In Pursuit of Perfect Persimmon

Today I decided to go for an autumn ride. It has been some time since I have spent time on my bike. I took a simple ride up my "ura yama" for 40 minutes to "thinking rock", and then a bit beyond. When things got mushy, I turned around and came down.

I saw that one of the old persimmon trees bore fruit so I took one and tried it....

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• cycling
• mountain
• bike
• Adventure
• japan
• food
• persimmon

[devouringone3]

You guys are confounding the Fuyu Japanese persimmons in this video that are eatable just like an apple would be, hard and good at anytime of the week, with the Hachiya United-States grown kakis (another name for persimmons). The later ones are either astringent and uneatable, both the peal and the flesh (astringent worst than eating the peal of a citrus fruit for example), or they are mushy and dark and fermented sugary.. almost like an almost rotten tomato but more edible since a lot like it.

[camswitzer]

@devouringone3 Thanks for all the info. I appreciate it. I had a tree once that was good for peeling, and drying the persimmons. They tasted sweet that way, but astringent and inedible the other way. They are also not shaped like an apple, as the one I tasted in this video is. The ones sold in the stores here in Japan are the kind you can eat crispy. They are sweet and always good, as you say. The pointed ones are only sold as a string of dried fruit, coated in a natural sugar. Thanks!

[thedreamingmoon]

it's not ripe dude!

[camswitzer]

@thedreamingmoon Some like them crispy and fresh, while others like them mushy like diarrhea...

[carlcartman]

In the midwest you don't pluck persimmons off of a tree. You wait for them to fall: then you know they're ripe. Or the bees will let you know too. :)

My dad made some persimmon wine some years ago. It tasted good, and it had a kick like a mule. Definitely a good wine to drink after an afternoon of shoveling now. :)

[camswitzer]

@carlcartman That sounds good! I miss shoveling in Fukui!

[RevelationGJS]

You eat them when they are very very soft... It's better ripe than dried.

[devouringone3]

@devouringone3 Oh yeah, Fuyu is squarer and flatter, Hachiya is acorn / heart shaped and bigger. Fuyu is pretty much always ripe and doesn't change much during his shelf life, Hachiya needs to be bought unripe and will be ready only once it has changed tint and become dark orange almost red.

[devouringone3]

@devouringone3 The time window in which the hachiya persimmon is as good to eat as the fuyu is for pretty much any day of the month is less than a day.

You don't eat the peal of a Hachiya, it will always be astringent unless you put it whole into a pie or something with sugar to cover up for that bitterness. The peal is tasteless and you should as well eat it, on a Fuyu kaki. I don't think you can hang and dry Fuyu.

Those are the two are the most popular varieties found at the grocery stores.

[jillionmillion]

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAH YOU SET YOUR SELF UP!!!!!!!!!!!

[masterbayter101]

Smells like cuuum

[yellowman88]

I like to eat them when they are mushy too. It's Super sweet and it tastes like candy.