I am very fond of persimmons. When I was growing up neighbors had Hichiya persimmon trees in their yards. We made persimmon bread, cookies and muffins. Also, when they were very, very ripe and very squishy we would scrape out the inside and eat it with vanilla ice cream. Not until I was an adult in California did I know about Fuyu persimmons, which are eaten hard, like an apple. Great in fruit salad and great just "plain so" as my mother-in-law would say.
Last year the crop must not have been great because I saw few in the market and only received a few from friends with Fuyu trees.
This almost perfect fuyu w/two pears was a still life I took last year. Unfortunately, I couldn't find perfect pears, these are organic from the Farmer's Market - as is the fuyu.
A couple of days ago I met my friend Nancy at Borders in Brea, just so she could pass on an abundance of fuyus from our friends Sumi and Tomi who both have trees in their yards. I think they are extra beautiful in this red basket - orange and red, not a combo I would normally choose, but perhaps the addition of green makes it more palatable.
About this same time of December in 2005 I took this picture of a Hichiya tree near San Juan Bautista. I was so tempted to go knock on the door and ask if I could have some of the fruit. But I wasn't going home for a number of days and what would I do with the fruit in the meantime. Last year I checked to see what the crop was and the tree had been removed. So, I am especially happy that I have a picture to remember the load it carried.