Our 13 Best Persimmon Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated September 06, 2019
Credit: Victor Protasio
Persimmons are typically reddish-orange and come in two distinct types: astringent and non-astringent. Non-astringent varieties, like the round fuyu, can be eaten right away, because they have a sweet, mild flavor. Astringent persimmons, such as the acorn-shaped hachiya, require ripening or cooking. Here, the persimmon recipes we’d make over and over again.
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Persimmon-and-Endive Salad with Honey Vinegar and Avocado Oil Vinaigrette


Credit: Con Poulos
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The combination of buttery avocado oil and bracing honey vinegar (made from mead) makes for a fantastic vinaigrette in this crunchy, colorful and delicious salad.

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Fall Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

Credit: © John Kernick
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Star chef Tyler Florence tosses three types of lettuce with sweet apple, persimmons and crisp fennel in this bountiful and beautiful fall salad.

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Butter Lettuce Salad with Persimmons and Radishes

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This terrific, wine-friendly salad features a mix of persimmons, radishes, scallions and butter lettuce tossed with a warm pumpkin seed dressing.

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Persimmon-and-Burrata Salad with Sesame Candy

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The Fuyu persimmon that chef Helene Henderson uses in this beautiful salad is light orange and shaped like a tomato; don't confuse it with the Hachiya variety, which is a deeper orange, heart-shaped and only edible when very soft to the touch. When she can't find good persimmons, Henderson makes the salad with other seasonal fruit, like nectarines.

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Prosciutto-Wrapped Persimmons

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Persimmons are typically reddish-orange in color. Two varieties are commonly sold in the U.S.: round fuyu, which can be eaten right away, and heart-shaped hachiya, which require ripening or cooking (when underripe, they are extremely astringent). Jason Travi wraps prosciutto around persimmon wedges and roasts them until the meat crisps and the fruit turns tender and sweet.

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Leek Salad with Persimmons and Almonds

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Here, Hugh Acheson creates a salad based on butter-braised leeks, a French favorite.

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Persimmon-Goat Cheese Wedges

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"In late fall there are almost as many persimmons in Napa Valley as grapes," says Maria Helm Sinskey. Among the creative ways she uses them: these wedges of sweet persimmon layered with goat cheese.

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Endive Salad with Persimmons and Hazelnuts

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Jeff Cerciello blends olive, canola and hazelnut oils to give depth to the dressing for this fantastic winter salad. For even more color, use both red and white endives.

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Roasted Root-Vegetable Salad with Persimmons

Credit: Ray Kachatorian
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Tom Fundaro, the chef at Villa Creek in Paso Robles, California, looks forward to fall just so he can eat Fuyu persimmons as sweet as sugar. Fundaro features them in this satisfying and nicely bitter fall salad.

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Arugula and Persimmon Salad with Shaved Manchego Cheese

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Using the best olive oil you can find is the trick to this quick salad. It's also best to use persimmons that are slightly under ripe, they are less sweet and they'll hold their shape when sliced thin. Any variety of persimmons will work with this.

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Persimmon and Chrysanthemum Greens Ohitashi

Credit: Eva Kolenko
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Sweet, plush, and lightly tart persimmons are the perfect balance to vegetal shungiku greens. Try subsituting adult arugula or spinach, or baby kale. You want a green that cooks down but still holds onto its texture.

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Baked Sheep’s Milk Ricotta with Dried Persimmons

Credit: Greg DuPree
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This recipe, from A Rake’s Progress, is inspired by Gjerde’s relationship with local makers and purveyors. Hoshigaki are Japanese persimmons that have been dried and massaged to evenly distribute their sugars. Gjerde shaves them and scatters them over baked ricotta to make an indulgent but healthy snack.

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Persimmons, Pomegranate, and Purslane with Pepitas

Credit: Victor Protasio
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Suzanne Goin, the chef at the famed Lucques in Los Angeles, marked 20 years of business in 2018 with a dinner that celebrated her now-classic blend of French cuisine and California produce. Goin refers to this salad as “The 4 Ps” and thinks of it as a persimmon salad with an arugula garnish, rather than the other way around.

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