Recipe: Persimmon date-walnut tea bread uses super-ripe fruit
This tea bread uses about four very ripe persimmons, of either variety. Debbie Arrington
Date-walnut tea bread is a California-grown favorite representing both ends of the state. Our dates come from Indio; walnuts represent Sacramento Valley.
Persimmons – super-ripe like sacks of jelly – give date-nut tea bread a seasonal twist and fruity moistness. Plus the bright orange fruit adds some extra antioxidants, another bonus.
After harvesting a prolific Fuyu persimmon crop that’s finally at that jelly-soft stage, I appreciate recipes that use several fruit. (We can eat only so many cookies.) This tea bread recipe takes about four persimmons per large loaf.
Super-ripe Hachiya persimmons (the pointy kind) also can be used in this recipe.
Persimmon date-walnut tea bread
Makes 1 large loaf
Ingredients:
1 cup ripe persimmon pulp, mashed
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cognac or brandy (optional)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground mace
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Instructions:
Prepare a 9-by-5-by-3-inch baking pan; lightly grease and line with parchment paper, if desired. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a small bowl, stir together mashed persimmon pulp and baking soda. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well blended. With an electric mixer on low speed, add eggs, one at a time.
Add persimmon pulp to butter-sugar mixture; blend until smooth. Stir in cognac, if desired.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and mace. Add flour mixture by thirds to persimmon mixture, stirring after each addition. Fold in chopped dates and walnuts.
Transfer batter into the prepared pan and smooth to even. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 80 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Check for doneness after 70 minutes.
Let cool in the pan at least 10 minutes before removing. Slicing is easier if the loaf is fully cool.
Store in the refrigerator.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
Powered by California Local
