Snapshot of a Persimmon pudding made for my father-in-law's 81st birthday.

My grandmother, Clara, was the first of many to teach me how to cook. She taught me how to make homemade buttermilk biscuits, Christmas ham and many other delicious comfort foods from the Southern US. She made this recipe on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Every fall, she would gather Persimmons from her tree outside, wash and then pulp the Persimmons. She would then spend several hours processing the fruit using a food mill or sieve with a wooden tool to mash the pulp through the sieve. She would then pre-measure into 2 cup ziploc bags, placing them in the freezer, in preparation for this recipe.

The fruit used in this recipe is not the Oriental Persimmons you find in the grocery store. I believe it’s the American Persimmon variety. Persimmonpudding.com has a variety of resources listed to find the necessary Persimmon pulp.

The key to this recipe is the mix of flour and liquid. When it’s correct, the result is a wonderful dessert with the consistency of a traditional pudding cake (not really cake and not really pudding). Too much flour creates a cake and too little creates a watery pudding, neither of which is very appealing.

Persimmon Pudding Recipe

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 min

  • 2 cups Persimmon Pulp
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 cups sifted self-rising flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 stick softened butter
  • 2 eggs
  • Dash of cinnamon (or 1/4 teaspoon)

Helpful Hints

If you have time, set the butter out on a kitchen counter and let it come to room temperature about an hour before beginning this recipe. If you’re running short on time, you can microwave the butter to melt it but be careful when adding it to the eggs as you don’t want to cook the eggs when mixing them with hot butter. Just soften the butter and let it cool.

I also like to add the baking soda to the flour when sifting because the sifting process mixes these ingredients well.

Directions

  1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the over to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a large bowl, sift the flour and baking soda. This step just makes it easier to fold in the flour later.
  3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Then add the sugar and softened butter and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the Persimmon pulp and buttermilk in with the egg, butter and sugar mixture.
  4. Fold in the flour and baking soda mixture. Then whisk to ensure the mixture is smooth. If you see any lumps of flour, continue whisking.
  5. Add the dash of cinnamon. The cinnamon is a very flexible ingredient. You can add as much as you like but be careful not to overpower the persimmon flavor.
  6. Grease a 13″ x 9″ glass baking dish. Then pour the single mixture into the baking dish.
  7. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. You can test readiness by sticking a fork or toothpick into the pudding. When ready, the fork or toothpick will be clean when removed from the pudding.

This dish is delicious at room temperature or slightly chilled but it’s best served slightly warmed. Due to the sugar content from the fruit and sugar added, it will heat quickly.