BAKED PERSIMMON WITH CINNAMON AND ORANGE

You will be noticing persimmons adorning the fruit section at the moment.  I was a skeptic once upon a time, but not now!  Apart from eating them in their natural state, I like to cook them and use the pulp for sweet and savoury dishes.

I am using the sweeter variety fuyu, which looks more round and dumpy and seems to be more readily available. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 firm, ripe fuyu persimmons

3 Tbsp honey 

1 orange, peel and juice

1 cinnamon stick

⅓ cup water

Method

Preheat the oven 190C

Wash the persimmons and place into an oven proof dish.

Mix the honey with the water and orange juice and pour over the persimmons, add the cinnamon and orange peel.

Cover loosely with baking paper, and tin foil.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the fruit is tender.

I like to slice off the top and serve with a spoon, so you can scoop the warm, thick sticky pulp and serve it with vanilla ice cream or yoghurt and drizzle over the delicious syrup.