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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 45 Minutes |
Ready In: 45 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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Southern Indiana Hoosiers guard the locations of persimmon trees like they guard where they find morels. I've spent the last two Thanksgivings in Pennsylvania without the traditional persimmon pudding, and it's been a traumatic experience. Read more . Please see the note at the end of this recipe about persimmons. Ingredients:
2 c. persimmon pulp (see the end of the recipe) |
2 c. sugar |
2 large eggs, beaten |
1 t. soda |
1 1/2 c. buttermilk |
pinch of salt |
1/2 t. cinnamon |
1 t. vanilla extract |
1/4 c. cream |
1/2 stick butter |
1 1/2 c. flour |
1 t. baking powder |
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. Beat pulp, sugar, and eggs until thoroughly blended. Add the soda to the buttermilk and stir until the foaming stops. Blend into pulp mixture, then mix in flour, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the cream.
3. Melt the butter in a 13x9x2 baking pan, swirl to coat pan (you know, like making cornbread), then pour the butter into the batter and mix well. Pour the batter into the pan and bake about 45 minutes, until set.
4. This is not a cake. If it doesn't fall on its own (it should), drop the pan a couple of times. Serve with whipped cream.
5. ABOUT PERSIMMONS: You can buy Japanese persimmons in supermarkets, mostly grown in California. They're about the size of a large plum. There are two general types of Japanese persimmon: The hard persimmons, that can be sliced, and the soft persimmons, that cannot and are pulped. The fuyu is one of the latter, and is often found in produce departments of larger supermarkets.
6. All Japanese persimmon types are inferior to the American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), whose fruits are much smaller and quite intense in flavor. As far as I know, nobody outside Indiana even knows the American persimmon exists, much less cultivates the fruit. You can use fuyus from the store (buy only very soft fruits, and pulp them in a food mill), or you can find American persimmon pulp (Dillman Farms in Indiana sells it here: / or you can google persimmon pulp and see what you find. If you have a persimmon tree or know where there are some, wait until the first frost to harvest, or the persimmons will be so tart you'll pucker for a week.) The American persimmon will give you far superior results to the fuyu, which isn't as flavorful.
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