Try persimmons for Thanksgiving

Perhaps we are thinking so much about Thanksgiving, here at The Lakeville Journal, because it offers a distraction from this week’s Election Day.

Or perhaps Thanksgiving is just one of our favorite holidays, because it’s so food-centric.

Whatever the reason, we are already thinking (a lot) about Thanksgiving and about what to serve our friends and families. Before you know it, it’s going to be time to start shopping and cooking. So we’ve decided not to waste any more time in offering healthy menu suggestions, starting right with the hors d’oeuvres.

Often, Thanksgiving is preceded by a lot of deliciously salty, fatty treats, which can fill your guests up before they’ve even reached the dining table. This is one of the pleasure-pain paradoxes that humans specialize in. We love the vegetables and chips with sour cream-onion dressing, the stuffed mushrooms, the platters of delicately filled and folded spanakopita. The nachos. The plates of pigs-in-blankets.

But as much as we love them, those foods contribute to the unpleasant bloating and gastrointestinal distress that so often follows this and other major holiday meals.

Offer your guests a little TLC in the form of healthy snacks to nibble on — and keep in mind that people at social events (especially those that involve family) tend to eat just to keep their hands busy. I’m always a little surprised by how eager people are to eat fruit when they’re sitting around before or after a dinner party.

Clementines are a particularly excellent tidbit to offer your guests. These diminutive members of the orange family are sweet and delicious; they’re seasonal, and are mainly found between Thanksgiving and Christmas; and they keep your hands busy, since they need to be peeled (which leaves your fingers smelling sweet and zesty).

They’re high in fiber (which strengthens your digestive equipment); and in vitamin C, which will help you fight off winter colds.

They also look beautiful piled high in pretty bowls placed around your living room.

Another beautiful fall and winter fruit is the persimmon. Like acorns, persimmons look like they were designed by medieval artisans. Their stem is so elegant and lovely, it’s no surprise they often appear as a motif in Asian art.

These exquisite little edibles can be very expensive (as much as $3 for each piece of fruit), so you can’t offer them in the same kind of abundance as you would the inexpensive clementine.

But since most people aren’t persimmon-savvy, you don’t need to put a lot of them out; a little pile of four or five will make a great table decoration.

And any guests who have discovered persimmons will be delighted — and will appreciate that you splurged on them.

They’ll also get a healthy boost: Persimmons are loaded with vitamin A (which helps strengthen your vision) and soluble fiber (which lowers cholesterol and protects you from heart disease).

Be sure to buy the flat-bottomed Japanese persimmons (which are sweet and delicious), not the heart-shaped American persimmons (which are pretty much inedible if you try to eat them raw).

Although there are many recipes for persimmon puddings, we won’t offer one here, just a tip on technique: When you buy your persimmons, chances are they will still be hard. Let them sit on a kitchen shelf for a few weeks and they will gradually grow soft (don’t let them turn black).

At that point, lop off the beautiful stem at the top of the fruit, and scoop the sweet fruit out with a spoon. It’s a little like eating orange-colored custard.

If you want your fruit a little firmer, wait until the skin yields to pressure and then cut off the top and slice the fruit into quarters (don’t eat the skin).

If you’re not sure where to find persimmons, try the new Sharon Farm Market, which has had excellent ones in stock for the past few weeks.

And look for more menu suggestions in the coming weeks, as the countdown to Thanksgiving continues.