Persimmon ginger sorbet

This delicious persimmon ginger sorbet is easy to make and both looks and tastes great, the zingy ginger complimenting the smooth, fragrant persimmon. Set any thoughts that a winter fruit and frozen treats don’t go together aside.

Persimmon, or sharon fruit as I knew them when I was younger, are something I first tried when I was fairly young in Andorra, of all places. I admit to being a bit confused by this thing that looked a little like an orange tomato. But any hesitating went out the window once I tried the delicious flesh. It has a wonderfully sweet but not too sweet, almost fragrant flavor. It comes back to me each time I see them in the shops and tempts me to buy them. Sadly they don’t appear all that often. So if I do get one, I generally just eat it. But last time I saw them, I decided to try a bit of a treat with them: this persimmon ginger sorbet.

For reasons I have yet to fully understand, ice cream and sorbets are eaten in large quantities at any time of the year in New England. We had some really nice sorbet not too long ago as a palette cleanser as part of a lovely meal out and it got me thinking about making my own. It wasn’t too long until I came up with this persimmon ginger sorbet. It makes a great seasonal treat or to break up some of the heavy meals that are often part of this time of year.

How it’s made

I admit that I haven’t actually made sorbet before but I have been thinking it was something I wanted to try. I can imagine there will be a few requests for ice cream in the years to come and I find a lot of the ones to buy far too sweet and often with some weird ingredients. Plus it’s just a nice thing to have in the freezer as a super-quick dessert or treat. Persimmon ginger sorbet is very easy to make as persimmons are already very soft and sweet. There’s also no stringyness or anything else you need to get rid of so it’s simply a case of peeling and pureeing them and mixing them with a sugar-syrup base. I did the manual version of stirring every hour but with an ice cream maker it is even easier, you just leave it to get on with things.

This persimmon ginger sorbet has tiny pieces of crystalized ginger in it as the flavor really compliments the persimmon. I tried a plain persimmon version as well which is also good but with ginger is much better. It adds a bolder taste, a nice little zing, to the fairly mellow persimmon. Together, they are delicious. It also looks great thanks to the beautiful orange of the persimmon.

Choosing persimmon

The one warning I would give is to check which type of persimmon you have as there are two main varieties and they vary in how ripe they need to be to use them. One kind, the dumpy Fuyu, is fine when just a bit tender, like a ripe pear. However the other, Hachiya (as you see here) needs to be properly ripe. As in starting to bruise and you are worried you might burst the skin when you touch them ripe. The reason I flag it is under-ripe persimmon have a slightly odd thing where they leave a kind of fuzzy feeling on your tongue. It’s both weird in itself, but the fact that you can still taste that it should be delicious is torturous. Believe me, I know from experience.

Other than that, this persimmon ginger sorbet is a very easy and beautiful, tasty addition to any meal. With great flavor and colors, this is bound to impress any guests. They don’t need to know about the easy part, I promise not to tell. (Other than my friends at Fiesta Friday and Foodie Fridays and all other readers.)

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Persimmon ginger sorbet

A deliciously fragrant sorbet with a slight kick from the ginger, you'll want to find any excuse to make this.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 2 minutes

Total Time 12 minutes

Servings 6 -8

Calories 159 kcal

Author Caroline's Cooking

Ingredients

• 2 cups persimmon 480ml, puree, approx 3-6 persimmon, depending on kind
• 1/3 cup water 80ml
• 1/3 cup sugar 80ml
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp crystalized ginger finely chopped, candied ginger

Instructions

1. Cut the persimmon in half and scoop out the flesh to leave the skin behind. Puree the flesh until smooth, only a minute or so.
2. Put water, sugar and lemon juice in a small pan and warm over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved. Continue to heat for a further minute then allow to cool slightly.
3. Add the sugar syrup and finely chopped ginger to the persimmon puree and mix well. Pour into a container to put in the freezer or put in an ice cream maker.
4. If using an ice cream maker, just follow the instructions. If doing manually, take the container out of the freezer approximately every hour for about 4 hours until it is pretty well frozen. Each time you take it out, stir the frozen outside pieces into the center and break up any icy lumps and return to the freezer. Leave overnight to freeze fully after the last time you stir.

Nutrition Facts

Persimmon ginger sorbet

Amount Per Serving

Calories 159

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0g 0%

Saturated Fat 0g 0%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 2mg 0%

Potassium 244mg 7%

Total Carbohydrates 41g 14%

Sugars 14g

Protein 0g 0%

Vitamin C 63.5%

Calcium 2.1%

Iron 11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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