I’m in a snacky mood today. Our Fuyu persimmon (the crunchy, non-astringent variety) tree has been particularly bountiful this year; every morning, my dad comes back from the backyard with an armful of freshly picked persimmons. Besides eating them raw, I’ve been trying to think of ways to put them to use before they spoil. Since the sweetness of these fuyus are quite delicate and I didn’t want to overpower it, I thought that baking them into a flax-type chip might be just the thing.
I improvised a quick recipe by throwing together some flax meal and hot water; a food processor made quick work of chopping the persimmons. Threw in a pinch of kosher salt and a splash of agave nectar and spread the mixture on some parchment and stuck it in the dehydrator to “bake” into flax chips.
The result: A nutty, slightly sweet cracker that has a hint of persimmon and tons of fiber to boot. Delicious! My parents really enjoyed these and I think they’d be great crumbled over oatmeal in the morning or as a breakfast cereal.
- 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) flax meal
- 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) hot water
- 2 ripe Fuyu persimmons
- pinch kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar, or to taste
Combine the flax meal and hot water in a large bowl and stir to combine. The texture should be slimy and goopy. That’s ok.
Finely chop Fuyu persimmons (a food processor is good for this) and add to the flax meal/water mixture, add kosher salt and agave nectar, stir until thoroughly combined.
Spread the mixture on sheets of parchment paper. Try to get this about 1/8″ thick, any thicker will make them difficult to dehydrate thoroughly.
Dehydrate for 5-6 hours or until dry to the touch. Break into pieces and enjoy. Store leftovers in an airtight container.
Did I stop there? Nah. Thought I wanted to test out the dehydrator function on our convection oven even further; I sliced some persimmons thinly and dehydrated these as well. These “chips” were crispy and even sweeter than the raw version (even without any added sweetener!). Like apple chips but better. Give them a try.
- As many persimmons as you’d like to dehydrate
Peel persimmons and slice into thin rounds (ideally about 1/16″ to 1/8″ thick, a mandoline would make this easy). Place into dehydrator and dehydrate about 3-4 hours or until dry to the touch. Store in an airtight container.
Hope you enjoy these healthy snacks.
And as usual, me monkeying around with the camera:
Persimmon chip throw!
