While sitting down to have lunch with a coworker last week, I was a little surprised to see him pull three anemic, somewhat rotten-looking, orange-ish tomatoes from his lunch bag.
I'm all for not wasting food, but these tomatoes looked like they needed to be thrown away, and quickly. I didn’t want to be rude and insult his lunch, so I kept quiet. He washed one of the tomatoes, then cut a slice out of it.
Turns out, it wasn’t a tomato at all! What he had were persimmons. Prior to last week, I had never even heard of this bizarre little fruit, and after doing a quick and informal poll, I don’t think I’m alone. After a quick trip to the farmer’s market last weekend, I was the proud owner of one!
And, I think I like them. I think. They take a little getting used to. They should be eaten once they are very, very soft, my coworker explained. You may simply bite into one, skin and all, or you may cut it into slices.
The texture is like that of a very soft pear, only not as grainy. The taste is very sweet, with no hint of tartness (at least not the one I tried). And to me, it almost has a very, very faint pumpkin-like aftertaste.
Alas, I only purchased one (as a tester), and ate it raw, so I wasn’t able to make any new recipes involving a persimmon. But the next time I see one of these little guys, I’ll be sure to snatch one up, so that I can make this delicious looking recipe: Caramelized Persimmons (marthastewart.com).
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