Persimmons

Persimmon Still Life by 5th grade student

All week long we cooked with persimmons.  I love these fruits not only for how delicious and versatile they are but also because the trees are gorgeous. Persimmon trees with stark black branches and brilliant orange red fruit or full of yellow leaves and the same bright fruit are just breathtaking.  They grow well and produce lots of fruit - in fact we have one in the yard at Peralta.  So here is a week of celebrating, cooking and eating persimmons.  First of all cake.  This is the first year that I have found a dependable and delicious recipe for Persimmon Cake.  I used this recipe from allrecipes with a few modifications.  We used a 12" x 9" pan and used from 2/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar and also did not use walnuts, raisins or the glaze.  We added orange rind to this recipe and also we tried it with a grated apple.  We made a few batches that were gluten free using about 1 3/4 cups GF flour. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/persimmon-bars/

Kindergarten Students Making Persimmon Cake

Persimmon Cabbage Slaw

Fourth Grade Persimmon Cabbage Slaw

Cabbage - I do love it and it is plentiful and inexpensive but I never find it easy to make kids enjoy it.  One fairly dependable recipe is a salad with a rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil dressing; we added persimmons for extra color and additional sweetness.  I liked it and I am guessing the students who had four servings of this salad and complained that there was not enough also liked it.

We used -

Red Cabbage

Celery

Grated Carrots

Rice Wine Vinegar, Soy Sauce & Sesame Oil Dressing

Grating Carrots