‘Tis the season of persimmons. In Italy right now the persimmon trees, the genus Diospyros, have lost all their leaves, and stand like Gothic sculptures - bare, twisted black branches polka-dotted with orange, fleshy globes of fruit.
For people who know them, persimmons taste like Hannukah and Christmas, because they appear in markets - and even in our grocery stores - just when autumn has exhausted all apple and pear enthusiasm. Fresh, sweet, luscious, persimmons suddenly arrive to taste like summer all over again in December.
No, they’re not local - I could define an optimal travel itinerary on where persimmons grow: Italy, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and in the southern U.S. - but if your holidays have known persimmons, they are a hard habit to break.
Something between a tomato and a mango, two different cultivars make it to us: the squat Fuyu, which can be eaten when still firm, and the oblong Hachiya, which has tannins in its skin that are meaningless if the fruit is soft and ripe, but taste wooly and prickly if not.
People unfamiliar with persimmons - like the check-out teenager at Market Basket - always ask what to do with them. Besides sitting at my kitchen table enjoying plump wedges of them, I’ve made this salad recently, something Martha Stewart adapted from cookbook author Suzanne Goin.
After finally visiting the local treasure Cape Ann Olive Oil Company on Main St. in Gloucester, I adapted this recipe again.
Usually I’m an olive oil and vinegar purist. I don’t like flavors, but all that changed when I tasted the natural and beautifully balanced oils and vinegars at Cape Ann Olive Oil. The store is sleek, warm, and extremely user friendly. I tasted many, many oils and vinegars I liked, loved, and swooned for, but my biggest surprise was the All Natural Aged Dark Chocolate Balsamic Condimento. The chocolate part is subtle, tasting more like the chocolate in a good balsamic vinegar that you always knew was there.
When that vinegar met the hazelnuts in this salad, something divine happened - the same thing that happened to the person who invented Nutella: chocolate and hazelnuts are meant to be. This salad is nothing like Nutella, but there’s an ephemeral whiff of “meant to be” here. This is December’s salad.
Persimmon, Pomegranate, and Hazelnut Salad
serves 6
Ingredients
2/3 cup hazelnuts (blanched)
1 tablespoon hazelnut oil + 1 teaspoon
coarse salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon shallots, finely chopped
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar, if possible Aged Chocolate Balsamic Condimento from Cape Ann Olive Oil
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 persimmons (Fuyu or Hachiya) thinly sliced
1/2 lemon (juicing)
1/2 lb arugula
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet; toast, stirring once, until fragrant and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool; coarsely chop nuts, and toss with 1 teaspoon hazelnut oil and salt.
In a small bowl, combine chopped shallots, pomegranate juice, balsamic vinegar, and salt; let stand 5 minutes. Whisk in olive oil and remaining 1 tablespoon hazelnut oil.
In a large bowl, toss persimmons, sliced shallots, and pomegranate seeds with dressing; season with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Gently toss with arugula. Arrange salad on a serving platter, and garnish with hazelnuts. Serve immediately.
