Persimmon, Alternative to Halloween Pumpkins // fruit
🌱👻 Boo! Happy Halloween from Grandma Sita’s ghost! These adorable persimmon fruit pumpkins are a healthy treat perfect for the spooky night of the year. Ready to Trick or Fruit?
🎃 Get creative making fun, artistic and healthy Jack-o’-lanterns by drawing pumpkin faces on seasonal fruits like persimmons, oranges, and tangerines. There are endless amounts of faces you could create.
😋 Persimmons, also called kaki fruit, are orange-coloured fruits that have a delicate honey-like flavour and silky texture. They can be eaten raw, dried, or cooked, and are versatile in sweet and savoury recipes. Persimmons are a great ingredient in puddings, cookies, cakes, custard, ice creams, smoothies, etc.
💪 Persimmons are low in calories and high in fibre. Their mix of antioxidants and nutrients, including vitamins A and C, makes them ideal for a healthy diet.
👵💚 Grandma Sita’s tips:
*Persimmon peels are completely edible but a bit hard. Whether or not to peel the fruit is a matter of personal preference and the recipe that you’re using. The leaves can be used to make tea and the seeds can be roasted.
*It is best to store persimmons at room temperature, unripe persimmons will continue to ripen. Ripe persimmons are best eaten immediately, but you can refrigerate them. For long-term storage, they can be frozen or dried.
*Delicious fruit jams, marmalades or compotes are perfect zero-waste ways to cook seasonal ripe fruits. All of us can act at home to reduce our waste and every single one counts. This autumn make plant-based fruit treats, not waste!
📗The practice of carving pumpkins for Halloween originated from an Irish myth about a man named “Stingy Jack”. The turnip has traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween, but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin. That’s why Jack-o’-lantern is known for the carved pumpkin lantern associated with Halloween.
🔥In addition to its origins in folklore, pumpkins were believed to ward off evil spirits. Carved pumpkins with lit candles inside were placed on doorsteps to protect homes from wandering spirits on All Hallows’ Eve, creating a tradition that persists.
♻️ There are plenty of ways to reduce your waste this Halloween, take a look around your home for items that can be repurposed for Halloween costumes and decor, old sheets can become ghosts and Mason jars can be turned into creepy lanterns. All of us can act at home to reduce our waste and every single one counts!
🌎 Celebrating Halloween in an eco-friendly and zero-waste way is not only achievable and affordable, but it is also a significant step to reduce our environmental footprint while enjoying this popular holiday. Win-win!