We’re coming into the season now where persimmons start to appear in the supermarkets. These little bright orange orbs are sweet and delicious with no obtrusive seeds or stones, making them easy to prepare and versatile. I love to chop them into a salad with shavings of hard goats cheese, eat them fresh on their own, or freeze them as a make-shift sorbet.
The trick to freezing persimmons is to let them get really quite ripe and soft before you put them in the freezer. The flesh will have broken down a little which adds to the sweetness and makes for a smoother result. You could also scoop out the flesh and blitz it a bit before and midway through freezing for a really smooth “sorbet”, but it’s a faff and just freezing the whole fruit works well enough as a quick and easy method. It’s probably common sense, but I also cut the tops off the persimmons before I freeze them, it’s a lot more tricky once they’ve hardened!
Persimmons are fairly sweet on their own, so the crumble here is intended to bring a contrast in texture and the complementary maple and almond flavours, rather than much additional sweetness.
Ingredients
- 4 persimmons
- 125g flour
- 100g ground almonds
- 50g light brown or muscovado sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 110g cold unsalted butter
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Natural yoghurt to serve
Method
- Chop the tops off the persimmons and place into a freezer.
- Preheat oven to 200°C.
- Mix together the crumb ingredients and spread over a baking tray. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and crispy.
- Get the persimmons out of the freezer about 10-15 minutes before serving.
- Serve the persimmons with a sprinkle of crumb. Serve some natural yoghurt on the side.
A Year in Dinners 