We visited friends today and were gifted with about 30 lbs of Hachiya
Japanese persimmons. The heart shaped ones that have to be fully ripe
before eating or they are very astringent. Most of these were picked a
little early to beat the gray squirrels to them.

Tomorrow I will wash them and lay them out on old towels to air dry.
They will ripen on the kitchen counter as that is the only way they are
good. Once ripe I will get the pulp out and flatten it on a bun tray and
then freeze them. Once frozen I will put them in one and two cup vacuum
bags, vacuum seal them and back into the freezer. They are excellent in
pies, cakes, cookies, and sweet breads. Miz Anne sticks several into the
freezer in a muffin pan and lets them freeze. She then takes them out,
lets them partially thaw, cuts the top off and eats them like sherbet.
Likes them right well that way.

Anyway, it's nice to have friends who gift you with fruit they have to
much of. I think I will make them a batch of persimmon cookies and drop
them by one day this week.

We're still painting and fixing on this old house and are getting closer
to the day when we can put it on the market.

We're in the middle of, to us, a cold snap. Got down to 47F last night
and the furnace came on. Hasn't run much today as the temps got into the
low seventies by lunch.

Hope those in the NE are handling the early snow well and are staying warm.

George

On Oct 30, 3:50*pm, George Shirley > wrote:
> We visited friends today and were gifted with about 30 lbs of *Hachiya
> Japanese persimmons. The heart shaped ones that have to be fully ripe
> before eating or they are very astringent. Most of these were picked a
> little early to beat the gray squirrels to them.
>
> Tomorrow I will wash them and lay them out on old towels to air dry.
> They will ripen on the kitchen counter as that is the only way they are
> good. Once ripe I will get the pulp out and flatten it on a bun tray and
> then freeze them. Once frozen I will put them in one and two cup vacuum
> bags, vacuum seal them and back into the freezer. They are excellent in
> pies, cakes, cookies, and sweet breads. Miz Anne sticks several into the
> freezer in a muffin pan and lets them freeze. She then takes them out,
> lets them partially thaw, cuts the top off and eats them like sherbet.
> Likes them right well that way.
>
> Anyway, it's nice to have friends who gift you with fruit they have to
> much of. I think I will make them a batch of persimmon cookies and drop
> them by one day this week.
>
> We're still painting and fixing on this old house and are getting closer
> to the day when we can put it on the market.
>
> We're in the middle of, to us, a cold snap. Got down to 47F last night
> and the furnace came on. Hasn't run much today as the temps got into the
> low seventies by lunch.
>
> Hope those in the NE are handling the early snow well and are staying warm.
>
> George

Snow doesn't usually arrive here in Oregon until January but the fall
rains appear to have settled in for good. We lucked out with some
pretty fall days this past week so I can't complain. We need one last
bit of dry weather so we can haul some hay for the goats - I've been
saying "we need to get some hay this weekend" since July 4th and
_still_ haven't gotten around to it. Sheesh. At least the rain
greened up the pastures again and between that, the blackberries and
the windfall apples, they are getting _plenty_.

JD cleaned out the wood stove and re-glued the door gasket. I came
home from work last week to a very cozy home! I don't mind the rain
too much. JD is a Oregonian born in Texas and raised in California
and would rather see a bit more sun.

I've never eaten persimmons but the cookies sound interesting. Sounds
like a good barter system you all have there.

-Beti