2 teaspoons: Good Things to Those Who Wait

Top courtesy Zeets Jones
Middle: via Cooking Light
Bottom: "Nuthatcher atop a Persimmon" painting by Japanese aritst, Koson Ohara

"What is that?" a curious co-worker asked as she walked past my desk last week. I laughingly replied, "I'll have to let you know", as I, too, was a bit baffled by the strange tomato-like fruit sitting on my desk. Now that I've done my research, I'll tell you what it is: a persimmon (pronunciation: \pər-ˈsi-mən\), a fruit native to China that eventually found its way to California in the mid-1800's. Its color can range from a light yellow-orange to dark orange-red and it has the most beautiful flower-like leaf pattern on top. The first sentence in Wikipedia's entry on this mystery fruit describes it as "the fruit of the gods," which certainly sets some pretty high expectations! It is packed, however, with some godly great nutrients like beta-carotene, Vitamin C and potassium.

There are essentially 2 types of persimmons:

#1 The Fuyu: Small, squatty and flat -- like a tomato. In season late October through December. They can be firm when ripe (like an apple) and you can either wait until the Fuyu gets soft before eating, or you can eat them right away when they are still firm and crisp.
Uses: Can be cooked into stews or pies, included raw in salads or yogurt, or eaten all by themselves as a fruit snack.

#2 The Hachiya: Acorn-shaped. Patience, my dear: You're going to have to wait to enjoy this one. Due to its high tannin level, if you bite into an unripe hachiya, your mouth will be puckering due to its bitter, astrigent flavor. Think a forgotten cup of tea that has been seeping all day. This happened to me the first time I tried a persimmon and it was not pretty. When ripe, it possesses a rich, sweet and somewhat spicy flavor -- though you may have to wait upwards of weeks (yes, you read that correct: WEEKS) for it to ripen.
Uses: You're probably gonna wanna bake with this one. Most commonly used as a puree in cookies, cakes, brownies, breads, puddings, flans, and sauces.

Here's a round-up of some interesting recipes I found:

Persimmon Tarte Briochée
Gorgeous photo and recipe courtesy the blog, @ Down Under