Autumn on Ice

Fall in Southern California has its drawbacks. We get the shortened days, the back-to-school hopefulness, the clear blue note of nostalgia that rings at the end of summer.

But cool, foggy mornings--such a relief after this year’s multiple heat waves--more often than not turn into smog-socked, sickly hot dog days. To add insult to injury, peaches are growing mealy, the plums are increasingly sour and even reliable nectarines no longer send their juices coursing down the arm.

Slowly, inexorably, summer fruits are being replaced by autumn’s harvest. Pears and pomegranates are moving into grocery shelves and farmers markets. And persimmons, the great booby prize of fall, are only a few weeks off.

Pears, despite their mild grittiness, are dreamy enough. The small, gnarled Bartletts from Littlerock orchards I’ve eaten this month bode well for this year’s crop: Sweet, dense and juicy, they’re terrific.

The other autumnal fruits are less easy to love, let alone use to good advantage. Pomegranates are visually miraculous with their leathery skin, single crenelated nostril, jewel-like blood-red seeds. (A woman I know says a pomegranate was the first and only thing she ever stole; she was 6 when she saw one in a market and, she says, “There was no question or hesitation. I had to have it.”)

But pomegranates are as labor-intensive as they are fascinating. Even to eat one out of hand, there’s a lot of clawing and quarrying for a handful of seeds that, after an initial spurt of bright, tart sweetness, turn into tasteless, rather unpleasant pulp that begs to be spit rather than swallowed. Even for one who knows all the tricks--seeding them underwater to avoid splatter and stains, pulsing the seeds briefly in a food processor and blender, then straining to extract the juice--a couple cups of the precious wine-dark liquid can take a good half hour of fiddling around. (Luckily, you can buy it by the half-gallon at local farmers markets.)

Persimmons are the most challenging fall fruit to love and use--for your average human, at least. In Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Arcadia flocks of wild parrots feast in backyard persimmon trees, creating a spectacle of color--bright green parrots and dripping fluorescent-orange fruit.

Years ago, before I knew persimmons to be even faintly desirable as a food substance (taking one bite of an underripe persimmon, I’d discovered, was like eating a spoonful of alum), I lived in a courtyard apartment with a persimmon tree, which yielded a different spectacle. Every year, the reachable fruit was picked, then residents lobbed the soft, ripe persimmons against a high, pale yellow wall--a precursor to Smashing Pumpkins.

Later, I discovered that if baked in spicy breads or cookies or steamed in pudding, persimmons were quite glorious. But raw--and even at their best, i.e. fully ripe--persimmons are slimy and viscous, and their sweetness has a cloying quality.

This year, however, I am actually reveling in California’s autumn fruit crop. For my last birthday, three friends chipped in and gave me an electric one-quart ice cream maker, and I’ve been turning everything in my path into quick, easy ice creams and sorbets.

I made a pear sorbet that, perfumed with cinnamon, vanilla bean and grated orange peel, manages to taste like fall even while it cools you off in the middle of a hot afternoon.

Pomegranate ice cream is actually worth the time spent seeding and juicing a sack full of backyard fruit: a pleasing, pale mauve, the creaminess plays well against the tartness, and seeds add just the right textural surprise, not to mention little blasts of bright, sharp sweetness.

Persimmon ice cream provides all the spiciness of persimmon baked goods without making the kitchen uninhabitably hot. This ice cream is so good, in fact, I’m thinking of sneaking back to my former apartment complex and raiding the tree before present court residents engage in their yearly persimmon-lobbing ritual.

PEAR SORBET

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

Peel and juice from 1 orange

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 vanilla bean

4 to 5 medium-large Bartlett or Comice pears, peeled, seeded and chopped to make 2 cups fruit

Place sugar, water, orange peel and juice, cinnamon and vanilla bean in saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved.

Add pears and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Remove vanilla bean and set aside.

Cool pear mixture or handle carefully and place in blender and blend until almost smooth. Scrape seeds from inside of vanilla bean and add to blender contents. (Discard pod.) Blend until very smooth. Chill, then process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Makes 1 quart, 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings contains about:

180 calories; 1 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram protein; 0.81 gram fiber.

POMEGRANATE ICE CREAM

You can buy pomegranate juice at farmers markets. Otherwise, 4 medium-large ripe pomegranates should yield 1 1/2 cups juice plus 1/2 cup seeds. To make juice: Remove seeds from pomegranate membrane underwater. Pulse seeds briefly (4 to 5 quick pulses) in blender or food processor and strain, collecting juice. If you are making your own juice, scoop the seeds out of the shells and reserve the shells as serving cups. Freeze the shells before filling, if possible, so they will keep the ice cream frozen.

1 cup orange juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice

2 cups half and half

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

6 hollowed-out pomegranate shells, optional

Heat orange juice in saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/2 cup. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add pomegranate juice and chill. Mix chilled juices with half and half and process in ice cream maker until fairly thick, about 15 minutes. Add pomegranate seeds. Finish processing according to manufacturer’s directions. Serve ice cream in pomegranate shells.

Makes 1 quart, 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings contains about:

309 calories; 31 mg sodium; 59 mg cholesterol; 17 grams fat; 38 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.06 gram fiber.

PERSIMMON ICE CREAM

4 to 6 ripe persimmons, peeled and seeded and coarsely chopped to yield 2 cups

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger or 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger root

Pinch ground allspice

Pinch ground cloves

Pinch ground mace, optional

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups half and half

Peel, seed and coarsely chop persimmons. You should have about 2 cups.

Press persimmons through ricer or pulse few times in blender. Place in bowl. Add cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and mace. Stir together, then chill mixture in refrigerator.

Add sugar and stir until dissolved, about 3 minutes. Combine persimmon mixture and half and half in ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s directions until set.

Makes 1 quart, 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings contains about:

314 calories; 32 mg sodium; 69 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 35 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.32 gram fiber.