What's that thing in the bottom of the freezer?
When searching for something to defrost for this week's meals, Paul brought out a round container full of something. I opened the lid to discover persimmon pulp. Remember when I made all that pulp? Me neither. Because it was from October of 2011.
There didn't seem to be any freezer burn or otherwise strange stuff going on from being in the freezer for almost two years so I set it out to defrost. Then went about trying to figure out what I was going to do with it. I had originally wanted to make some sort of persimmon jam or preserves, but I could not for the life of me find a recipe that included the canning times or if it could even be canned, although I couldn't see why it couldn't just be processed like a jam or jelly.
So I chickened out and decided to make it into a bread. There were a handful of recipes out there on the internet, but all seemed to have too much "stuff" in with it. I wanted an unadulterated persimmon bread. I wanted to capture that spicy-sweet goodness in a bread without doctoring it up with spices or nuts. Not that spices or nuts are bad. I just wanted to taste a really persimmon-y persimmon bread.
As usual, I improvised on the recipe. Looked at a few of the quick bread recipes I had in my box and off I went.
So without further ado, here is my Persimmon'y Persimmon Bread:
2 1/4 Cups Flour (I used half white & half whole wheat)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Persimmon Pulp
Mix first three ingredients together in one bowl. Mix last four ingredients together in larger bowl until well blended. Gradually add the flour to the bowl & mix well. Pour into greased jelly roll pan and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 40 or so minutes**, until done. (**This time is a guesstimate as I originally baked the breads in a bread pan and it was a bit too dense and moist. Of course we ate it, but I think baking it in a thinner pan would be best.)
When I licked the spatula (you DO lick the bowl clean, don't you??) I was immediately taken to a crisp Autumn day! I just love the taste of persimmons; it reminds me of fall more than pumpkin pie or turkey dinners.
I hoped that the finished bread would hold the persimmon flavor as much as the batter, but it didn't. Not that the bread was bad, it was really good. I was just hoping for that "Wow!" persimmon flavor again. This also turned out to be a very dense bread & still quite moist in the middle; not raw, but might be a turn off to some. The bread also darkened a lot; the pulp was a bright orange and I was hoping that the color would have stayed in the finished product, but it didn't. I made a second loaf & stuck it in the freezer.
Now that I finished up the 2011 crop of persimmons I now have two months to figure out how to make preserves for this year's persimmon crop.
So I chickened out and decided to make it into a bread. There were a handful of recipes out there on the internet, but all seemed to have too much "stuff" in with it. I wanted an unadulterated persimmon bread. I wanted to capture that spicy-sweet goodness in a bread without doctoring it up with spices or nuts. Not that spices or nuts are bad. I just wanted to taste a really persimmon-y persimmon bread.
As usual, I improvised on the recipe. Looked at a few of the quick bread recipes I had in my box and off I went.
So without further ado, here is my Persimmon'y Persimmon Bread:
2 1/4 Cups Flour (I used half white & half whole wheat)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Persimmon Pulp
Mix first three ingredients together in one bowl. Mix last four ingredients together in larger bowl until well blended. Gradually add the flour to the bowl & mix well. Pour into greased jelly roll pan and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 40 or so minutes**, until done. (**This time is a guesstimate as I originally baked the breads in a bread pan and it was a bit too dense and moist. Of course we ate it, but I think baking it in a thinner pan would be best.)
When I licked the spatula (you DO lick the bowl clean, don't you??) I was immediately taken to a crisp Autumn day! I just love the taste of persimmons; it reminds me of fall more than pumpkin pie or turkey dinners.
I hoped that the finished bread would hold the persimmon flavor as much as the batter, but it didn't. Not that the bread was bad, it was really good. I was just hoping for that "Wow!" persimmon flavor again. This also turned out to be a very dense bread & still quite moist in the middle; not raw, but might be a turn off to some. The bread also darkened a lot; the pulp was a bright orange and I was hoping that the color would have stayed in the finished product, but it didn't. I made a second loaf & stuck it in the freezer.
Now that I finished up the 2011 crop of persimmons I now have two months to figure out how to make preserves for this year's persimmon crop.
Our persimmons have so many seeds but once you get the seeds out there is no other fruit like it. I made cookies one time with it and they came out good, I can't imagine how good the bread would taste!
ReplyDeleteThat's one item I have not yet grown here. The bread looks great.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I have never eaten a persimmon. One of the vendors at the Farmer's Market had some last year but I was too chicken to try them! LOL!!
ReplyDelete