PeRsiMMoN
two ways
steam pudding with sliced fuyu and chantilly cream flavored with brandy
verrine layered with hachiya pulp, steam pudding, chantilly cream
hachiya & fuyu
Hachiya is heart-shaped. Fuyu is tomato-shaped. And the differences don’t end there.
The hachiya must be completely ripe to be palatable, or else the taste is astringent and off-putting, reminiscent of chalk. But when it is ripe it is sublime – a not-too-sweet apricot-like flavor, with a hint of honey, and unique slippery texture. The fuyu – on the other hand – can be eaten like an apple, diced for a salad or salsa, or sliced into wedges when it is softer and served with dessert or cheese. Persimmon has the pizzazzy flavor of Fall!
A ripe heart-shaped hachiya…
Is gooey. Cut open in a bowl with a knife.
Spoon the pulp into verrines.
Top the persimmon pulp with steam pudding, chantilly cream, and mint.
Hachiya Steam Pudding
Sally made this steam pudding by combining 1 c. sugar with 1/2 c. melted butter then added 1 c. flour sifted with 1 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and 2 t. baking soda. Then she added 1 c. hachiya persimmon pulp, 1 t. vanilla, 3 T. Grand Marnier, 2 eggs, 1 c. raisins and 1/2 c. walnuts. Mixed lightly but thoroughly.
She filled a roasting pan with enough water to reach half-way up the sides of a Bundt pan and brought the water to a boil.
This covered roasting pan by Granite Ware has been in Sally’s family for almost 100 years. The same company has been making these black enamel-on-steel roasters, specked with white flecks, since 1871.
She greased the mold with cooking spray, poured in the batter, and placed it into the hot water. She covered the roaster with its tight-fitting lid, and steamed the pudding over low heat for 2 1/2 hours – then let it cool slightly before un-molding onto a serving platter.
Fuyu Persimmon
The tomato-shaped fuyu – slightly soft, cut into wedges.
A slice of very moist hachiya persimmon steam pudding, sliced fuyu, and chantilly cream flavored with brandy, and a glass of milk – a dessert for persimmon lovers! Persimmons are in season here October through December only and we are certainly enjoying the season! Sally, Alice, and I still have more persimmons, ripening daily. Today I will be trying a sorbet recipe. And persimmon fans might also enjoy the bread pudding with bourbon creme anglaise posted earlier in the week here.
PROJECT FOOD BLOG
Winner Announced on December 17.
Please join me in congratulating Jen Che, of Tiny Urban Kitchen blog
as the winner of Project Food Blog 2010.
I am a huge fan, congrats Jen! Well-deserved indeed.
If you haven’t already, be sure to read Jen’s impressive entry for Challenge # 10: The Final Post here.
And thank you all, one last time, for your support of Taste With The Eyes in the competition!
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I miss the wild native persimmons we had back in the Midwest, but I’ve learned that hachiya pulp is almost as good in an Indiana-style persimmon pudding. This year I tried an upside-down cake with sliced fuyus as the topping fruit, cooked in butter and brown sugar in the usual way, with the pudding batter poured over. The mixture had too much moisture to come together as neatly as I wanted, but after a week or so of aging in the fridge we could slice it and put it into bowls, where we topped it with whipped cream. I’ll try a variation on that next season, with a more cake-like batter and some less-ripe fuyus.
Your dessert, in all its guises, looks truly lovely. I think next year we need to explore more possibilities with the fuyus, using them as we’d use stone fruits, for instance.