This post is contributed by Carmen Boyd, MS, RD, instructor for the canning class:

Our fall canning class students really outdid themselves this year, and had a little bit of help.  Thanks to the Fruit Experiment Station, we were able to work up some Gala apples into applesauce, spiced rings, and some other goodies, as well as work with persimmons and pawpaws turning them into all types of tasty tidbits.  We had worked with pawpaws last year and so students were a bit more familiar with the mild banana-ey, custardy flavor, and texture of the local pawpaw.  Recipes for Pawpaw Bread, Pawpaw Pie, and Pawpaw Cake with a blueberry/cream cheese icing (Chelsea’s original icing recipe) were very tasty.  We get better each year working with these!  In addition, students were able to prepare homemade grape juice and grape conserves, pear relish, butter, and jam, green pepper jelly and pepper  relish, plus dry apples, pears, and jerky and make homemade ice cream for a treat.  Oops…..almost forgot the sauerkraut that is fermenting away! AND dried pumpkin seeds and pulp!   It was a busy two days!

New to the lab this year were the persimmons that we were presented with.  The FES raises a variety of persimmons, so we had a number of varieties to work with rather than just one.  Students made a very tasty jam with the persimmons and they are so easy to work with!  We ran them through the food mill to get rid of the tiny seeds and then just turned the pulp into jam!  Yum!  We had a tree in our yard when I was a kid but my mom, who would can, jelly, or otherwise preserve almost anything always let the possums and coons have them.  Boy, did we miss out!  I think they would make really good fruit leather, too.  Maybe next year.

Nutritionally, persimmons are a very healthy food, naturally low in fat, plenty of fiber, Vitamins A and C, plus lots of those healthy antioxidants that help to prevent all different types of illnesses.  Since we don’t have one specific variety to talk about, we’ll just leave it at that.  They are all good to eat and good for you in many ways.  We should also mention the pucker.  Persimmons do tend to make you pucker up, but some more so than others.  But, that’s ok – that’s normal.  Give your lips and your taste buds a workout!  This is definitely a fruit that you should try.  Don’t wait too long, though.  They are a fall season fruit.  They’ll be hard to find later.   Don’t worry, though.  Just get some, pulp them up and freeze them.  They freeze great and you’ll be able to enjoy them until next fall!