
I keep checking at my local Harris Teeter supermarket and at Li Ming Asian Market, here in Piedmont North Carolina, for the small and large piles, respectively, of fuyu persimmons. Fuyus are the plump, squat, sturdy beauties which strongly resemble tomatoes, if the latter were sunset orange and stayed very firm even when ripe. They’re still there, and I’m still eating them with vigor and pureeing them for winter baking and looking for ways to enjoy them.
Browsing the web for persimmon recipes and uses, I came across Persimmon Bruschetta — which I did not realize was a thing,Aliwaks. but indeed it is/they are! What a brilliant idea! These are based on a lovely piece on Food52 by Aliwaks. To see FOOD52’s Persimmon Bruschetta recipe:CLICK HERE!

Here they are this week, on the “specialty” produce display, tucked in amongst the ugli fruit, citron, quince, sapote, papaya, and more. Back last fall they were pristine and unblemished; now most of them have freckles, spots, small dark patches of color on their skin. This is fine, no effect on flavor. Same for the frosty looking whiteish patches; just how they are late in the season. Since you’ll be peeling them, no worries!

I use a paring knife and a vegetable peeler to get each persimmon ready to chop into bruschetta-beautiful pieces.

First cut out the core and adorable stem or cap. Then slice of a thin strip from the bottom, and peel the entire fruit.

Here’s my line up of prepped persimmon. These are a little more rustic and less picture perfect than last fall, but they are still fabulous, so don’t panic! You’ll see some darker sections, where seeds started to form. Simply cut fruit into small pieces for bruschetta, and then trim away any less gorgeous portions and discard. The tree wedges in the bottom left corner are ready for placement. The small sections above them got trimmed away.
What’s to the right of my knife is compost or trash — little sections that aren’t good any more. Everything else is imperfect in terms of cosmetics, but just fine as food. I trimmed to get pretty pieces for showtime, but all that you see to the left of my knife is good eating!

Here I’ve spread each toasted piece of bread with a simple, yummy cream cheese/mayo/honey mixture, and pressed slender wedges of persimmon on top of each one. Drizzle each piece with honey, sprinkle with chopped pistachios, more honey, just a little, and you are ready to delight yourself and your guests and dear ones. Food52’s spread uses goat cheese and ricotta, with olive oil and lemon juice and a hazelnut flourish. They warm the honey, which is a lovely idea, but I went with simple and it was fine.

You will get ideas as you do this — other kinds of spreads, nuts, accents, even fruits! Peaches and mangoes, anybody? — though these right here are delicious and need no improvements if we’re talking “Need-need”. For want-want, so many ways to go!

I had cream cheese and all the rest on hand, and did not have goat cheese, ricotta, or hazelnuts, which I am sure would be divine. This certainly was! Below you’ll see what I did with the good-but-not-quite-perfect portions of peeled persimmon to the left of my knife in the prep photo above.

These chunks and hunks and tidbits I chopped up very coarsely, tossed with lime juice, chopped parsley, and honey, to encourage them all to stay together a bit so as to not tumble off the side of their little bread surfboards prior to being consumed. See below for this more rustic but fantastic version.

These still got pistachio finish and more honey drizzle. They were fabulous, as were the slice-topped ones. And I hope you see that this without the bread could also be Persimmon Salsa, a little rustic fruit goodie to enjoy in many ways.
Go get you some persimmons while we still have them to enjoy! And if you try either of these little treats on bread, show me on Instagram or twitter! #persimmons #winterfruit #goodasgold I’m at @nanciemacpix on Instagram, and @nanciestable on twitter.


Persimmon Bruschetta with Pistachios and Honey
Persimmons give so much back, for the small effort we must make to find and buy them, bring them home and prepare them to eat or use in cooking and baking. Magnificent color, sweet, subtle flavor, deep rustic beauty, and juicy goodness. I found an array of persimmon bruschetta recipes online, to my surprise, but what a brilliant idea, a smart rewarding way to enjoy them beyond eating outright and tossing in salad, without the step of pureeing and baking. Make these once and you will fill a page with little notes about variations to do next time. (pine nuts! maple syrup! sesame oil! boursin cheese! pecans! hazelnuts! walnuts! brie! etc.)
Ingredients
- 1 baguette, or a slender loaf of great bread for toasting
- 3 fuyu persimmons
- 4 ounces cream cheese (half a standard grocery store 8-oz. package)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 2 to 3 tablespoons honey, plus more for drizzling over bruschetta
- 1/2 cup chopped pitachios
Instructions
- Slice bread on the diaglonal into nice bruschetta-slized ovals.
- Prepare persimmons by cutting out the core, slicing off a thin bottom slice, and peeling the fruit.
- Quarter each persimmon lengthwise, and then slice each portion into slender wedges --- not too thin, but not too thick; see note below.
- Toast each slice on both sides in a hot but not too hot skillet, turning often.
- Set out a platter and place slices of bread on the plattter.
- In a small bowl, mix cream cheese with mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and honey. Use a fork to stir and mix them together really well, mashing and pressing with care.
- Spread a generous thick amount of the cheese mixture on each slice of bread.
- Carefully place 3 or 4 slices of persimmon on each cream-cheese-covered slice of bread, and press gently to hold fruit in place on the creamy cheese mixture.
- Drizzle extra honey over each persimmon covered slice of bread.
- Sprinkle chopped pistachios over each bruschetta, and drizzle with more honey.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Yield 12 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 341Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 11mgSodium 568mgCarbohydrates 58gFiber 4gSugar 15gProtein 9g
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