If you’ve never tried persimmon bread, you’re in for a treat! Rich with butter and filled with dried fruit, nuts, spices, and brandy, this persimmon quick bread is perfect for the holidays! I’ve added a healthy twist by using whole wheat pastry flour to add some extra flavor and nutrition, but you’d never guess that this is a healthy persimmon bread recipe.
This post from the archives was originally published in November 2010. I’m sharing it again today with updated photos and a printable recipe. Enjoy!
Like most places around the country, autumn in California’s San Joaquin Valley is a beautiful time of year. While we might not have as many vibrant colored leaves as other places, we do have fruit trees. Pomegranates, persimmons, lemons – these are our fall colors. Take a drive through the country or just about any older neighborhood and you’re bound to run across some of these beautiful trees with their red, orange, and yellow fruit.
Persimmon trees are my fall favorite. The trees drop their leaves as the fruit ripens, leaving nothing but the spectacular glowing orange orbs— it’s quite a beautiful sight.
More than just autumn decorations, persimmons are wonderful to bake with. The persimmons I’m talking about today are the larger, acorn-shaped Hachiya variety.
Hachiya persimmons can be very astringent and not suitable for eating raw until they are very, very ripe. But by the time they are ripe enough to eat, the flesh is gooey and gelatinous. Because of this, I find that Hachiya persimmon pulp is better for baking than for eating raw (although some people do like to eat it with a spoon).
The smaller, squat variety of persimmon that has been showing up at more and more grocery stores lately is the Fuyu. These can be eaten raw while they are still firm, and their mild sweet flavor makes them easy to love.
I like to bake cookies when I get my hands on some persimmons, but this year I decided to try something a little different. I saw that David Lebovitz had written about a persimmon bread from James Beard’s book Beard on Bread. I happen to have my mom’s old battered copy of that book (it’s a year older than I am, actually), so I dug it out and looked at the recipe.
James Beard’s Persimmon Bread is a butter-rich quick bread filled with fruit, nuts, and booze. It sounded great to me and seemed like a good way to use up some of the brandy that I bought for the Caramel Apple Pear Cake.
The original recipe makes enough batter for two large loaves, but since I was afraid I would devour an entire large loaf myself, I decided to cut the recipe in half and bake it in three mini loaf pans. That way I could give two away, and eat one small loaf myself.
I had a big bag of mixed dried fruit that I bought for the Panettone I was making for The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, so I decided to use that instead of just plain raisins. I also chose to use whole wheat pastry flour in place of all-purpose—I thought it would add a bit of extra flavor and nutrition. The original recipe calls for mace as the main spice, but I used a combination of ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
A new thing I learned from Beard on Bread is that you can use the persimmon skin along with the pulp. I have always peeled the fruit before making the puree, but this time I used the skin, too. It was much easier and I liked the tiny flecks of orange that the skin added to the bread.
You must use very ripe Hachiya persimmons for the puree. To ripen persimmons, just leave them sitting out at room temperature until they are very soft and feel like they are turning to liquid inside the skin. As David Lebovitz says, a completely ripe Hachiya persimmon should feel like a water balloon about to burst. To make the puree, just blend the persimmon pulp (and skin, if you like) until smooth.
I have shared links to other persimmon recipes at the bottom of this post—check them out if you’d like more ideas for cooking with both hachiya and fuyu persimmons.
Calories
Fat
Carbs
Protein
Yields one large loaf or three mini loaves
Save RecipeIngredients
1 cup chopped dried mixed fruit or raisins
1/3 cup brandy
1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (use freshly ground nutmeg, if possible)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup persimmon puree (from approximately 2 very ripe Hachiya persimmons)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter one 9x5-inch loaf pan or three mini loaf pans.
2. In a small bowl, stir together mixed fruit and brandy; set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in melted butter, eggs, persimmon puree, brandy-fruit mixture, and chopped nuts. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.
5. Pour batter into a greased 9x5-inch loaf pan or divide between three mini loaf pans. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for one hour (40-45 minutes for mini loaves) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack. Store well-wrapped bread at room temperature for up to a week or freeze for longer storage.
Kitchen equipment used in this recipe:
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Related Recipes:
- Persimmon Cookies
- Tabbouleh with Fuyu Persimmons and Almonds
- Cherry Banana Muffins with White Chocolate Chips
- Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins
Hachiya Persimmon Recipes around the Web:
- Persimmon Bread at David Lebovitz
- Persimmon Cookies at Simply Recipes
- Persimmon Pudding Cake with Saffron at Eclectic Recipes
- Hachiya Persimmon Cake at Fresh Approach Cooking
Fuyu Persimmon Recipes around the Web:
- Whole Wheat Couscous Salad with Persimmons at Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Persimmon Pomegranate Fruit Salad at Simply Recipes
- Persimmon Salad with Ginger, Mint, and Yogurt at The Kitchn
- Lemony Persimmon Muffins at Mango & Tomato
- Persimmon Spice Muffins from In Erika’s Kitchen
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