Coconut Persimmon Smoothie

A frigid New York morning hardly seems like the perfect time to make a smoothie, right? This one, however, which features gorgeous ripe persimmons, rich coconut milk and a touch of warming spices, absolutely hit the spot.

Persimmons are native to Asia and there are many different varieties that grow there. They also grown in South America and other parts of the world; in the United States, they are mainly found in California.

If you live in the U.S. and you don’t happen to have a persimmon tree, you’ll want to start looking for persimmons in the market in the Fall. You may have trouble finding persimmons; they aren’t widely available where I live and I had to look in a bunch of different stores before I found them.

If and when you do find them, you’re likely to have two types of persimmons to choose from: the Fuyu and the Hachiya. Fuyu persimmons are perhaps the more common (yet I haven’t been able to find any!). They look a bit like tomatoes and are considered “non astringent”, meaning they can be enjoyed while still firm. You can eat them out of hand as you would an apple, and they work well in salads and anywhere else you’d use firm fruit.

Hachiya persimmons, on the other hand, are considered quite astringent. They are very high in tannins that will cause your mouth to pucker and your taste buds to be quite unhappy if you eat one of these babies before they are ripe. Hachiya persimmons should, therefore, only be eaten when they are quite soft. Their pulp is, therefore, quite suitable for baking, as well as for throwing into smoothies.

Persimmons are quite nutritious. They’ve got everything you’d expect from a fruit of such deep orange color: lots of antioxidants, in particular. Make sure to use very ripe hachiya persimmons for this smoothie so you don’t get that unpleasant “tannic blast”. Remember that coconut qualifies as a healthy fat, and smoothies are a simple and delicious way to incorporate coconut into your diet.

For this coconut persimmon smoothie, I simply threw two very soft persimmons into my blender, added the coconut milk and spices, blended for a bit and voilà. Breakfast doesn’t get much simpler.