Fuju Persimmon And Pomegranate Relish Perfect For Thanksgiving!

This simple and colorful side dish is vegan and gluten free.

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Getting the Menu Together
Thanksgiving is only 2 weeks away so I'm finalizing my menu. I've got a full house this year so I'm trying to pick recipes that are delicious, simple, and that can either be prepped or made ahead. 

Since my persimmon tree finally blessed me with over 4 dozen fuyu persimmons, I will definitely serve them in at least one dish. They pair beautifully with pomegranates, so I'm thinking of making this simple raw vegan relish. 

Persimmons and pomegranates pair
beautifully and reflect the colors of fall.

A lot of people avoid pomegranates because they think they are difficult to clean. I know I avoided them for years until I figured out how to clean them. It's really pretty simple with the trick being that you have to do it with the fruit submerged in a bowl of water. Check out my post on How To Clean a Pomegranate. 

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Fuju Persimmon and Pomegranate Relish
Raw Vegan, Gluten and Dairy Fee
[makes 8 (1/4-cup) servings

Ingredients
2 cups pomegranate arils
2 persimmons, finely diced (2 cups)
1 jalalpeno, finely diced (optional)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds*
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice

* make sure you ask ahead if any of your guests have a nut allergy.

Directions
Toss all ingredients together and serve. It can also be stirred into freshly made cranberry sauce.

Nutrition
Per serving (with pecans): 114 calories, 5.5 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 69 mg omega-3 and 1,456 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 2 g protein, 17 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, and 2 mg sodium.

Per serving (without nuts): 67 calories, 1 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 mg omega-3 and 51 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 1 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 2 mg sodium.


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For more Thanksgiving recipes and menu ideas, download my ebook, Health Begins in the Kitchen: Delicious and Easy Vegan Recipes and Seasonal Food Plan.

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How Can A Tree Have Both Fuju And Hachiya Persimmons?

Fuju (smooth pointy ones on the left) and Hachiya (the one with ridges on the right) persimmons on the same branch?

The Persimmon Saga Continues
Last Christmas, when I posted my recipe for Chia Hachiya Vegan Eggnog, I told you the story about my persimmon tree.

In 2010 I planted what I thought was a fuyu persimmon tree. It didn't grow very well and, in fact, it took 4 long years to get ONE lousy persimmon. And it wasn't even the right persimmon. It was a hachiya. I was pretty upset with the nursery for selling me the wrong tree, especially when I lost 4 years of growing time. 

I went and bought another fuyu tree. I know it will take years to get anything but I'm determined to grow fuyu persimmons, one of my favorite fruits. 

This year the tree is doing quite well. In fact I can count about 36 persimmons beginning to ripen! To my surprise, they are large fuyu persimmons. All except for a few at the end of a single branch. That branch has both types of persimmons.

Can Someone Explain This?
I've had fruit trees in the past that had several types of fruits grafted onto a single rootstock. Once I had a tree with lemons oranges, and pomelos. But they were on their own unique branches. I have no idea how a single branch could have two types of fruit.

So this is not a blog post but a plea for someone to help explain this. So if you are a master gardener or botanist out there who can shed some light on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Meanwhile I anxiously await the ripening of my persimmons!