Per-simmity-simmon!!!

[jennifer75]

Persimmons! Persimmons! Saw them at the farmers market today...but $2 a pound??? Sigh. Love this time of year. Persimmon cake. Persimmon muffins. Persimmon cookies.

How do you use persimmons?

 

[Constance]

We have a great big persimmon tree, and it is loaded this year, but the wildlife is taking care of the fruit...deer, raccoons, possums, and squirrels are all feasting on persimmons this year, thanks to ample rain this summer. I don't know if wild turkeys eat them or not, but DH saw 3 of them in that area the other day.

 

[LPBeier]

Do you know I have never tasted or even seen a persimmon up close? For that matter far away either!

Am I in the minority here?

But they sound delicious!

 

[bethzaring]

wild persimmon trees are common in my area. I hope cultivated persimmons are better than the wild. I have one tree close to the barn that I am happy to have, but for the most part I leave them for the wildlife.

 

[Constance]

"They" say the flavor improves after frost.

 

[GrillingFool]

Are persimmons soft like apricot or hard skin like apple? I found two tall trees with lots of dropped peach colored fruit. I tasted one it was soft and delicious, thought
it was apricot. Tried another couple days later, it was very bitter, so I am now not sure....

 

[jennifer75]

Do you know I have never tasted or even seen a persimmon up close? For that matter far away either!

Am I in the minority here?

But they sound delicious!

If Fall, the season, had a taste, it would taste like Persimmon. They look like little pumpkins. Tasty.

 

[jennifer75]

Are persimmons soft like apricot or hard skin like apple? I found two tall trees with lots of dropped peach colored fruit. I tasted one it was soft and delicious, thought
it was apricot. Tried another couple days later, it was very bitter, so I am now not sure....

They have hard skin like an apple. You have to cut the peel off. The meat is best when it's ripened soft, able to be mashed. I've never tasted one when it wasn't softened or mashed however, I imagine it tastes just as nice. They look like a pumpkin, only tiny. They have a "hat" of a stem, leaves if you may, that are hard.

 

[jennifer75]

http://blacktiecleaning.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/persimmons-737485.jpg

Wallah!

 

[Jeff G.]

Persimmons! Persimmons! Saw them at the farmers market today...but $2 a pound??? Sigh. Love this time of year. Persimmon cake. Persimmon muffins. Persimmon cookies.

How do you use persimmons?

In my opinions.. the finest thing that grows on trees!!! That wonderful spicy flavor. 2 years ago we were canoeing when the persimmons were ripe. What a delightful riverside snack, the Paw-paws were good too!!

 

[sparrowgrass]

Jennifer, you are talking about Asian persimmons. Native persimmons are about the size of a ping-pong ball, and very mooshy when ripe. They have 4 or 5 large seeds. They grow throughout the southeast.

When they are green, they are very astringent, and will just about turn your mouth inside out.

Some folks predict the weather by splitting the hard seeds lengthwide. There is a white structure inside the seed, and if it looks like a knife, the winter will be "cutting cold", and a spoon means lots of snow.

I don't care for them much, but Mitchell Indiana has a Persimmon Festival, with prizes for the best persimmon pudding.