Persimmon Time in Sonoma County

I was up in Healdsburg at Le Tournesol this weekend doing a little winterizing. I looked out and saw this always strange sight....



The leaves have dropped off of our Hachiya Persimmon tree but the fruit is still there. The birds have gone after the ripe ones but they know better than to try to eat the non-ripe ones. I picked the last of them, having already harvested some a month ago.

These trees do very well in Healdsburg. You need to pick the fruit and wait for them to get very squishy before you can eat them. You can then cut the outside and eat the jello like pulp from the inside. My friend Homayoon advised me to slice the top off and eat the insides out with a spoon, using the outside as sort of a cup.

They are very sweet, you can only eat so many. Last night I took the last of our first haul and made this Persimmon Pudding Cake which was a nice treat and very appropriate for the holidays with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice flavors.