My very favorite comfort food – Persimmon Pudding

Have you ever eaten something that was SO good, it made you cry? Or maybe tear up a bit? Well I have and I’m not ashamed to admit it! It’s a story (and recipe) about two women who love me dearly. My grandma and my wife. My grandma and wife never met each other. Grandma was the quintessential ‘grandma’. Tiny, sweet, adored her grandkids, loved cooking for them, drank whiskey on the sly. . . (LOL!). Anyway, this woman could C O O K !

One of the favorite dishes she did was Persimmon Pudding. And it wasn’t really a pudding either. It’s a super moist bunt style cake. (Bunt meaning it’s cooked in a pan that is ring shaped – finished product has a big hole in it). When it’s finished, it’s going to look like it’s chocolate – nothing like chocolate, but looks like it. The flavor is SO unique. Really hard to describe actually. Think of carrot cake, less sweet, more rich. Dense. Moist. Served warm with a dollop of cream sauce. (NOT whipped cream, but cream sauce) Persimmon’s only come into season in fall (I think) and that’s why this desert is only done at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. At least that’s the only time grandma cooked it.

Small Sidebar: Never once did I feel the need to make a Persimmon Pudding and then mummify it so my grandchildren might enjoy it. Never. (go read “Fruitcakes I Have Know – One In Particular”)

Grandma died when I was 12. I had not had Persimmon Pudding again until I was 48, 36 years later! My wife had heard me tell the story of grandma and her pudding many times. One winter day she was perusing a cookbook and found a recipe. She decided to give it a try and surprise me with it. Man, what a surprise it was! I’d come home from being gone all day, the house smelling very wonderful. It was a few days before Thanksgiving.

“What in the world is that amazing aroma!?” I asked.

“It’s a surprise. Sit. Close your eyes!” Debbie told me.

I did as I was told, felt her come up behind me and heard her place the plate in front of me. As she did so, she kissed my cheek and whispered “Enjoy!”

With a smile on my face I opened my eyes and looked down. Then a shocked expression came to my face.

“What the. . .? Is this what I think it is?….where. . .?. . .how . . .?. . .” I stammered.

“Shut up and taste it!” she commanded. She sat across the table from me with excitement on her face. The smell was coming back to me. . . It smelled like grandma’s house at Thanksgiving. I took a bite and closed my eyes. It was a perfect match! Images of grandma in the kitchen filled my head. Fresh pine tree surrounded by my siblings happily decorating. The smell of that tree mixed with the aroma of that pudding were brought from the dark recesses of my memory. My own house now filled with the same fabulous scents. And the flavor that filled my mouth – like I said, it was a perfect match. I took a second bite and began to chew. My chin began to quiver and I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I looked over to my wife. She had a somewhat confused look on her face. With raised eyebrows and a slight shrug of her shoulders I knew she wanted a verdict. All I could manage was a whimpering “Grandma….”

Have you ever tried to eat while crying?! It’s HARD. But I managed. By the time I had finished I had regained my manly composure and I had questions. First and foremost “How much of this did you make?” and “Can I have seconds?” and “Do you have a good hiding place picked out?” (from our 9 year old son who would devour it like it was a fricken twinky or something!).

So, that’s my story of eating something so good it made me cry. And here is the recipe “to cry for “ :

Grandma Conlon’s Persimmon Pudding

1 cup ripe persimmon puree, strained

1 cup fine table sugar

2 tbsp butter (room temp.)

1 egg, well beaten

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

1 cup sifted flour

2 tsp baking soda

Cream Sauce

½ cup milk

1 egg yoke

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup sugar

¼ pint whipping cream, chilled

1 egg white, well beaten

Pudding Preparation

Stir all ingredients together. Put into a greased metal bunt tin and place into your double boiler. Steam for 2 hours (or longer). DO NOT lift lid for the entire 2 hours!

Cream Sauce Preparation

Beat egg yoke and vanilla. In a separate bowl beat egg white until stiff. FOLD egg yoke into beaten egg white. In a separate bowl beat cream until it peaks, then carefully add sugar gradually. Gently FOLD cream into egg mixture. Serve pudding warm and the sauce COLD.

I have lots of comfort foods, and this is without a doubt number 1 on my list. I get it only once a year, and that is fine by me – as long as I get it.

I pose two questions: What is YOUR favorite comfort food?

Have you ever eaten something so good in made you cry? (Choking on something doesn’t count! I’m talking emotional-like crying.)

