Persimmon & Honey Yogurt

Persimmon always reminds me of my childhood. My family had a persimmon tree in the house I grew up. As winter approaches, the leaves from persimmon tree falls off and you can see dark orange fruits on the thin branches. As weather gets colder and colder, texture of the fruits becomes very soft and taste becomes sweeter. And you start seeing magpies fly in and peck the soft flesh of orange fruits. This shows that persimmon is ripe very well. :)

I like when persimmon becomes really soft to jam-like consistency ("Hong-si", 홍시 in Korean). You can make good smoothie with it. You can freeze the softened persimmon and enjoy it like sorbet. Or, you can pick the fruits before they become too soft. Peel and dry them, like dried fruit ("Goet-gam", 곶감 in Korean). I am sure the dried persimmon is really good to use to make sweet sauce for pork chop or bake dried fruit cake. In Korea, we make great sweet drink with the dried persimmon, cinnamon and ginger, called "Soo-jung-kwa, 수정과".

If you are not familiar with persimmon, try it with honey and yogurt... you will see why the fruit is so popular in some parts of the world. :)

Persimmon & Honey Yogurt
(Yield: 1 serving / Cooking time: 5 minutes)

Ingredients:
+ 1 sweet persimmon* ("Sharon Fruit" in U.S. works really well too)
+ 1 Tbsp honey
+ 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
+ 1 tsp chopped walnut
+ (optional) a few mint leaves for garnish

* There are two kinds of persimmons - one has very high in tannin content when it is not ripe and soft, and the other is already sweet and ready to eat although it still has crunchy texture. Use the latter one for this recipe, the sweet and crunchy one. I like it even better when the texture becomes a bit softer. Let the sweet persimmon sit in refrigerator for a week to give it softer texture.

Procedures:
Cut a persimmon into 8 wedges. Peel and trim the white core parts. If the persimmon has seeds, take out as much seeds as possible - Sharon Fruit is seedless, so you can skip this step. Arrange the persimmon wedges on a plate and drizzle 2 tsp of honey on top of them. Spoon Greek yogurt on top of persimmon and drizzle the rest of honey. Garnish with chopped walnut and mint leaves.

Enjoy~