Japanese Fall Persimmon Salad

If you are looking for a sumptuous and elegant dessert this autumn, try this Japanese fall persimmon salad. Persimmon, sweet potato, walnuts, and maple syrup all tie in flavours of the autumn season. And they are served in a light and refreshing yogurt sauce.

this recipe

This beautiful Japanese dish is so tasty and really easy to put together. You can do most of the prep ahead of time, making this dessert a breeze to serve after dinner - perfect for entertaining guests! I adore it for a wonderful, light dessert to serve after a hearty Thanksgiving meal.

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• Ingredients
• Substitutions
• Variations
• How to know when a persimmon is ripe
• Instructions
• Storage
• 📖 Recipe

If you enjoyed this Japanese persimmon dish, you are sure to also love Japanese persimmon tofu salad, stunning appetizer featuring juicy persimmon and spinach in a creamy tofu and sesame dressing. This dish is lovely for serving at the beginning of an autumn meal.

Ingredients

• Persimmon - For this recipe, it is highly recommended to use a persimmon that is slightly under ripe. The fruit will feel soft, but not quite squishy. This way it will still be very sweet, but the flesh will still be firm enough to be diced.
• Sweet potato
• Walnuts
• Plain yogurt
• Japanese mayonnaise - Unlike American mayonnaise, which uses whole eggs, this mayonnaise uses only egg yolks to give it a delightful rich and custardy mouth feel. It also uses a beautiful blend of vinegars (such as rice, apple cider, red wine, and distilled) rather than just white vinegar.
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Maple syrup
• Salt
• Pepper

See the recipe card below for quantities.

Japanese mayonnaise

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Substitutions

Japanese mayonnaise - Although Western mayonnaise is quite different than the Japanese kind, for this recipe it can be used as a substitute if necessary.

Maple syrup - I love the maple syrup in this recipe because it perfectly suits this fall persimmon salad. However, you could substitute it with honey.

Variations

Raisins - Some people like to add raisins into this dish. Fold them into the salad when you add the walnuts.

How to know when a persimmon is ripe

A persimmon is one of those fruits that is sweet and delicious when ripe, but astringent and sour when unripe. This is because it is full of tannins. Luckily it's quite easy to tell when it is ready to be eaten. An unripe persimmon is quite hard. A fully ripe persimmon will be so soft that it will seem as if the flesh might burst.

To ripen a persimmon, just leave it out at room temperature. It can take a long time (up to two weeks!) if they are quite hard when you purchase them, so you may wish to speed it up by storing it in a paper bag with an apple. The apple will emit ethylene fumes, which quickens the ripening process (three to six days).

Don't forget: For this recipe, it is highly recommended to use a persimmon that is slightly under ripe. The fruit will feel soft, but not quite squishy. This way it will still be very sweet, but the flesh will still be firm enough to be diced.

Instructions

Peel the sweet potato and cut it into a large dice. The pieces should be roughly a ½ inch (1.5 centimetres), or larger or smaller if you prefer. Boil the sweet potato pieces in water over medium heat until they are tender, then drain the water out of the pot.

Reduce the heat to low to prevent charring, and roast the sweet potato pieces on the bottom of the dry pot for a few minutes; stirring occasionally to remove excess water. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the sweet potato to cool to room temperature.

Peel and dice your persimmon. You will want the pieces to be roughly the same size as you cut the sweet potato.

In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the yogurt, Japanese mayonnaise, lemon juice, maple syrup, salt and pepper.

mixing bowls

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Stir in the persimmon and cooled sweet potato.

Gently fold in the walnut pieces.

Your Japanese fall persimmon salad is now ready to be served. You can present it in one large serving plate to share, or portion it into individual serving dishes. This recipe serves two generous portions.

Storage

I recommend enjoying Japanese fall persimmon salad soon after mixing the ingredients together.

To make ahead, pre-cook the sweet potato pieces and have the sauce already mixed and stored in the refrigerator. When you are ready to serve just cut up the persimmon and mix everything together.

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📖 Recipe