Everywhere we turn this time of year, we see persimmons. In some years, we’re up to our ears in persimmons. Between our families, friends, co-workers and our own persimmon tree, we’re often overwhelmed with sweet, tree ripened fuyu fruit. Not that we’re complaining, but sometimes the fruit ripens and falls to the ground so quickly, it’s hard enough to harvest it in time, let alone cook with it.
When we’re having to turn down homegrown persimmons because we can’t cook with them enough, it’s time to crank out some persimmon recipes before they rot on the countertop. That alone would be food crime.
We decided to poach some of our fuyu persimmons, a non-astringent variety, for last night’s dinner. The thought of making a quick, seasonal and satisfying dessert in the same fashion that we poached our pears was exciting. We love our poached pears and tossing in some persimmons as a rational replacement was easy enough.
To make it even more in touch with the cooler weather and the hint of upcoming holidays, we added some dark rum to the poaching liquid. Oh how rum makes almost everything taste better! Rum, cinnamon, cloves and allspice make a great combination of spices for the soft, sweet persimmons.
But alas, what dessert would be complete without the gluttonous cream topping? The persimmons would be so lonely on the plate and also bare naked without the blanket of something white, soft, smooth and extra creamy. Some left over mascarpone cheese and coconut milk was the final touch to make this dessert pretty in white and extra special with creamy goodness.
Poaching the persimmons fills the house with the sweet, spiced scent of fall/winter cooking. That alone makes them worth making, and when you add in how tasty the end result is, this is a no-brainer. Must make Poached Persimmons.
Print This Recipe
Poached Persimmons RecipeRecipe
Be prepared to have the whole house smell delicious as you poach the persimmons. The poaching technique works great on many fruit, so feel free to experiment and share the results.
Ingredients
8-10 Fuyu Persimmons (the short, fat, non-astringent persimmon)
Poaching Liquid
- 4 c Water
- 1 c Dark Rum
- 1 c Sugar
- 2-3″ Vietnamese Cinnamon Stick (4-5″ Regular Cinnamon Stick)
- 8 Whole Cloves
- 8 Whole All-Spice
- 10-12 Whole Peppercorns
- 1 Kalamansi Lime (cut in quarters) (regular Lime, kumquat, or half lime-half tangerine are fine substitutes)
Raspberry Sauce
- 8 oz Raspberry Jam
- 1 c Poaching Liquid
Mascarpone Coconut Cream
- 8 oz Mascarpone Cheese (at room temp.)
- 1/4 c Coconut Milk
- 1 t Vanilla Extract
- 1 T Powdered Sugar
Plating Finish
- Lime Zest
Poaching the Persimmons
- Combine all ingredients for poaching liquid into a stock pot, squeezing the Kalamansi Limes to help release their juices. Begin to heat over medium-high heat.
- Peel, halve, and core the persimmons. Add to poaching liquid, and bring liquid up to a simmer. Turn down heat so the persimmons slowly simmer for about 30 min. or until they are very tender. (If they are under-poached, it will be a slip and slide challenge to eat.)
- Turn off heat, reserve 1 c of liquid for raspberry sauce, and leave persimmons in liquid until ready to serve.
Make Raspberry Sauce
- Combine raspberry jam and poaching liquid in a small pot. Heat over medium to medium/high heat until it reaches the desired thickness. (Should easily coat a spoon)
- Strain through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any seeds. Set aside at room temp until you are ready to serve.
Make Mascarpone-Coconut Cream
- Whisk all ingredients until homogeneous and no lumps remain.
- If serving soon, leave at room temp. If serving much later, store in fridge, then leave out at least 1 hour before ready to serve.
Plating
- Turn heat back on persimmons to re-warm them. Quickly whisk mascarpone-coconut cream to make sure it’s homogeneous.
- Remove persimmons from poaching liquid and plate. Pour @ 2 T raspberry sauce over each persimmon half to coat and provide a slight pool under persimmons.
- Spoon 1-2 T mascarpone-coconut cream onto cored divot of persimmon.
- Top with lime zest and enjoy.
Subscribe to White On Rice Couple by RSS
Follow White On Rice Couple - Twitter
Get updates via Facebook
{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! This looks fantastic! My parents have a fuyu tree and I’m going through old Sunset magazines finding recipes. So far, pie and bundt cake. I’ve also been dehydrating some. But your recipe looks divine! Must try!
You’re very lucky you know. We rarely get persimmons here, and even when I see them for sale, they’re very expensive. Sounds wonderful.
I just made this, and it was fantastic. Seeing this post this morning was totally serendipitous, as I’d been wondering what to do with the persimmons I had impulsively purchased last week, AND I had most of the other ingredients on hand, including raspberry jam that needed to be used up, leftover limes, and coconut milk that’s been sitting in the cupboard forever. The only alterations I made to the recipe were with the coconut sauce: I used cream cheese instead of the mascarpone, and added flaked coconut. Oh, and I didn’t strain the raspberry sauce because I really don’t mind the seeds.
Thanks for a great recipe!
I have never tasted persimmons. They are not very common over here, though I have seen them in some of the better food stores. Hmm, maybe this is the perfect recipe for tasting them for the first time! Anything with raspberry sauce, mascarpone and coconut milk gets me hooked immediately!