Grandma, I love and miss you. Debbie, you’re the best wife a man could ever have – I love you dearly!

It’s a better story when these two are told together, here’s part 2

My Mother-In-Laws Persimmon Pudding

I will begin this posting with this statement: I adore my mother-in-law. Definitely NOT the stereotypical M.I.L. And I know she loves me too, here’s why.

I told mom-in-law the story of grandma’s persimmon pudding. She was touched and she decided she’d have a go at making me some. (This happened before my wife’s perfection of the recipe). When somebody takes the time to gather all the ingredients for something they’ve never tried before, goes to the trouble of finding an obscure recipe, and goes to all the trouble of preparing something just for you?, well my friends, that is one of the many definitions of love.

Here’s the thing – my mom-in-law can cook. I mean off the hook cookin’! I can’t remember anything she put in front of me not being delicious. . . There was this one thing: Persimmon Pudding. Yeah, I cried. Tears of agony.

All smiles on her face, she tells me “Harry, I got a surprise for you boy!” (all the men in her life except her husband is referred to as “boy”. Her son, all 4 of her grandsons, and me.)  She puts this bowl of Persimmon Pudding before me. I smile all wide like, delighted that she’s made something ‘just for me’ and look at what she’s put before me. I was baffled, yet still smiling. It looked like a bowl of light salmon colored pate’ of some sort.

“What is it?” I ask.

“It’s that persimmon pudding you were telling me about. I found a recipe!”

Didn’t look anything like my grandma’s. I smelled none of that amazing aroma associated with grandma’s. Hey, maybe I’m remembering it all wrong. What the heck, I’ll have a go at it. And I heartily took a bite. It’s bitter taste transferred instantly to my face. I could NOT help it. It was horrible and disgusting all in one package.

She could tell by the puckering of my face it was bad. She said “Oh, I was afraid of that. I tasted it and thought it was pretty bad too. But comfort food is comfort food! Just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean you won’t.”

“Mom, the simple act of you just trying means the world too me!” I told her after rinsing my mouth with my cocktail. After a kiss and a hug she put the remainder of her pudding down the disposal, only two bites being sampled.

Love and food go hand in hand.

Your Comments

Dee L. says – Your story of Deb making you persimmon pudding made me cry! I was so touched by her generosity in giving me one of Aunt Peg’s pudding molds. I will be using it to make my kids and grandkids ther first taste of Grandma’s Persimmon Pudding.

Making you cry with one of my stories is equivalent to me winning an Oscar, thank you. Hopefully the next one about my mother in laws Persimmon Pudding made you laugh and shoot liquid out of your nose, (double Oscar). Let us know how the pudding turned out and how the kids liked it. (Dee’s one of my sisters. She and her husband were here in Phoenix visiting for Thanksgiving. Debbie had TWO persimmon pudding molds (antiques) that were our Aunt Peggy’s. And I don’t ever remember Aunt Peggy ever using them for anything.

Wilma W. says - That is such a marvelous story Harry! You made me cry AND laugh all in one very short story. It was so vividly expressed, it felt like I was right there in your grandma’s kitchen. I have just got to have a go at this pudding of yours! Thank you!

NO, Thank YOU! Your kind words mean the world to me! (boom! another Oscar!) Can’t wait to hear how your puddin’ turns out!

Kristen B. says – I’ve read your persimmon pudding stories and LOVE them! I first heard of persimmon’s in college back in South Dakota, (I’m a horticulture degree) I had never gotten a chance to grow them since our winter’s are too harsh. Perismmon’s should be grown in zones 6-9 depending on the variety. I had moved to North Carolina straight after college and heard everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) talk about persimmon’s. You could see their mouths water as they told you their own personal stories of “Grandma cooking persimmon pudding”. Finally, after 4 years of living in NC, I moved to a small rural area which housed a hugh persimmon tree. My landlady gave me a simple recipe for persimmon pudding and said “I had to make it!” So late in the fall I harvested them. I followed the recipe, (which I’ll have to dig out for you) and made my own persimmon pudding. Holy Cow it was good. The smell, the richness, and moist,denseness was incredible. The whole house smelled like the Holiday’s. You won’t know this experience until you try persimmon pudding yourself. Thank you Harry for sharing your wonderful story with us. I truly enjoyed it! Thanks a lot! Means a lot to me.

4 Responses to “Persimmon Pudding”