Hachiya Persimmon Purée Recipes

PERSIMMON BREAD

Steps:

• Butter 2 loaf pans. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess.
• Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC) degrees.
• Sift the first 5 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Make a well in the center then stir in the butter, eggs, liquor, persimmon puree then the nuts and raisins.
• Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

HACHIYA PERSIMMON PURéE

Steps:

• Discard dried green or brown calyx from persimmons, then force persimmons 1 at a time through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl using a rubber spatula, pressing hard on solids. (Discard solids.)

HOSHIGAKI (DRIED PERSIMMONS)

Steps:

• Wash the fruit well. Remove the leaves, then use a knife or vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the crown of the fruit around the stem. Continue to peel the entire fruit, leaving the stems intact and cutting out any brown spots. Set up a rack or bar, such as a clean laundry rack, near a window with a large piece of parchment underneath. You should be able to suspend the fruit so they don't touch one another or any other surfaces.
• Tie and sterilize the fruit: Cut a 20-inch piece of thin string for every 2 persimmons and tie the string to the stems of the persimmons using no-slip knots on both ends of each piece. Trim excess string if needed. If the stems aren't long enough to tie, fix binder clips to the stems and tie those. If the stems aren't long enough for that, run short bamboo skewers through the tops of the persimmons and tie the skewers. Bring a pot of water to a boil and, holding each piece of string at the center, dunk the fruit for a few seconds, then lift out.
• Hang each string over the prepared rack, so the fruit is dangling on either side of the bars, but not touching anything. Ideally, keep the rack in a sunny, dry, well-ventilated spot, either indoors or outdoors.
• After a week of drying, you can start to lightly knead the fruit every day, rolling each one gently in clean hands to help it dry evenly. Watch for any mold, which you can remove with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol, and for firm spots, which you can focus on when you knead the fruit.
• Over the course of about 3 weeks, the persimmons will shrivel and shrink, and its sugars will come up to the surface and crystallize, forming a white layer. Once the sugar is visible, you can eat the fruit or continue to dry them, and you can stop kneading them. When the fruit is firm and dark and more powdery sugar covers the surface, it's ready to remove from the drying rack and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month or in the freezer for up to 6 months. It tastes best immediately after drying, when you can slice and eat it as is.

HACHIYA PERSIMMON BREAD PUDDING

Steps:

• Whisk together milk, persimmon purée, brown sugar, eggs, raisins, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl, then stir in bread and let mixture stand at room temperature 15 minutes.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Stir walnuts into bread pudding, then spoon pudding into a buttered shallow 8-inch square (2-quart) glass or ceramic baking dish, spreading evenly. Dot with butter bits. Bake pudding until golden, puffed, and set, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool to warm in pan on a rack, about 20 minutes.
• Bread pudding can be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Reheat, uncovered, in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.

HACHIYA PERSIMMON CARDAMOM SHERBET

Steps:

• Bring sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt to a boil in a 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then boil syrup until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Stir in cardamom and cool completely.
• Stir together persimmon purée, cardamom syrup, milk, half-and-half, and lemon juice and chill, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.
• Freeze mixture in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.