A Persimmon A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Hubby and I bought a couple persimmons years ago early in our marriage and had a bad experience. What we got tasted like crunchy banana peel. Now that I know what it's supposed to taste like, I'm guessing we tried it unripe. I've passed them over at the grocery store for years under the assumption that I didn't like them. I am now sad at all the lost years when I could have been eating persimmons. How could you not want to eat that??? It has a star pattern. Hiding in the middle. And little tiny brownish freckles. You must take a knife to one and show your kids. I insist.

Luckily it was persimmons a plenty at Midtown Farmer's Market a few weeks ago. One vendor had more than one variety, so after a quick education on both, I asked for a recommendation of which to try first. Fuyu it was, with the instruction to eat it "out of hand." Another shopper commented that she pureed them and added the puree to muffin/quick bread batter (in place of apple sauce) due to their high sugar content. After eating a couple batches raw and fresh I can see how they'd work well in a muffin. The boys and their dad would slice a half dozen up and eat them at once if I didn't ration portions out over the week. Not likely any will end up baked into a muffin in this house....

Persimmons are an odd little fruit in my opinion. (Apologies, I forgot to photo them whole and separate, they are the bright orange things in the middle of the photo.) Kind of like a yellow orange tomato in appearance with the texture like a crunchy pear, and a distinct sweetness unlike that of any fruit I'm familiar with. Not terribly juicy, but this one fruit must-have omission does not leave the persimmon lacking in flavor appeal. If you keep them out of eyesight of kids, they have a long shelf life, a week or more. They don't get soft when ripe, so I'm not sure how to tell the difference between a ripe and unripe one. The ones I've had have all been purchased ripe, edible and completely delicious.

In search of nutrient content of the persimmon I was happy to find them in Dave Grotto's 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life. According to Dave:

• Persimmons are high in Vitamin A and are a good source of Vitamin C
• Rats with persimmon supplemented diet had significantly less total LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and lipid peroxides compared to rats without persimmon supplemented diet.
• One study showed them to be higher in insoluable and soluable fiber and total pheonols than apples!
  
• They make a good salsa mixed with onion, cilantro, tomatillo and chile serrano

This is the perfect fruit for kids with less than regular bowels. I found them at HEB (pantry) in the smaller displays near the mangoes and kiwi. Not a bad price for an exotic fruit at $1.29 per pound.

Kid Appeal Tip Try cutting raw fruits and veggies in different ways for more kid appeal. Persimmons have a neat star pattern when sliced on the equator (think tomato slices for a sandwich) versus their pattern when sliced pole to pole (think tomato wedge in a salad). Experiment with a knife when cutting. Kiwi, pears, pineapple, oranges, tomatoes and cucumber all take a different look when cut along a different axis. Sometimes a choice about which way to take a food is all it takes to get a willing taster. Do you want your cucumber in slices or wedges?

Freezer Peach Update
I finally got into my stash of freezer peaches, the ones I froze whole. While it's true that the skin comes right off under running hot water, I opted to eat the peel for more nutrition. I was a little concerned it would be hard to get the frozen flesh off the pit, but my cutco knives did fine slicing off chunks. The chunks were unsweetened, perfectly peach colored with no discoloration. Hoorah! I put the frozen slices in my mini chop with some yogurt, 1/2 a banana and a handful of frozen black berries. A couple hunks of peach didn't blend smooth, and if I hadn't known the peach was frozen, I would have thought it fresh! I think the texture will hold up to yogurt parfait! (Doing the happy dance about my lunch tomorrow. Haven't had peach yogurt parfait since August!)

I haven't tried the Hichiya variety yet. I don't see those at the grocery store, so I guess I'll have to wait until I'm back at the market for my chance. I'm all ears if you have tips on eating either variety. I went MIA again, sorry about that. You know. Fundraisers. For kids. At 2 different schools. Culminating during the same week. Have I mentioned how happy I'll be when they're both at the same campus again?

Pomegrantes More than Just Juice

I wrote this article last year during Pomegranate season. Big boo got so excited a few weeks ago when we started seeing them at the grocery. They are still pretty pricey, so we're only indulging in one a week. Soon they'll be in full season and you can find them on sale for about a dollar a fruit. We save our weekly pomegranate for our TV show night with the kids, Modern Marvels. The boys love the show and special snack and I try not to think about how many red stains are getting on the carpet. If you've never tried a whole pomegranate, I hope you will this season. You should be able to find them at most grocery stores through the end of the year. Enjoy!

Pomegranate juice is front and center in a lot of grocery stores as a super juice. It’s true this juice has healing properties and contains many vitamins and antioxidants. However research shows that foods eaten whole are usually more nutritious when consumed in part (i.e. juice, refined and processed). Drinking the juice doesn’t give you any fiber, nor does it give you the oils found in the seeds in the pomegranate garnets. To maximize its health benefit, go for the whole fruit.

Pomegranates are a great snack to eat with your family. They are in season now, and have a short fresh season so buy now while you can still find the fruit fresh. They are pretty pricey, but look for specials at your grocery store. Sometimes you can get them for around a $1 a piece and given how heavy they are that’s not a bad price for fruit especially since it’s loaded with health benefits.

If you’ve never had one fresh, they can be a bit time consuming, and very messy. Do this snack when you have time to luxuriate over a delicious and special snack. The juice will stain clothes, so it’s not recommended when the tots have on their Sunday best. The amount of effort and mess contribute to their kid appeal, so dig in and liberate some pomegranate garnets for your kids and see whose face is messiest when you finish. See the pomegranate speckled faces my kids ended up with?

To dig in, cut the top “flower” bit off with a knife. Score around the fruit (into quarters), then break the fruit open. Give each kid a section and let them use teeth and hands to free the seeds. They almost crunch when you chew them, and have a distinctive sweet and sour taste. The seeds inside the fruit can be swallowed. If they are chewed at all, it will break open the oils inside and the gut will be able to digest their healing properties. The seed can be bitter, so I wouldn’t recommend chewing them a lot, although the more chewing you do the more nutrients from the oil you’ll get in your body.

We put pomegranates in the kid’s stockings at Christmas. The boys think it’s pretty cool to get a whole one to themselves!

Nutrition: Pomegranates are high in polyphenol antioxidants which are instrumental in combating oxidative stress, a syndrome related to neurodegenerative (conditions causing problems with movement and affecting memory) and cardiovascular diseases. Pomegranates are also known to fight osteoarthritis, keep prostate cancer from returning, help lower bad cholesterol, lower blood pressure, fight breast cancer (the oils in the seeds) and when consumed by pregnant women can protect newborns brains during traumatic births. They also contain vitamin C, A, E, folic acid, potassium and niacin. See this article for more details