What to do with ripe but frozen persimmons?

December 30, 2010 2:34 PM

I have 7 very ripe hachiya persimmons in my freezer, frozen solid. They were READY TO EAT! when I got them (all delicious and snotty), but had to go out of town for the holidays and didn't know what else to do with them. Now I'm back and at a loss as to how to proceed. Can I thaw them? Will they shatter my blender as-is? I've made ice cream with persimmons before, but am still fairly new to this glorious fruit, so all suggestions are welcome.
posted by carsonb to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

As long as you've removed the seeds and thawed them the probably won't break your blender.

I've made this persimmon fool before with thawed, snotty persimmons and enjoyed it. It requires gelatin, though.

If I had some Hachiya persimmons right now, I'd make persimmon pancakes!
posted by estherbester at 2:44 PM on December 30, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks esther! But, erm, talk to me like I'm an idiot here... is step one for any suggested use to thaw them? How do I go about that? Can I expect them to be just like how I got them once they're thawed?
posted by carsonb at 2:54 PM on December 30, 2010

I'd just leave them out on the counter until they are soft enough to eat with a spoon. They should have a lovely sorbet-like texture.
posted by neroli at 3:09 PM on December 30, 2010

I cut the frozen ones up into slightly smaller pieces for use in the blender. No problems.

I have a lot of experience doing this with persimmons as they are my absolute super fav, and I always put the ripe ones I can't eat on time in the freezer.

Anything you would do with frozen berries or other fruits is PERFECT for your persimmons.

Enjoy!
posted by jbenben at 4:56 PM on December 30, 2010

My parents make a persimmon pudding that's quite good. It's a pudding in the English sense (cake-like and steamed, like figgy pudding), not like Jello pudding. It would, I'm sure, work fine with thawed and pureed persimmons.
posted by andrewpendleton at 5:07 PM on December 30, 2010

Seconding neroli. In my house we don't always wait until they thaw, either. Even at -20C, they remain soft enough to eat; the texture varies from freezer-pop to italian ice or sorbet as it warms up.
posted by d. z. wang at 5:21 PM on December 30, 2010

The LA Times had a recipe for persimmon margaritas the other day.
Sounds yummy.
I'd say to let them thaw a little, then whip them up.
posted by SLC Mom at 6:50 PM on December 30, 2010

We used to make persimmon cookies, there are lots of recipes online and they're delicious.
posted by fshgrl at 8:03 PM on December 30, 2010

You should hang out with the guy who just posted that he has too much amaretto...magic will happen (and by magic I mean really good food).

Any recipe that calls for baking them will work really well. Any recipe that calls for eating them raw might not turn out alright.
posted by Felex at 11:53 PM on December 30, 2010