Perhaps Persimmons

I've been bad. I got a couple persimmons in my Papa Spud's box last week and I still haven't used them in anything. In fact, I had no idear (intentional "r") what to do with them and kept forgetting or getting to busy to do some recipe research...

...until today! I just checked out some of my fav websites to get the low down on this cute little fruits and how to eat them. I mean, I know most fruit is obvious, but who would know how to handle a pomegranate unless someone showed you? (PS I can totally tell you how to handle a pomegranate.)

So persimmons are packed with Vitamin C, Fiber and have some Vitamin A.

They apparently can be traced back to ancient China. Can't everything be traced back to ancient China?

There are two types of persimmons: astrigent and not astrigent. The former need to be allowed to ripen before eating or they apparently taste like sour patch kids without the sugar. The latter do not need to be ripened to be enjoyed. The former look like hearts and the latter look like small pumpkins. I believe I have the latter, so I could have eaten them last week if I wanted to. Oh wellz....



<---Former Latter--->




You may have also seen "Fuyu" at the store or in recipes. These are one type of the non-astrigent persimmon, associated with Japan but now widely available in the US. Again, I think I may have this type.

So what do you do with them?

I'm going to make a salsa. When in doubt, most fruit make a yummy salsa that can be put on grilled seafood or eaten with pita chips, etc.

I did some searching and found a recurring recipe for persimmon salsa that I'm going to try tonight served with tuna steaks and broccoli.

It goes a little something like this:

1. Peel and cube 3 persimmon (I only have 2, but it will still work...don't worry so much about quantity of ingredients with something like a salsa, and remember that you can always switch things around to, depending on what you have on hand.)
2. Mince one small onion
3. Mix with ~1T of lime juice
4. Mix in some chopped fresh herbs (you can choose basil, mint, or cilantro to name a few)
5. If you want it spicy, add a bit of minced chili pepper
6. Finally, add a bit of fresh, grated ginger. Remember that fresh ginger is actually pretty cheap. A little bit goes a looooooong way. It's offerred in most stores in gnarly clumps. Don't be afraid to break off a small bit if that's all you need (which is usually the case.) It should cost less than a buck and it adds a lot of fresh flavor and dimension.
7. Allow the salsa to chill until serving.

I'm going to make the salsa and then toss into the fridge. While it's totally chillin like a villian, I'm going to saute or grill my tuna steaks. These will be about 4 ounces each. They are on sale right now at HT! Then I'm gonna toss a steam fresh bag of broccoli into the microwave and then season it with some S&P. All in all I expect this dinner to take less than 30 minutes. It will be light and healthy and cheap. You can make it to your liking by using any seafood or even chicken breast and any frozen veggie. You can also add a little brown rice to beef it up a bit if you like.