Persimmon Pomegranate Salad

Every Thursday morning, as I am half awake and rushing out the door to address the tail-end of the week, I am greeted by a friendly and familiar organic produce delivery. Farm fresh fruits, veggies, and the occasional set of organic eggs and artisan bread sit on the patio chair propped next to my front door smiling at me, as if to say, "slow down."

And I do. The welcomed package forces me to stop, turn around, open the door, and thoughtfully take my farm fresh groceries inside.

Opening the Full Circle Farm box up every week is always a treat. It’s exciting to discover new vegetables and fruits – items I wouldn’t normally pick out at the store on my own. Eggplant, delicata squash, purple potatoes, and starkrimson pears.

In many cases, I get fruits and vegetables I'm not sure how to prepare. This past week I received three perfect persimmons, orange and plump with possibility. I'd never had a persimmon in my life. I emptied the brown bag containing them on to the counter and examined the goods.

I'll admit, I bit right into one of them thinking a persimmon may just be a glorified apple. After doing some online research, I discovered that while the skin is edible, many people like to cut off the top of the fruit and scoop out the flesh, or some folks peel the fruit before eating it (lesson learned). I also discovered that persimmons are ripe when they are soft (If you buy persimmons and they are pretty firm, stick them in a brown bag for a few days to help them along).

Now as to how to prepare persimmons, well, you can do a lot. You can make breads, puddings, marmalades, cookies, relish, ice cream, sherbert, and more. I decided to take a tip from Simply Recipes and make a wonderful fall fruit salad.

The lemon juice, honey, mint, pomegranate, and persimmon mesh together so well. This could be a great side for any meal, but honestly, it could even pass for dessert.

Persimmon Pomegranate Salad
From Simply Recipes

Ingredients
4 fuyu persimmons, peeled, chopped
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds (approximately one pomegranate)
1 Fuji apple, peeled, cored, chopped (1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces)
7-10 leaves fresh mint, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey

Directions
Gently toss all of the ingredients together. Plate and serve.