The most beautiful persimmons I've ever eaten, I bought on a trip to Vietnam last year. They were such a deep, gorgeous red that I bought a dozen, intending to give them as a gift. I packed them carefully, leaving them in the banana leaves the vendor wrapped each in and carried them in my hand luggage, but they still got squashed. I ended up putting them in the freezer (they taste like persimmon sorbet when frozen) and ate them all myself.
While the persimmons in Hong Kong are not as beautiful, they still taste good. I like both the small, round, flat Fuyu variety, which is crunchy and sweet, and the larger, elongated, pointy-tipped Hachiyas, which are best for freezing, incidentally, and must be eaten when they are soft or they are mouth-puckeringly astringent.
An aunt back in the United States used to make a sweet, highly spiced persimmon bread from the excess Hachiyas from her tree. We would politely accept a slice, slowly nibble at it and toss it in the rubbish bin when she wasn't looking.
This unpleasant experience discouraged me from experimenting with persimmons in desserts, because their somewhat gelatinous texture seems a little strange when baked. The Fuyu variety, however, is delicious in an unbaked tart.
Make a persimmon-flavoured chantilly cream by peeling the fruit and pureeing it with a little fresh lemon juice. Lightly whip cold heavy cream then fold in some of the puree. Spread this flavoured whipped cream in a fully baked sugar dough tart shell (or individual tart shells, which are easier to serve). Slice peeled persimmons and layer them attractively on top of the persimmon cream and serve immediately, drizzled with additional puree (a garnish of fresh raspberries makes an attractive colour contrast).
If you make one large tart, use a long, serrated knife to saw through the layer of persimmons - if you cut straight down, without cutting through the persimmons first, the fruit might squash all the chantilly cream out of the shell.
