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Try this delightful persimmon pudding

Recipe: Old favorite made with (finally) ripe Fuyu

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 5, 2020

Persimmon pudding is a delicious, easy dessert based on a Midwest classic. Add raisins if desired.
(Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Fuyu persimmons take awhile to get to pudding stage. Several weeks after harvest, my Fuyus are finally reaching that jelly texture needed for baking and puddings.

This delightful pudding is legendary in the Midwest. For three decades, it appeared as part of the directions for using Dymple's Delight canned persimmon pulp.

Dymple's Delight was the creation of Dymple Green, who operated with her husband, Vernon, a persimmon packing company that shipped the sweet pulp worldwide. The Greens used only native persimmons, a variety that grows from Virginia to Indiana.

Mrs. Green passed away in 2012, but her pudding lives on. Her hometown of Mitchell, Ind., celebrates an annual Persimmon Festival each September. The top prize goes to the best persimmon pudding.

Persimmon puddings have a slightly lighter texture and different flavor made with Fuyus or Hachiyas, the persimmons most commonly found in California. But they still make delicious pudding.

In this version, I scaled the recipe down for 1 cup of pulp (about two or three large persimmons) and added raisins.

Dymple's Delight persimmon pudding

Adapted from Dymple's Delight

Makes 9 servings

This recipe can use ripe Fuyus, the flatter persimmons, above,
or Hachiyas, which are more heart-shaped.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sour cream or buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup persimmon pulp
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-by-8-inch baking dish.

Sift together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside. Stir baking soda into sour cream or buttermilk. Set aside.

Combine persimmon pulp and sugar in a large bowl. Mix well. Add egg, beating well. Alternately, add sour cream/buttermilk mixture and flour mixture. Stir in cream and honey. Add raisins, if desired. Fold in melted butter.

After an hour of baking, the pudding is ready.

Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Smooth surface with a spatula. Bake until the center is set, about 55 to 60 minutes. Serve warm, with whipped cream if desired.

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A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

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Garden Checklist for week of Sept. 15

Make the most of the cool break this week – and get things done. Your garden needs you!

* Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get cool-season veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with "eyes" about an inch below the soil surface.

* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding bare spots.

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