Persimmon Bread Recipe
Persimmons are easy to grow and easy to bake with this great recipe.
Image courtesy of Ralph Scamardella
Celebrate the delicious sweet-tart bounty of the persimmon tree with recipes that revel in its tongue-tickling tanginess. This simple to make persimmon bread is just one of the many options available when cooking with this versatile fruit.
“Every fall, we would make persimmon bread because we had a persimmon tree in our backyard in Brooklyn. It was my mother’s recipe, and she was one of the few people I knew who cooked with persimmons on the East Coast.” —Ralph Scamardella, chef/partner, TAO Group
Persimmon Bread
Yields 3 loaves
- 1 cup persimmon pulp
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup water
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup white raisins, soaked and drained
- 1 cup chopped ripe bananas
- 1 cup vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease three 6x3-inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together the persimmon pulp and baking soda. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken the pulp.
In a medium bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Blend until smooth.
Mix persimmon pulp and water alternately with flour. Fold in nuts.
Divide batter into the prepared pans, filling each pan 2/3 full.
Bake for 1 hour in the pre-heated oven, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.