Persimmon Bread, Thanks to Emma

The ‘orchard’ next to Grandma’s house in Sonoma has a small, neglected persimmon tree. For many years, we enjoyed looking at the strange, bright orange fruits that clung to bare branches every November. It never occurred to us to taste them. That is until Emma came to visit one Thanksgiving.

None of us knew the difference between the heart-shaped hachiya persimmons in our orchard and the round fuyu persimmons that are more commonly found in grocery stores and menus. Emma learned the hard way when she cut a slice and popped it in her mouth. Her face twisted into an intense pucker followed by her grabbing a paper towel and trying to wipe her tongue with it. After a good laugh, we were now even more convinced the fruit of that tree was inedible.

Years later, Emma texted Susan. She had learned that the fruit must be picked and left to ripen until it seemed ready to burst, then the pulpy fruit scooped out of the skin with a spoon would taste like a sugary mango nectar, sweeter than candy.

With buckets of delicious fruit ready to burst and not much of a sweet tooth, we found a recipe for a delicious quick bread then modified it to our taste. It’s so good, it is worth buying this weird little fruit to make this.