The persimmon pudding lady has left us.
Marian L. Gore was a longtime bookseller, specializing in all things gastronomical. Books about cooking and wine, especially old books on these topics, were her favorites. She died October 11, 2009, at the ripe old age of 95. at the height of persimmon season.
If I'm allowed a crude comparison, it's only the most mature, well-ripened persimmons that are sweet enough to take away and do something better with.
Such as make pudding. Here's the simple recipe that she was best known for:
Beat one egg well in a bowl
Sift together and add 1 1/4 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1
teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2
teaspoon cinnamon
Add mashed pulp of three large ripe persimmons, 3/4 cup milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir until mixed.
Bake 1 hour or a little more at 300 degrees
Serve warm or cold with cream.
Try some of this in the next month or so, and think of the pudding lady as you taste the first spoonful.
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Marian was an amazingly bright person who introduced me to my current husband, in her library back in the early 1990’s. We only married a few years ago. Little did we know that Marian “put us together”
We will miss her terribly,
June Pagan and Gary Eisenberg