Henny Penny Farmette

Bowls of citrus and persimmons

The overnight temperature is expected to drop to freezing. The cold front moving through prompted my lovely neighbor Wajiha to offer me the gift of lemons and persimmons from her trees before the freeze hits. I had already been pulling off the ripe Satsuma mandarins and oranges from my own trees.

My husband and I will squeeze the juice from the lemons and freeze it with a little water, our version of frozen concentrate, to make lemonade. The need to remove the ripe fruit caught me by surprise or I would have had my marmalade recipe, preserve jars, and my canning equipment ready to make some marmalade or conserve.

Jam-making will have to wait as I’ve already made arrangements for cookie making and other holiday baking over this weekend. The Hachiya persimmons have turned a lovely orange color but are  not yet soft. That means they’re still too astringent to eat.

As soon as the persimmons reach the jelly-soft state, I will be able to eat them or use them in pudding and baked goods. Persimmons are like an anti-aging fruit. They provide a rich source of powerful antioxidant compounds such as vitamins A and C, folic acid, beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein. These compounds protect against free radicals that damage cells in the body.

The citrus fruits are a great source of vitamin C and help strengthen the immune system. So I’m looking at all this citrus in my kitchen and thinking how lucky I am to have all this “preventative medicine in bowls.”