Fuyu Persimmon Waldorf Salad

 

Recipe by Armand Harris and Marcy Timberman

from Community Jam, Edible East Bay Winter 2015

This favorite salad is great with holiday feast leftovers. You can play with the proportions of apples and persimmons, even using persimmons only. In fact, many recipes calling for fresh, cut-up apples, like a classic fresh apple cake, can be made instead from Fuyu persimmons with excellent results. Happy cooking!

Serves 6

1 lemon
1 orange
½ pound firm apples (around 2 apples)
2–3 ripe Fuyu persimmons
½ pound grapes
2–3 stalks celery
1 cup mayonnaise (or to taste)
1 small knob fresh ginger (optional)

Using a microplane, zest the lemon, then juice it, reserving zest and juice for the dressing. Do the same with the orange, keeping lemon and orange juices separate.

Wash, dry, core, and chop the apples into large dice (about 1 ½ cups diced). Wash, dry, core, and chop the persimmons into a large dice to make an amount equivalent to the apples. Toss diced apples and persimmons together in a large bowl with the reserved lemon juice to keep the fruit from browning.

Wash, dry, and de-stem the grapes, then halve or quarter, depending on size. This will make around 1 to 1 ½ cups of prepared grapes. If you don’t like grapes, leave them out.

Wash and dry the celery and chop coarsely to make around 1 to 1 ½ cups chopped celery. Save the tops and leaves for another purpose. Add grapes and celery to the apples and persimmons and mix together.

Mix the orange juice with the mayonnaise, using more or less mayonnaise depending on how moist you would like the salad and your love of mayonnaise. For a lighter dressing, leave out the mayonnaise and add in a splash of balsamic vinegar and some olive oil to the orange juice, zests, and ginger.

Stir the lemon and orange zest into the dressing, and if you like the flavor of fresh ginger, grate that into the dressing. Toss salad with dressing and chill until cool and crisp. Before serving, add the chopped walnuts. Leave out the nuts if you prefer. Taste. Adjust seasoning by adding more orange zest and ginger. Toss again and serve.

Enjoy!