Persimmon Bars

Persimmons are definitely one of those fruits that are hit or miss for a lot of people. I love them but tend to go for the crisp, non-astringent varieties. These are the ones you see at the market that are firm, ready to eat right away and don't come with a sign that says "Extremely delicate when ripe, please do not handle!". The astringent persimmon, on the other hand, will give you quite a shock if you eat it before it is soft. Taking a bite of moss is the closest I can liken to eating an unripened hachiya persimmon. In other words, not good. I'm also not a huge fan of their texture once they are ripe (slightly like what comes out of your nose during flu season), so you can imagine my reaction to my Granny bringing a whole box of them with her from Salinas. But since I hate to waste food and like a bit of a baking challenge (and since my Granny's friend grew them herself) I tackled this slimy "true berry."

My attempt to make a persimmon jam failed miserably. When it started to congeal and slightly resemble brain I knew my family would not be happy about putting it on their toast. Water from the persimmon separated from the pulp and made a strange soup that I then tried to strain. Needless to say this ended up in the compost. My second attempt, however, went over amazingly well.

Along with a box of persimmons, my grandmother also brought recipes with her and after a few healthy ingredient substitutes, when the pan came out of the oven the thought of orange brain never even crossed my mind. 

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Persimmon Bars

Next time I will substitute the whole wheat flour for an almond meal, gluten-free flour mix (brown rice flour perhaps). To make persimmon pulp, blend persimmons in a food processor until there are no lumps, approximately 30 seconds. Five persimmons yielded 1-1/2 cups of pulp.

1-1/2 cup persimmon pulp 

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup chopped dates

1/4 cup maple syrup

1-3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup chopped almonds

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking dish. 

In medium bowl combine persimmon pulp and baking soda, mix well then add dates and maple syrup. 

In separate bowl combine remaining ingredients and add slowly to wet ingredients. Spread onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire racks.