In January, I started the process of making Hoshigaki, the Japanese dried persimmons that Sean and DPaul introduced me to in December. The process was fairly straight forward – next year, I am going to think ahead of time how to set up the drying racks, so that I can preserve more.
Step 1 – I washed the persimmons, then cut around the top of the crown.
Step 2 – Peeling the persimmon
Step 3 and 4 – Attach a rubber band into the cut around the crown. Connect rubber band to binder clip
Step 5 – Hang the persimmons on their binder clips from pretty ribbon strung between my kitchen cabinets. I am fairly certain this part of the process could be vastly improved, it was slightly odd having the persimmons hanging there all month (or 6 weeks in my case).
Step 6 – Slice and serve, or package between wax paper and save in airtight container. Interesting to note, my persimmons did not “bloom” which I wonder if that means I did something incorrectly. My friend Donia thinks it might be because of differing levels of sugar in the persimmon. Humm, no way to tell until I try it again next year.
Hedonia posted a winter salad using hoshigaki. And on Chowhound, there is a nice post about how to dry persimmons in 3 days in the oven.
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2 Comments
Twitter: kitchengadget
This is a very interesting recipe! I must say, I have never thought about doing that but it would be worth a try. Thanks for sharing.
Bobbi G-
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Twitter: kitchengirl
naturally, I wish there was a cool gadget to make this process easier, but from the pictures I have seen online, it looks like simpler is better for drying persimmons.