Persimmon season

[deborahjross]

Lots of people hereabouts have persimmon trees. I suspect they have them because once the leaves fall off in the winter, the fruits are left on the bare branches like orange ornaments. One house down the street even put glass globes on the tree to complete the decor.

I always feel a little sad when I see the fruit lying on the heaps of dead leaves, rotting. In a world -- and a community -- where people go hungry, it outrages me to see such delicious, nutritious food go to waste. Mostly, I suspect, because the tree owners have no idea what to do with it.

Lots of people have told me they don't like the way persimmons leave a puckery feeling. That's because the fruit wasn't fully ripe, and hachiyas have to be very, very ripe. (Fuyus, the ones that look flattened, can be eaten crisp, like apples.) As they ripen (off the tree), they not only get softer, they get darker. The skin looks almost translucent. They should feel like water balloons. I eat the skin, but it's just as easy to slice off the stem end with a sharp knife and scoop out the custard-like pulp with a spoon.

The big secret about persimmons is how incredible they are when dried. Sliced and put into a dehydrator, the heat "cooks" away the puckeriness, leaving candy-sweet delight. This takes about a day in our cheapo dehydrator, turning the slices once or twice to keep them from sticking on the racks. Stored in glass jars or plastic bags, they'll last a year or more.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

That is indeed a terrible waste of a lovely fruit.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... maybe I can drop a note to the gardening columnist of the local paper, suggesting an article on how to harvest and preserve persimmons.

I'll see if I can send some to you via Chaz when he is here in March.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Those are both excellent ideas, but I suspect that even preserved, it won't be possible to send fruit -- it's one of the things customs and excise are very strict about. But thank you! You could perhaps feed some to Chaz, though.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

I fear you are right about not sending edibles. It seems that every year there's a new agricultural pest and they all settle in California. We'd best keep them to ourselves.

Homegrown fruit going to waste

[stellatangdele.livejournal.com]

I cannot recall the name of the organization, but there are groups of volunteers that will harvest homeowners' fruit trees and donate the harvest to local food banks. Perhaps there is a chapter in your area which your neighbors might be grateful for the services of.

Re: Homegrown fruit going to waste

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

That's a great idea. I'll see if I can track them down. There might be some problems, though, because we're pretty rural and there might be liability issues with ladders to reach the fruit. We're harvesting ours from the tree up at Quaker Center.