Persimmon Pudding

Pin It

Many years ago, my friend Catherine had a neighbor with a persimmon tree. Every year during the fall, I would return home from a visit with a bag of ripening persimmons. Cathy passed along a version of this recipe for Persimmon Pudding,  a dense bread rich with spice and fruit, more aptly named a “pudding”.

You will need very ripe fruit here. I have always used “Hachiya” persimmons, the apple-shaped ones that gets soft and custard-y when it ripens. Mine took two weeks to fully ripen, something to keep in mind if you are planning to bake for a specific occasion.

This is a very flexible recipe that allows you to play with favorite spices. I used walnut oil because I had some on hand and thought it would pair well with the walnuts. Canola or grapeseed oil work equally well. Pecans are nice here too.

TIP: This bread freezes beautifully.

Yields One Loaf

  • 1 cup persimmon puree
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 cup organic brown sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 1 pinch kosher salt (optional
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup organic whole milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest (or zest of any organic lemon)
  • 1 tablespoon walnut oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Combine the persimmon puree with the baking soda and set aside.

3. Using a large bowl, mix together the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and ginger.

4. Beat the eggs slightly, stir in the milk and add to dry ingredients.

5. Add the persimmon-soda mixture, plus the vanilla, lemon zest, oil and nuts. Mix well.

6. Turn the batter into a loaf pan with has been lined with greased parchment paper.

7. Bake for 1 hours. Allow bread to rest for 15 minutes before turning onto a rack to cool.

Pin It

, , , ,

10 Responses to Persimmon Pudding

  1. TasteFood November 6, 2011 at 9:44 pm #

    I’m learning to love persimmons here in CA. This recipe sounds like a great way to put them to use.

    • lizthechef November 6, 2011 at 10:25 pm #

      Finding a friend or generous neighbor with a tree insures your will have a chance for ripe fruit.

  2. Sunchowder -Wendy Read November 7, 2011 at 12:04 am #

    Oh Liz, love the photos here 🙂 The recipe looks really nice too. I made the mistake of experimenting with persimmons that were not completely ripe when making a new jam concoction–I can same the same holds true for making jam! Mine was absolutely mouth puckering and we had to discard it! Looking forward to trying yours 😉

    • lizthechef November 7, 2011 at 1:05 am #

      Been there, Wendy – thanks and see you on Friday at IFBC!

  3. lizthechef November 7, 2011 at 1:04 am #

    I waited almost 3 weeks for mine to ripen…

  4. lizthechef November 7, 2011 at 1:04 am #

    I waited weeks for mine to ripen, to tell the truth.

  5. Rachell November 13, 2011 at 10:27 pm #

    hi liz- this is my first blog ever- thanks for the persimmon recipe- your friend Rachell from yoga

    • lizthechef November 14, 2011 at 3:37 am #

      Rachell, this is my dream, to have “no-foodie” pals commenting on my blog.Thank you so much – I’m just home from a huge food-bloggers conference. See you at yoga Monday!

  6. Sunchowder -Wendy Read November 18, 2011 at 1:33 pm #

    Silvio, my kitchen prep man brought me TWO gorgeous persimmons (Extremely Ripe) yesterday and I thought of your recipe immediately. I pureed the persimmons with skin and seeds (for fiber) in the Vitamix and sub’d Canola Oil for the Walnut Oil as I did not have any in the pantry. I baked mine at 310 for 1 hour and 10 minutes. The color is much darker then yours, but it is so rich and moist, really, really so good Liz! It is a true pudding spoon bread, I really love it.

    • lizthechef November 18, 2011 at 3:16 pm #

      Yes, yours clearly turned out better than mine, as mine were not as ripe as I needed – so pleased!

Leave a Reply

Site built by NerdPress