Persimmon

This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.

There are few fruit I treasure more than the persimmon, perhaps because I see them only once a year. Twenty years ago, I grabbed my bags and dashed out the University of Oregon “fishbowl”and across the plaza in pouring rain to look for that tree with the bright orange globes hanging from its branches in December.

Who would fruit in such conditions? What inspiration I find in this tree that produces a fiery orange sweetness that softens almost to a pudding as it ripens during the coldest snaps of the year. I hope I have it in me to creatively stretch and provide for those around me in hard times, looking to it as a model.

I love to eat the very soft Hachiya persimmon, egg-shaped and smooth, inside and out. I am happy to cut off slices and devour it plain, though it’s a special treat when one replaces the tomato with persimmon in a Caprese salad, layered with mozzarella and basil, drizzled with balsamic reduction. Mouthwatering.

What are your favorite fruits of winter? Where do you take inspiration from the sweets our Earth provides in those coldest months?