Pomegranates & Persimmons Are Here, Fall Harvest CSA Basket

Talk about weird weather!!!  It is cool at night but it has been in the 80s for weeks and each day it is getting warmer.  I had shut off the water last week to our yard and to the gardens, but I turned them back on again yesterday.  Things are really looking dry.
We picked the persimmons and the rest of our pomegranates this week.  We have the Hachiya persimmons and the Fuju persimmons. 

Hachiya persimmons are mouth-puckering tart unless absolutely, supremely ripe. Ripe hachiyas are unbelievably soft - and are often almost liquefied into a silky smooth pulp inside. They are elongated and oval shaped. They will ripen once picked, so you can let them soften on the kitchen counter until ready to use.  Hachiyas are thought of as "baking" persimmons and are commonly peeled and pureed into a pulp to add to baked goods. They add stable moisture and a mild, pumpkin-like flavor to cakes, puddings, and other treats.

The Fuyu persimmon is native to Japan and originally came from China.

The fruit fits in the palm of a hand, slightly smaller than an apple and looks like a mini-pumpkin.  It is eaten with skin on or peeled; can be added to fresh vegetable or fruit salads or eaten as a snack.  Right now with the pomegranates ripe, I put the Fuyu persimmons AND the pomegranate seeds into a vegetable salad, the very best and so healthy!!!

We also dry them: slice them with our mandolin, lay them out on our dehydrator shelves and dry them for about 10 hours.  Then I bag them up into zip lock bags to eat as snacks (like chips) or place them in the freezer to be eaten later.

These fruits always mean to me that nature constantly gives us wonderful fruits to eat almost all year round. 

The Meyer lemons are almost perfect, ready to be picked and the mandarins are plumping up and starting to have some color.  And the oranges are still green but getting huge in size.

It is hard to believe, but I am still getting cherry tomatoes and some medium sized tomatoes and there are lots of green tomatoes.  I have egg plant and the peppers just do not want to give up giving.  I really should be pulling up all of the garden so it can be tilled by Frank but I just do not want to waste any of it or my flowers.  Maybe next week as we are delivering our last CSA basket for the 2013 season.  It is called the Fall Harvest Basket.

In the basket we will have peppers, tomatoes, egg plant, onions, apples, pomegranates, pumpkins, persimmons, lemons, Swiss Chard/parsley/basil, and a few baked pumpkin cookies and mini cakes.

After that, it will be time to prune, clean up leaves; disc; pull up some trees that were split this spring; clean out the sheds; clean up all the garden tools; cut back grapes; winterize the chicken coop-the list just never ends when it comes to farming.

Until next time!!