Greetings,
Tiina
Looks delicious, though I think gluttonous cream topping would be in you had 1 poached persimmon for 1 gallon of cream–this seems fairly healthy to me.
love the photos and the combination of ingredients is positively decadent!! that’ll be on my list of to-make very soon..once i get over mulled wine and minced pies.ahhaah!
Persimmons remind me of my childhood… not because we had persimmons around, but I was always coming across them in the Japanese manga that I devoured as a kid, and have always wanted to try them. I remember a story about this Japanese kid who used to climb up his neighbour’s tree to steal the persimmons growing there… *sigh, so nostalgic* This recipe looks wonderful, as usual =D
OMG this looks so good. great use of persimmons
i’ve never worked with persimmons. this looks lovely. you have a persimmon tree?!?! i have to move to ca. it sounds awesome. if you tell me you have an avocado tree, i’m going to start sleeping on your floor
Ooh, I bet your house smelled wonderful! I must agree…rum is a magical ingredient.
I am pretty much convinced there is now nothing that you don’t grow. The poaching mixture with both rum, and that awesome sounding Viet. cinnamon must have smelt and tasted amazing. The final touch of mascarpone and coconut milk – brilliant, and uniquely WoRC.
Wow what a great combo of flavors. I’m so used to just eating them fresh it never crossed my mind to actually cook them.
Poached persimmons? Rum, mascarpone and coconut cream? Sounds pretty totally awesome!
KyotoFoodieのPeko
I have seen them sometimes here, but never knew what to do with them.
Will keep in mind this recipe. Atleast now i know to make something from it.
Poached in rum? Oh how I love you two!
sounds fantastic! And that mascarpone doesnt’ hurt , either
“But alas, what dessert would be complete without the gluttonous cream topping?”
no dessert, obviously. that’s my favorite part of your entire creation.
Wow – that looks lovely! Fantastic photo too.
You know, it’s only in recent months/year that persimmons have started to appear on our grocery shelves. I know it’s totally unlike me but I’ve been too afraid to pick it up! Plus, I don’t really know what to do with it. I love your recipe here because poaching is the best way to preserve the true flavor of persimmons without hiding it behind a lot of stuff– perfect for those who really want to know what it tastes like, lol
Oooooh! I love persimmons! I wonder if Sierra and Dante get to the fallen ones before you guys do?
What a stunningly gorgeous way to serve them up too. Leave it to you two to make such a coveted fruit into a seriously tempting dessert. Deeelish! That coconut milk adds just the perfect touch. I’ll be right over… xxoo
I’m trying to remember if I’ve even SEEN a persimmon out here in the vast Middle. Certainly didn’t notice, but this recipe has my mouth watering! Mercy on me. Have a fabulous Thanksgiving… so much to be grateful for including lovely friends like you.
Dani
xoxox
Oh yum. I’ve been dying to do some cooking with persimmons. I love eating the Fuyu varieties just as they are, but I feel like persimmons have so much potential. The rum in this recipe sounds fantastic.
I’ve only tasted persimmons once or twice, and haven’t liked them. But I think I would enjoy the poached persimmons (without the topping, probably) — so will have to give them another chance.
I always but them and never do anything with them, now I know what to do.
For someone that doesn’t crave or necessarily enjoy a hard persimmon, I became a believer when I tasted them poached!!! What an incredible dish. And so ingenious (like you both)! Thanks for the tasty dessert and wonderful recipe!
OMG… you made me drool..LOL.
Thank you for sharing this ingenious recipe.
Cheers and have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
WOW! I’m always looking for persimmon recipes. This looks wonderful. If I just didn’t have a whole truck load of people over I’d be planning my next party. Need to recover and then I’m using this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
This looks fantastic and sounds fantastic as well! I am always looking for something new to do with persimmons and this is perfect!!! Cannot wait to try it out and I have some great cinnamon to use with it!
This looks like an awesome way to prepare Fuyu persimmons.
I just have one request – please don’t perpetuate the myth that Hachiyas are the “astringent” variety. They only make your mouth pucker if you eat them when they are unripe – otherwise, they are like water balloons of sugar water! (sez the woman who has to go deal with 40# of ripe Hachiyas tonight)
Sorry Jenn. Didn’t mean to “perpetuate the myth.” Our evilness sneaks out from time to time. Of course Hachiyas, among many others, (there are over 800 varieties of persimmons grown in Japan, ain’t that cool!) aren’t astringent when fully ripe. Thank you for clarifying that for everyone.
We never mentioned the Hachiyas variety in the post, nor did we say that they were the “astringent” variety. We only described one variety, the fuyu, as “non-astringent” . For this recipe we needed the persimmons that were sweet when still hard, and we figured the best and least wordy way to describe it would be “non-astringent” since that seems to be the common term in our gardening and foodie circles. I guess we’ll have to come up with something more clever next time.
Oh, here is our ode to both the fuyu and hachiya persimmons. http://whiteonricecouple.com/blog/2007/10/pure-persimmon/
Thanks again. Good luck with that 40 lbs. T & D of White on Rice Couple.
I love persimmons. This looks like a superb way to make them even more tastier
I only had 2 persimmons so I reduced the recipe and it was delish. Can’t wait for our persimmon tree to bear more fruit! Tx so much for posting. E!
I tend to not be good about cooking/baking with persimmons–I usually just eat them straight and have a tough time coming up with what to do with them. Given that, I’ve never seen poached persimmons before but I absolutely have to try it. This looks and sounds spectacular. Plus, an excuse to restock on rum, lol!