnamon stick, whole
1 T whole cloves

8 c water
1.5 pounds dried apricot, chopped
3 3/4 c chopped onion
3 T finely minced garlic
4 chopped apples
1 c golden raisins
3 c raisins

1. Combine all ingredients except persimmons, vinegar & sugar, bring to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until soft, stirring frequently until nearly all the juice is gone.
2. Add vinegar and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until reduced.
3. Add the persimmon and simmer until tender and the chutney has come together into a chunky mixture, breaking up any large pieces of apple or onion as you go.
4. Simmer about as needed. Really long time because it's like 2 gallons of chutney you big dummy. Next time - less apricot, apples and stuff.


Persimmon Chutney #2 - salty/spicy

20 persimmons, pulp only
2 c apple cider vinegar
3 c sugar

2-3 large preserved Moroccan lemons (don't you have any in your fridge?)
1 red bell pepper, large, chopped
1 white onion, chopped fine
3 T red chili flakes
2 T fenugreek seed
1/4 c finely chopped raw ginger
1 T chopped garlic
1 c raisins

Combine all, bring to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, stirring frequently until reduced. Taste & adjust spices, vinegar & sugar as necessary.


Persimmon Chutney #3 - sweet/spicy/citrus

15 persimmons, pulp only
2 c brown sugar
1/4 c rice wine vinegar
3/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 c pomegranate seeds

8 limes, juiced
3 c water
1 c dried cranberries
3 c red onion or scallion, chopped
6 small green pears, chopped
3 lg jalapenos, chopped
1/4 c fresh grated ginger

1. Combine all ingredients except persimmons, pomegranate seeds vinegar & sugar, bring to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until soft.
2. Add vinegar and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until reduced.
3. Add the persimmon and pomegranate seeds. Simmer until thick.

This one had very few changes and actually fit in one of my pots. When I reheat to can it tonight, I'll add the pomegranate seeds.

Panopoly of Persimmon Chutney Recipes

You know what they say about a watched pot, right? Well, persimmons are the same way - they are somewhat persnickety and as they slowly ripen 1-2 at a time, I was worried I'd never have enough ripe at one time to make chutney or jam.

Sure enough, a girl goes away for a fun weekend in Portland to visit her pals and returns to find nearly 50 water balloon squishy ripe persimmons (only one got moldy, thank you muchly!).

A review of persimmon chutney recipes and ingredients I want to use revealed this: there aren't a lot of persimmon chutney recipes out there that excite me and none of them are built for large quantities of persimmons calling for 1-4 persimmons at most.

C'mon people - we're talking serious home canning volume here! In the fine tradition of this blog, I spent some time composing some chutney recipes. I will test them tonight and modify the final recipes after adjusting to taste, but here are the three main contestants:

Persimmon Chutney #1 - chunky, fruity, tart

15-18 ripe Hachiya persimmons, pulp only
6 c apple cider vinegar
4 c sugar

1/2 c ginger, minced
1 T chili powder
1/8 - 1/4 c mustard seed,whole
2 T coriander seed, crushed
3 T fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cinnamon stick, whole
1 T whole cloves

5-10 c water
2 pounds dried apricot
3 3/4 c chopped onion
7-10 cloves chopped garlic
4-5 chopped apples
3 3/4 cups golden raisins
3 c raisins

1. Combine all ingredients except persimmons, vinegar & sugar, bring to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until soft, stirring frequently until nearly all the juice is gone.
2. Add vinegar and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until reduced.
3. Add the persimmon and simmer until tender and the chutney has come together into a chunky mixture, breaking up any large pieces of apple or onion as you go.
   
4. Simmer about 5 minutes more, as needed.

Persimmon Chutney #2 - salty/spicy

15-18 persimmons, pulp only
2 c apple cider vinegar
3 c sugar

2-3 large preserved Moroccan lemons (don't you have any in your fridge?)
1 red bell pepper, large, chopped
1 white onion, chopped fine
3 T red chili flakes
2 T fenugreek seed
1/4 c finely chopped raw ginger
6 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 c currants

Combine all, bring to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, stirring frequently until reduced. Taste & adjust spices, vinegar & sugar as necessary.


Persimmon Chutney #3 - sweet/spicy/citrus

15-18 persimmons, pulp only
1 c unrefined white sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 c rice wine vinegar
1 c pomegranate seeds

8 limes, juiced
1 c dried cranberries
3 c red onion or scallion, chopped
6 small green pears, chopped
5 small red chilis, chopped (or jalapenos?)
1/4 c fresh grated ginger

1. Combine all ingredients except persimmons, pomegranate seeds vinegar & sugar, bring to boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until soft.
2. Add vinegar and sugar. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until reduced.
3. Add the persimmon and pomegranate seeds. Simmer until thick.

Thoughts? Observations? Recommendations? Let me know before 7pm when I am going to be in the kitchen putting pots to bubble!

Persimmons & Mushrooms

PERSIMMONS: I'm still up to my ears in persimmons - they are ripening about 2-3 per day now. I'm going to make fruit leather and the Excalibur is humming along, drying slices of persimmon into sugary, translucent, chewy treats. Even though I slice the persimmons at 1/8" to 1/4" - they still dehydrate down quite thinly.

MUSHROOMS: Nothing yet! Trips to the Oakland Hills and Lagunitas yielded some mushy oversize oyster mushrooms - at least Veronica got to see some mushrooms on her first trip out! Hoping to find porcini on Sunday - we just need another splash of rain and hopefully they'll be pinning and pop.

CALLING ALL PORTLAND BLOGGERS! If you could pick one Portland vegan restaurant, which would it be? VooDoo Doughnuts doesn't count.

Persimmon Harvest

Today, James and I picked about 137 pounds (he weighed them) of Hachiya persimmons. They aren't quite ripe - I'll be spreading them out on newspaper on the floor in my spare room. Hannah is getting a flat rate box with 10.5 lbs of them this week. I'll be making chutney, jam and attempting some dehydration experiments... photos coming soon!