Two kinds of persimmons are recruited for steamed pudding; soft, ripe hachiyas are used in the batter, and oven-dried slices of fuyu -- resembling orange flowers -- form a ring around the dessert. The pudding is full of golden raisins, pecans, and candied ginger and warmed by brandy's sweet heat.
1. Butter a 12-cup pudding mold. Fill a large pot fitted with a steamer insert with enough water to come halfway up mold (test this with an empty mold); set aside. Sift flour, spices, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Put Calvados and sultanas into a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat; let stand 15 minutes. Drain; discard liquid. Set raisins aside.
2. Meanwhile, slice tops off persimmons. Scoop out flesh, and press through a sieve into a bowl, discarding skins (you should have 1 1/2 cups persimmon puree). Whisk in milk; set aside.
3. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Add persimmon mixture in 2 batches, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Mix in baking soda mixture. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in pecans, sultanas, and ginger. Pour into prepared mold; cover with buttered parchment and lid.
4. Bring water in prepared pot to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer. Carefully lower mold into steamer. Cover pot, and steam until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, 3 to 3 1/2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure water level is maintained (add hot water as needed).
5. Transfer mold to a wire rack; remove lid and parchment. Let cool 15 minutes. Unmold pudding onto a plate, and cut into slices. Serve with persimmon slices and Calvados cream.
We steamed our pudding in an antique metal pudding mold with a fitted lid. A ceramic pudding basin or mixing bowl, covered tightly with buttered parchment paper then with foil, will also work.
Why does this recipe specify a type of persimmon? The supermarket I shop at (in New Zealand) offers one persimmon type -- fuyu -- so I must use that or forget it.
kelrobin, yes, you can use southern persimmons (american persimmon). I've made it with three different types of persimmons over the years and it works with them all. The flavor and final colors may be slightly different, but it's tasty either way. Your final product will be very dark.
Can you use native southern persimmons for this? I have a pound of frozen pulp from the farmers market in my freezer and grew up eating the natives in persimmon pudding.
To Ida96, there are two main types of persimmons. Hachiya and Fuyu. Hachiya can only be eaten when soft like a water balloon (otherwise it is very astringent) and Fuyu are to be eaten hard like an apple. The Hachiya's are the type of persimmons used in baking or making ice cream. If you want to use the Fuyu in baking, you must let it soften. Hope this helps.
Fabulous pudding: my discerning family loved it! I left out the pecans (forgot to grab them from the supermarket); added slightly more ginger. I used softish fuyu, and mashed them with a potato masher to get the required consistency. I also used the family's ancient metal steam pudding basin with fitted lid - It wouldn't take all the mixture, so I poured the remainder into a muffin tin, and baked 4 large muffins in the oven. The coarse salt I used added little pockets of sharp, salty taste - which was brilliant, like salted caramel chocolate - rather than the overall, bland no-taste that salt usually offers. I love this recipe, and will use it often.
There are two things I don't understand about this recipe. First, if you have covered the pudding mold with parchment paper and foil, how do you insert a cake tester as instructed? Second, if the pudding mold is sitting in the steamer insert in the pot, how will you be able to see the water level to see whether it stays at the right level, as the instructions say you should? If anyone can help explain these two things to me I would greatly appreciate it. I am going to try and make this soon.
After losing my grandmother's recipe for persimmon pudding that I've eaten every year of my life for Thanksgiving, I found this one and absolutely love it. One caveat - the amount of butter called for in the recipe is not enough to whip with the sugar. I've modified the recipe and found that one stick (1/ 2 cup) works well. I plan to try reducing the sugar and butter a bit the next time I try it.