First, to my regular followers, I am sorry for being absent for a fortnight. Although I’ve been frantic here and there’s so much happening in the garden, the issue has been an ‘IT’ one. I haven’t been able to upload images, which as you can imagine, has been driving me to distraction! There’s still a problem, but hopefully it will be ironed out next week.
Had things been working properly, a week ago I would have posted an image of a just-picked, basket load of persimmons. I am so excited that the trees have produced this year, as last, there was not even one. I picked a good two dozen or so, in case the birds beat me to it, and the trees are still heavily laden. Now, the odd one is beginning to ripen (heaven knows I don’t want them to all at once). When we came to Glenmore, I’d never even heard of a persimmon! Members of the older generation of the Moore family (original owners of Glenmore) would descend upon us each autumn to virtually strip the trees bare. I didn’t mind – although I thought the trees beautiful to look at with their bright orange baubles dangling from bare branches after exquisite colours of autumn foliage, they were obsessed, while I thought the fruit tasted dreadful! But of course, and despite their trying to tell me I should wait ’til they were translucent, I was always trying them too early. These are the old-fashioned ones, that need to look as if they’re almost ‘off’ before you eat them, which until you understand, can be off-putting in itself!
So one year, I just happened to fluke the right time to try one. And instantly, I understood the obsession! They are quite luscious. I can’t think how else to describe them. And today, for the first time in two years….I had the great joy of slicing into not just one, but two!
At our lovely ‘Coastal Gardens’ day on Wednesday, some of the participants were asking if I always eat the kind of food we enjoyed that day. It was simple, seasonal and garden-inspired; the kind of food that is ideal to have on hand at this time of year, though it requires time to make in the first place (Sorrel Soup, home made Bread, Olives with Lovage, Sicilian Caponata, Baba Ghanoush & Pesto, followed by Cumquat Ice Cream & Garden Figs). Like most people, I can’t always find that time, so in answer to their question, NO, I don’t always eat like that! My lunch, at this time of year anyway, most often looks like this – a piece of toast, a generous sweep of cream cheese (or perhaps chèvre), topped with something plucked from the garden. If it’s tomatoes or figs on top, it might be finished with torn basil, a grind of pepper & a slosh of olive oil, maybe, but the persimmons don’t really need anything else…I don’t want to confuse the flavour, and I can’t tell you just what a joy it was to eat this for the first time in two years!
Next week, if all goes according to plan in the IT department, I’ll backtrack to show you what’s been happening in the garden these last hectic weeks. I hope you have a terrific weekend! Perhaps it might even feature a persimmon….