Hello and welcome to my newsletter!
I’m excited about fall weather; the horses are growing their winter coats, the leaves are finally turning gold, red and orange, and I’m in the mood to start baking and planning the Thanksgiving meal. Here’s a little story for you from my childhood as well as a wonderful recipe for an unusual and delicious dessert.
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Just a few miles down the road from the house where I grew up, Mr. Taggert lived on his hundred-acre farm. For years my mother would take me to this farm to buy bales of sweet timothy hay for my pony.
One afternoon in late October, we stopped to buy hay and bring a small basket of the persimmons we’d gathered from the tree growing behind our house. Mr. Taggert looked pleased by the gift, and carefully showed my brothers and I how to clear the sticky fruit from the pit, then he used a pin knife to slice the pit in half. Inside we found the white outline of a spoon. Mr. Taggert shook his head and said, “a lot of snow this year.”
“How do you know?” we asked wide eyed and surprised.
“Persimmons know what’s coming each winter, and if a person knows what to look for, they can read the signs. A knife means bitter cold, a spoon lots of snow and the fork, the worst one yet, means ice.”
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Each year my husband and I make Persimmon Pudding for all our holiday gatherings, it’s an unusual desert with an unforgettable rich, caramel flavor and crispy edges with a sweet middle. Sometimes we crack open a pit and look for the telltale cutlery outlined inside, but more times than not, we like to just wait and see what sort of surprises winter brings!
Persimmon pulp can usually be found at farm’s markets in the fall, or health food stores in the frozen section. It can also be ordered online, though of course if you’re curious about the winter weather ahead, you must find a tree and be sure to open a pit yourself.
The recipe below originally came from Eva Powel, an elementary school librarian.
Simply the Best Persimmon Pudding
- 2 cups persimmon pulp
- 2 cups cane sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 4 tbsp. butter, melted
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put pulp and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Beat in eggs. Put buttermilk and baking soda into a small bowl and stir. Add the persimmon pulp along with vanilla and mix well.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a medium bowl. Gradually add to pulp, stirring until well combined. Add the heavy cream, and mix well.
- Grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter. Stir remaining butter into the batter.
- Pour batter into the baking dish. Bake until dark brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hr. Set aside to cool. Serve with whipped cream if you like, or just enjoy with a cup of hot tea or coffee.
