Thanksgiving Salad: Persimmons, Pomegranates, and Kiwis
Monday, November 22, 2010
Many Novembers ago I came home from a farmers’ market with a collection of persimmons, pomegranates, and kiwis. I mixed them in a salad and was so pleased with the results that it became my default offering for any potluck or party between Columbus Day and New Years’. Now I have all three planted in my yard. I’m a devotee of local fruit.
I like the colors in this salad, as well as the flavors and textures. The kiwis are soft, sweet, and gently tangy. The fuyu persimmons add crunch like a crisp pear and hint at cinnamon with their flavor. The pomegranates explode between the teeth and turn to a winsome juice. (Some varieties can be a little tart, but the one I grow is wonderful.) Occasionally I’ve thrown in late-harvest grapes (a purple-black variety is available in my local farmers markets), or fresh pineapple if I’m willing to cheat and add a yellow import.
The slicing and husking for a large bowl of this salad takes about an hour. Most varieties of kiwis require peeling, while pomegranates must be carefully coaxed from their shells. Persimmons can be eaten in the skin, but for salads I prefer to take it off. Both pomegranates and persimmons are long-lived in a fruit bowl (and longer with refrigeration), but the kiwi presents itself with a shorter window of readiness. I have kept them in a frig for up to ten weeks, but I’ve learned to put soft ones in cold storage and hard ones out on the sink four to seven days before I will need them.
The photograph shows the version I made tonight. I had three helpings at dinner, and may have another bowl before bed. Enjoy.
7 comments:
Happy Thanksgiving, Steve, to both of you, and the boys. I hope you enjoy the salad. And thanks, also, for sharing the link. I get several visitors every month, coming over from your blog.
I'm new to your blog but I just wanted to say the colors are beautiful in this salad. Thanks for the recipe. You might enjoy a site I go to as well called www.justapinch.com and join the fun.
Can I address you as "RC?" I took a quick look and it looks like it's one of those sites where you could completely lose track of the time. Notice in the "About Me." It says I'm a man with way too many hobbies. I'll have to come back to your site when I don't have fifteen other projects going, and a tall stack of tests to correct. :)
Thank you thank you for this recipe! I had a little difficulty finding Kiwis this time of year, but once I did, this was the perfect desert for our Thanksgiving supper and everyone loved it. Just wanted to say thanks.
Susan
www.qualifacts.com
Susan,
You are very, very welcome. I am glad you enjoyed it. As an unpublished novelist, getting a rave review on my salad satisfies the same desire as a great review on a book. Thanks for the encouragement.
And can you believe it? The verification word that Blogger asks me to type in is "reverie." How neat is that!
This sounds like an awesome recipe and the photograph you included looks unbelievably yummy. Unfortunately this fruit a little bit harder for me to come by but hopefully with some luck in the summer I will be able to make some or maybe something similar to it. Thanks.
http://www.hydretainlawncare.com
Brian.
Looks great. Maureen read the post , so I think I will be trying this soon.
Steve