Local persimmons have started to ripen. This weekend, we found a bundle on a sidewalk, at the edge of a neighborhood, not too far from the Greensboro Day School. They are about the size of a quarter. These fall foods like persimmon and paw-paw remind us that not all foods are available to us year round. The pulp has a taste that is hard to describe. The persimmon has a part sweet, part savory, soft pulp that can be really hard to separate from the clinging seeds. The hardwood orange-red fruit, a favorite of Native Americans, is known as diospyros virigniana.*
Below, we're sharing the view of a persimmon tree. The trees aren't very pretty by the time the fruit is ripe. They look rather scraggly. You are not supposed to eat persimmons until they fall to the ground. If you eat them before they are ripe their astringency will pucker your mouth. If you are lucky enough to have two cups of pulp, read here, for a persimmon pudding recipe, brought to you by the family what hosts the Colfax Persimmon Festival in Guilford County, just north of Greensboro. We're headed now to see just how much pulp our plastic bag will yield. Wish us luck. Happy Tuesday!
*for more information, read this article from "Our State Magazine", here.
I can't recall ever seeing them on shelves here.
Posted by: William Kendall | Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 04:13 PM