A Sure Sign of Fall

It is early September and it is still just as hot and humid as it was in June and July, but there are some things going on that clues us in that Fall is just around the corner.  Everything in nature is a cycle - a repeated series of events that you can almost set your watch by, if you are paying attention, that is.  At this time each and every year, our wild persimmon tree loads up with fruit that is green at first and then quickly turns orange. 

Persimmon tree loaded with fruit

They fall to the ground and land in the soft grass.  We pick them up before the birds get to them.  Their "shelf life" isn't long, so each day we pick them up, pull off the caps and bring the fruit inside and wash them up.

The picture above may make you believe that the persimmons are large, but the photo below gives you some scale.  The fruit is very small.  They are also FILLED with seeds.  To be honest, it is almost too much trouble to deal with to pick them, clean them and process the fruit into an edible commodity.

But we do it.  The fruit is very sweet and we really enjoy making persimmon cakes.  Well, we enjoy EATING persimmon cakes.  I'll show you how we process these little persimmons.  Here is a big bowl of fruit we collected today.  The fruit is heavy, soft and warmed by the sun.  Some have burst open - their sticky contents oozing out.  Russ likes to eat them straight out of the bowl.

In the past we processed by hand, separating the pulp from the skins and seeds by pressing through a colander with a spoon.  We've since purchased a food mill for $19.99.  It has made things a lot easier.  I think it's already paid for itself.  We set it atop a big measuring container in the sink and drop cleaned fruit (between 12-18) and turn the handle.  The mill presses the fruit down through a screen.  The screen serves to keep the seeds and skins separated from the fruit pulp.

Most of the processed persimmon falls into the container below, but when we're done, we are sure to get all of the fruit off the food mill.  The processed persimmon is similar in consistency to baby food, I would say.

Although Tricia has made persimmon cookies, the main thing she does is make cakes with them.  She makes a regular persimmon cake and a chocolate persimmon cake.  The recipe calls for a cup and a half of persimmon, so we measure out 1 1/2 cups .

Today, once we were done processing, we had 12 cups of persimmon puree.  It took about 30 minutes to do the job.

We were able to make up 8 ziploc bags of persimmon.

We'll freeze them and pull out once ready to make a cake.  A fresh baked persimmon cake makes an aroma in your house that draws everyone to the kitchen.  A hot slice of persimmon cake is so heavy and moist.  It reminds me of fall.  Now if only the cool weather would get here!