Persimmon and black walnut bread
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 5 × 9-inch loaf pan, line the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, grease the paper, and dust the inside of the pan with flour, tapping out any excess.
- Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and mace into a large bowl. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until the whites and yolks are blended, then whisk in the puree, bourbon, and butter. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in the egg mixture, and stir with a rubber spatula only until blended. Fold in the nuts and apricots. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake in the center of the oven until a tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out the loaf onto the rack to cool to room temperature before slicing. Store tightly wrapped for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months.
- Variation: You can use mashed pawpaws in place of the persimmon puree in this recipe. (You can use mashed pawpaw in any baked recipe that calls for mashed bananas.) Like wild persimmons, pawpaws are an elusive tree fruit that can be found growing wild in the woods and underbrush in parts of the South and are occasionally cultivated. They are often called a poor man’s banana. They are yellow and do taste a little like bananas and mangos, tropical flavors rarely found in fruits native to North America. Pawpaws were once a mainstay of the traditional Native American and pioneer diet. Some say that pawpaws kept Lewis and Clark alive during their expedition.