Persimmon Bread

My mom is an amazing gardener. In her garden, she has pomegranates, lemons, limes, oranges, and persimmons. This gene definitely skipped a generation. I can’t grow anything; I’ve killed cactus before. Instead, I reap the benefits of my mom’s garden. It’s kind of funny that three of her trees are winter harvests so I always end up with way too much produce this time of year. My mom has a hachiya persimmon tree. These are the oblong shaped persimmons that need to be ripened completely before eating (or they have a harsh bitter taste). The issue with that is I hate mushy fruit. For the longest time, I just gave away the persimmons to people who liked the texture but I always felt so guilty because I was giving away my mom’s hard work. I thought long and hard this year about what I could do with the persimmons. I tried to think of another mushy fruit and ended up thinking of bananas. People make banana bread all the time. So that was it. I was going to make persimmon bread!

This recipe took a few tries before I could get the texture correct. The first time was wayyyyyyyy too wet. The flavors were correct, but I forgot to adjust the wet ingredients to account for the persimmon juice. The second time didn’t rise as much as I wanted it to and was a tad dense. And like Goldilocks, the third time was just right. The persimmon bread doesn’t need to be baked in liners but it can definitely be individually baked like muffins or it can be baked in a loaf pan as well.