Persimmon....enjoy!

woodworkingboy

woodworkingboy

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Awhile back, there was some discussion here about persimmon fruit. There are a couple different varieties, some sweet that you can pick off the tree and eat, and others that have a high tannin content and practically need to turn to mush before the astringency disappears and they can be enjoyed. I seem to remember some folks saying that the ones in their area are too bitter to eat.

If you take the bitter variety and slice off the skin and hang them up in a semi sunny location, after about six weeks, they shrink up and get a coating of sweetness on the outside, and are very tasty to eat...kind of chewy but not hard. The cold is good for the process and freezing doesn't seem to be a hindrance. The bugs and birds don't go after them. It's fun to do and worth the effort. Good vitamin C and calcium content in them too. It's an old annual custom in these parts.

Snip off where they are connected to a limb and trim down to leave a little T attachment point, and you can string them up easily. The attachment point is quite strong and holds up Keep the rain off, under an eave or patio roof is good. Mine hang under my firewood cover. Don't have them touching each other when you string them. I guess that the air passage and sun keeps the mold off. They really are good, a nice little snack during the winter.
 

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I just had my first one last night in a salad.

Dug one up from somebody's yard this year and transplanted to my house, along with an apple and peach. Apple transplanted best. Most of the peach died, but the rest leafed out and grew (delayed bud break), and the persimmon, well, we'll see next spring.

Really good flavor and texture.
 
i love persimmons. i look forward to fall just so i can eat them. ill have to try that, my grandparents have a tree of the astringent type. most of the fruit usually goes to waste, and there is a lot of it. jaime
 
I bought some of the large variety from Japan a couple years back to show the students what persimmons taste like. The were not anything like the little ones from Southern Ilinois. I think that after doing some research I found they were totally different from Diospyros virginiana.
 
How long can you keep them, Jay? Do you just leave them hang or do you bring them in after the 6 weeks? They look pretty cool hanging there, too. :)
 
Nice, never knew that trick, man will they pucker you up just getting your teeth in them off the tree. I like the fuyu, like candy!
 
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  • #8
Yes they keep, Che, like other dried fruit. You can keep them hanging for quite awhile, but over here they are usually ready to eat before the serious cold sets in. I'm not sure how they would do outside in constant freezing temps, folks generally bring them in. When ready, about the same texture as dried apricots.

Correct Bob, your's are a different species, actually higher in vitamin C and calcium over there, I read.

The wood is interesting too, in the ebony family. Hard and it can be very pretty. Any gardner will tell you to be careful when climbing them, the branch unions are very susceptible to breaking. Often the first trees to come apart in a big blow.
 
Cool my tree is loaded and I have been wondering on the storage as the bulk of them will ripen all at once Thanks for the info!
 
I would almost think so, this time of year mid 70's day and below 45 at night for the most part. it may be a shorter dry time but still should work.
 
Had a workshop instructor from Virginia this summer. He had a lot of colorful expressions. One of them was "Sweating like a possum pooping persimmon seeds". He said we weren't very colorful up here in the Northeast.:lol:
 
They were comice and bosc so I dried some and sauced some. They don't hold together very well, really need bartlett for that
 
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  • #18
Six weeks since I hung up the bitter tasting persimmons to dry, and now we can eat them. They are not that appealing blackened and shrunken up, but this is how they are supposed to look. Very tasty, you wouldn't believe how sweet they are.... nice chewy like apricots. Drying them is a cool thing to do! :)
 

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WWB, I never tried them that way. Thanks for the idea.
 
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  • #20
You're welcome. It's part of the early winter scenery around here, seeing those hung up.


Something was stealing them, and I thought it was a crow, but when I went to my shop one morning, there was a mouse...a big mouse... hanging upside down from one of the strings. Somehow it had managed to get it's tail caught in one of the knots when going for it, and it was in quite a predicament, it's legs flailing around in helplessness. It made you laugh, it was the darndest thing.
 
i tried it a few weeks ago. some one loved them, i came out one morning and they were gone! im guessing rats, or birds. ill have to try again, in a more secure location.
 
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  • #23
Tossed it far away in the field, I think beyond it's powers of direction.

Birds here leave them alone. I feed the crows kitchen craps sometimes, and I put one out to see if they would eat it at a place that they regularly check. Didn't touch it, and they eat about anything.
 
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