Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Trenton, NJ, USA
Posts: 1554

Our supermarket gets them in for a couple weeks a year, and I decided to try one. What an odd fruit! It's orange, smooth-skinned, varies from the size of a large tangerine to a large apple, and is filled with orange-colored flesh. You either peel the skin away, or slice it into quarters. There's a firm core that I just assumed you don't eat, and it's pretty narrow and easy to slice out if you quarter the fruit.

It's very sweet and very juicy. When it's really ripe, it's almost mushy. It's very much like a mango (in taste and texture, if I remember mangos correctly). It really has a very nice flavor. But......

It's got the oddest after-texture! After you swallow, it's like every drop of saliva in your mouth is gone and your mouth is chalky! But you don't get that sensation when you first start eating it. Weird!

Anyone else ever have one? Anyone have ideas of what you can do with them recipe-wise to alleviate that weird texture?

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Registered: May 2001
Location: South Texas
Posts: 816

here is some info about them: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html

I remember eating them when I was a kid, they grew near the clinic on the Air Force Base we were living on. I don't remember what they tasted like though.

Last edited by dssdbs on 11-04-2003 at 08:45 AM

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Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Washington,US Useless Posts: 200412
Posts: 189

Yes, we used to have them occasionally when I was growing up in the UK (imported - unlikely you'd be able to grow anything exotic like that in the UK!).

From what I remember, the were quite tasty, but did tend to be somewhat astringent (took me a while to remember that term )

One more common thing I can think of with similar astringent properties is the little cord like things inside the skin of a banana - the ones that sometimes stick to the skin, and sometimes stick to the inner fruit itself.

Not sure what you could do about avoiding the effect.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia
Posts: 1258

I can't believe that they're actually eaten! We had persimmon trees in the field near my house (the "neighborhood field" where all the kids played), and they were sour beyond belief. One bite and your mouth felt like it had been turned inside out. Of course, we all repeatedly took that bite because it was so weird and we were stupid kids.

Persimmon tree branches were very strong and bouncy, and the best thing we used to do was cut off a branch, spear a persimmon with it, and then fling it with all our might. It was like a catapult. The persimmon would fly for miles it seemed like. IIRC, a few windows got broken before aim was perfected!

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Registered: Mar 2002
Location: California
Posts: 1705

quote:

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Originally posted by bobcarn
There's a firm core that I just assumed you don't eat, and it's pretty narrow and easy to slice out if you quarter the fruit.

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As far as I know, they come in two different varieties, a soft mushy kind, and a hard kind. The soft kind, you can eat the whole thing (after you remove the skin). I actally like the texture of the "seed", kinda crunchy. The hard kind have textures like carrots, and have hard "seed", so after you skin them, you can eat everything except the seed. If they are ripe enough, then they shouldn't leave that 'chalky' taste in your mouth. The hard one, you wait until it turns bright orange before you eat them. And you wait until the soft mushy one becomes soft and red before you eat them. Supposedly that if they aren't ripe yet, you can store them with some rice, and that will speed up the rippening process.

Hard ones are usually 'flat', and look like:


Soft ones are usually 'pointy' on one end, look like:

quote:

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Originally posted by appleye1
I can't believe that they're actually eaten! We had persimmon trees in the field near my house (the "neighborhood field" where all the kids played), and they were sour beyond belief. One bite and your mouth felt like it had been turned inside out.

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Are you sure those are persimmons? I have NEVER had a sour persimmon in my life. Even when they are unrippen, they are just "bitter" and leave this nasty feeling on your tongue. Can't imagine them being sour at all... Maybe it's a different specie.

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Registered: Nov 2002
Location: central valley, CA
Posts: 413

My ex mother-in-law had persimmon trees and she would bake batches and batches of persimmon cookies and share them with all of us. They were quite delish!
As far as eating a persimmon, I tried one once but wasn't too crazy about it.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast
Posts: 1697

They flat one is Asian Persimmon and can be eaten anytime. If you buy your persimmon from a grocery store then you are buying an Asian Persimmon. The other one I've heard called Native Persimmon. The native is not good until it is ripe due to it's major astringency. And it isn't ripe until it's soft and mushy. Soft and mushy usually doesn't sell at the grocery store which is why you have to pick them up off the ground under the tree. If you have to pick the persimmon from the tree it is not ripe. Appearently you can shake the tree to convince the just about ripe to fall down and they will be ok.

I have never eaten a persimmon, the above was learned from an article in the local paper, appearently more then the free 7 days ago.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: N.E. GA
Posts: 174

I've baked persimmon cookies too. My SIL loves them. I can dig up my recipe if you are interested. Or you can probably find a good one on the net somewhere.

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Houston/Galveston TX (Kemah)
Posts: 7670

quote:

---

Originally posted by appleye1
I can't believe that they're actually eaten! We had persimmon trees in the field near my house (the "neighborhood field" where all the kids played), and they were sour beyond belief. One bite and your mouth felt like it had been turned inside out.

---

You got that right. The only thing that ate them around our house was the occasional opossum.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: N.E. GA
Posts: 174

The local wisdom where I grew up (North Georgia) said you had to wait until after the first frost to eat the persimmons. As mentioned before, they have to be dead ripe before eating or you get "the pucker". Unfortunately the old homestead has been plowed under to make room for acres of cluster homes - so no more home grown persimmons.

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Houston/Galveston TX (Kemah)
Posts: 7670

If you crack the seed open, you will find a little wooden spoon.

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Mmmm Kitty,,, the other red meat. Feed them well and they will feed you well.

Please note: No cats were harmed in any way during the making of this post. But there is always later. ;)

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: North Hollywood, CA, USA
Posts: 2131

"Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!"

Oh, this isn't the Looney Tunes DVD thread? Sorry, my mistake.

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