One of my favorite fruits is the persimmon. In my area there are two commonly available types of the fruit, the jiro, which I like to eat when it's still crunchy like an apple, and the heart-shaped hachiya, which has a a high level of tannins and has to ripen until it's completely soft, or else you're basically eating sawdust.
This year I came into a bumper crop of hachiya persimmons which ripened at pretty much the same time. I wasn't about to toss a single one because I knew I wouldn't see them again until next October. My answer: persimmon butter.
Following a recipe from a persimmon-focused cookbook from Bear Wallow Books, I peeled and strained and boiled the persimmons into a surprisingly few jars of lightly spiced persimmon butter that I will TRY to get me through until October.
Spiced Persimmon Butter
Adapted from Old-Fashioned Persimmon Recipes
Ingredients:
4 cups persimmon pulp
1/2 cup orange juice
2/3 cup honey
4 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Directions:
- Remove pulp from persimmons and force through a fine mesh strainer.
- Combine pulp and remaining ingredients. Cook until thick.
- Remove cloves and cinnamon stick, cool and refrigerate or process in a hot water bath.
Your persimmon butter should keep for two weeks in the fridge. I suggest canning if, like me, you are trying to savor the bounty of fall.
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