Noshing Across the Nation

Somehow, I am now having two things in mind as related to cooking – pickling and bread baking. I was always terrified of both things, so I am taking it as a sign of aging. Well, if that’s the only sign, I don’t mind. Last week I saw beautiful persimmons, and was just bound to buy them even though the only place I eat them is Israel. Here, in the US, I always find them either too tart or too mushy. I know I wouldn’t eat them, but wanted to make something with them. So, I pickled them.

The original recipe, again, comes from the great ZAHAV book by Michael Solomonov. Naturally, I’ve changed the recipe a bit top fit the ingredients I had.Now, I realize that one doesn’t think of persimmon as a fruit to pickle, but surprisingly, it turned out to be a sort of sweet and sour condiment that would be great with meat – like a roast beef or even as an addition to my many times used lamb shank braised in the oven.

If you are feeling as adventurous as I am, here you go:

For about 1 pound persimmons

6 pitted dates, halved

1 lemon or lime sliced

1 tbsp black peppercorns

1.5 tsp mustard seeds

1.5 tsp coriander seeds

1.5 tsp poppy seeds

0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

5 garlic cloves

3 cardamom pods

2-3 cloves

1.5 cups wine vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

0.5 tsp kosher salt

Place the fruit into a glass baking dish. Sprinkle with spices and add lemon pieces.

Combine 1 cup of water with vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil. Pour the liquid over the persimmons and let cool. Cover with plastic wrap and marinade for 2 days. After that, you can serve it straight from the dish or store in the glass jars for 2 weeks.

Would love to know if you liked it.