This is a picture I took of my persimmon pie that I made for the Slow Food, Tennessee Valley Pie contest. I made the crust from crumbled ginger cookies and butter and a little bit of salt. It took 4 hours to extract 1 cup of pulp from a bag of wild, Appalachian persimmons that we picked up under a persimmon tree I keep my eye on up the road.
Wild Appalachian Persimmon
Season 7, Episode 30, October 16, 24, 2020
“The Wild Appalachian Persimmon”
The Wild, Appalachian Persimmon, a biological perspective on the native Appalachian Persimmon tree and fruit with Charlie Kwit, Professor of Biology from University of Tennessee.- Mary “Dee Dee” Constantine with a recipe for Persimmon Bread by way of Morgan Simmons..- Fred Sauceman with a “Pot Luck Radio” segment on Kentucky’s “Ale-1 8” soda pop - and Amy shares a recipe for persimmon pie by way of The Loveless Cafe, outside of Nashville. (Scroll down for recipe)
Links to Guests:
Professor of Biology Charlie Kwit: https://eeb.utk.edu/people/charles-kwit/Fred Sauceman: https://www.facebook.com/fred.saucemanCrystal Wilson: https://www.facebook.com/turtlemountain.herbsMary “Dee Dee” Constantine:https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=dee%20dee%20constantineAvi Askey, Owner of Overhill Gardens: http://www.overhillgardens.com/Emi Sunshine: http://theemisunshine.com/
Persimmon Pie Recipe by way of tThe Loveless Cafe, outside Nashville:
Yield: 1, 9 inch pie, serves 6-8
Ingredients:1, 9 inch pie shell (partially baked)
1 c. persimmon puree *See notes below2/3 c. packed, dark brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 c. heavy cream
Optional: Whipped Cream
Directions:Preheat oven to 350
Place the pie shell on a sturdy pie sheet and set aside.
In a mixing bowel:
- Whisk the persimmon puree, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together.
- Whisk in the eggs, 1 at a time, and then the heavy cream.
- Pour the filling in the partially baked pie shell.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until “just set’.
- Let the pie cool completely before cutting.
- Serve plain or with a dollop of home-made whip cream.
Some helpful hints on getting that persimmon pulp:To prepare the persimmons prior to extracting pulp:
Wash these at least 3 times and remove the caps.
Use a food mill to separate the pulp from the skin and seed.
You can use a small knife to scrape the pulp from the persimmons as well, but, this takes a very long time when using the small, wild, Appalachian persimmons. It took me 4 hours to collect 1 c. of pulp.
If using small wild Appalachian persimmons, you will need to gather about 4 cups of these. Make sure they are soft, and fully ripe and easily come off of the tree, or are found intact on the ground. You do not want to use them if they are not ripe. They taste very bitter if they are not ripe. You are pretty lucky if you can find intact, ripe persimmons on the ground because this is a favorite of wild animals.
If using the large, domesticated varieties that are found in the grocery stores, it will take about 4 of these.
Save the seeds. Cut them length wise and look at the germ of the seed for winter weather forecasting. (See Amy’s illustration above)