Persimmon Bread + what you need to know about this delicious fall fruit

Eataly - its backstory & transformation under CEO Andrea Cipolloni’s management

Late September, through November, is the time for persimmons and we are thoroughly enjoying them right now. We have two kinds growing on our property: one is the smaller, harder and more astringent variety: great for slicing, and adding to a salad. The other are the plump, soft, almost gelatinous variety that I use to make ice cream, and especially persimmon bread!

Here in Italy, this variety is best known as kaki – often spelled cachi. 

One of my favorite Italian culinary magazines, Sale e Pepe, details what you need to know to choose persimmons and enjoy them at the right time.

The autumn table has the warm shades of orange and forest green, precisely the colors of persimmons, certainly among the symbolic fruits of the season and which we easily find in this period at the market. In Italy the correct name, both singular and plural, is cachi: it’s the Italianization of the Japanese name "Kaki no ki", (the Diospyros kaki) or the persimmon tree. It arrived in Europe in the eighteenth century, initially as an ornamental plant and only later cultivated for its fruit.