Persimmons – The Mango of Autumn

The origins of persimmons go back to ancient China. It is now very popular in Japan, parts of South East Asia, Israel, USA and also Australia. I noticed persimmons were on sale at the fruit market early last month, but was too distracted by mandarins, which were also in season. Yesterday, I finally bought some persimmons because this month will probably be my last chance since the season for persimmons is coming to an end in Australia.

Apparently, there are hundreds of different species worldwide, but the most commonly found varieties are the Fuyu a type originating in Asia, the Hachiya from the U.S., and the Sharon fruit developed in Israel. The Fuyu is a non-astringent variety that looks like a squashed tomato, is smaller, sweeter, and can be eaten when firm. The Hachiya is an astringent variety which is acorn-shaped and has to be very soft and ripe before eating (other wise it will be very tart & bitter). My favourite variety is the Sharon fruit because it combines the best attributes of the Fuyu and Hachiya. It is widely available in Singapore, but I haven’t seen it in Sydney. I tend to buy the Fuyu varieties here because they can be eaten like apples. In fact, persimmons have more fiber, minerals, polyphenols (antioxidants) and vitamin A than apples. So, the person who coined the saying about an apple a day keeping the doctor away probably never had a persimmon.

I’ve had raw and dried persimmons but I’ve never cooked with persimmons before. As Mothers’ Day approaches, I thought I should get more creative because I wanted to dedicate this entry to my mother who loves this fruit very much. She was also the one who got me hooked on it. The firmer Fuyu type is great with salads, cheeses and baked as a tart, while the mushy, ripe Hachiya type is great blended into a pulp and used for smoothes, in cake/muffin batters and as a pie filling. I decided to make a simple pyllo pastry tart because I did not want the persimmon flavour to be masked by too many overpowering ingredients.

Mom, this is for you!

Persimmon Tart

(Serves 2)

1 Fuyu persimmon

4 sheets of pyllo pastry, at room temperature

Cinnamon sugar (or mix 1 tbsp of cinnamon with 2 tbsp of sugar)

A dash of lemon juice

About 1 tbsp salt-reduced butter, melted (use more if you prefer a richer, buttery pastry)

1 tsp of caster sugar

1

Pre-heat oven at 160 degrees C (fan forced)

2

Slice the persimmons finely. Toss it in some cinnamon sugar and a dash of lemon juice. Set aside.

3

Slice usinga sharp knife or cut each pyllo sheet to make four panels. Place all of the pyllo one sheet on top of the other and butter each layer sparingly. Sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top of every fourth layer. Brush the top most layer with butter.

4

Arrange the persimmon slices in an overlapping manner. Brush with the persimmon with the remaining butter and sprinkle caster sugar over the whole tart.

5

Bake for 20 minutes or till the pyllo pastry has turned golden brown.

6

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla bean ice-cream or custard.

Note:

- If you want to caramelise the persimmons, bake for 15 minutes and turn the tart (persimmons facing down) and cook for another 5 minutes. Or after taking the tart out of the oven, sprinkle more caster sugar on the persimmon and caramelise it lightly with a blowtorch.

- The original recipe used puff pastry.

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Food Blogging Event:

Thanks to Janet's recent post, I was remined of the upcoming deadline for a food blogging event. Since I've never cooked with persimmons before, I've decided to submit this for the Weekend Cookbook Challenge # 16 - Something New. My inspiration to cook with persimmons was promted by Steve Manfredi's article (Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living, April 2007). There are very few recipes using persimmons and the one I've adapted comes from pastry chef Jess Ong’s (The Summit Restaurant, Sydney) spiced persimmon tart recipe.

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