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Strange Fruit. What’s a Persimmon?

19 Replies

Persimmon whole & cut
The recipe we posted yesterday included persimmons. A comment by one of the readers bluntly asked – “This might sound goofy, but what are persimmons?”

Here’s the answer:

Persimmons are a fruit that can be likened to a cross between a tomato and an orange. The fruit, when ripe, is very sweet. But if you eat it beforehand it will be astringent. Depending on the type of persimmon you buy, you may need to peel the skin to eat it. Some people prefer the persimmon just as it ripens when it can be cut into quarters and eaten by hand – usually this is the Fuyu varital. Others prefer to wait until it is mushy and even sweeter, and then they just cut the top off and dig in with a spoon – for this, the Hiyachi varietal is better.

Nutritionally, persimmons are great: A single persimmon has 50% of the daily value for vitamin A (its orange color gives away the high carotene value). It also has 25% of the daily value for vitamin C, and is a good source of iron as well.

Persimmons have a short season starting in October and ending just about now. If you can’t find them at your regular supermarket, try an Asian market. Go ahead, give persimmons a try, you won’t regret it.

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  • Emily

    Nice article, I have never actually had a persimmon and I learned something.

    I suggest you remove the song, it’s really inappropriate. It is a protest against lynching with provocative and upsetting lyrics.  “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze…”

    • http://www.fooducate.com/blog Fooducate

      thx. removed!

      • Holiday

        just fyi, you still have a picture of billie holiday linked with this posting as of right now, in the “You Might Like” section.

  • Toneh01

    Holy moly, Emily.   I never heard that song before…you aren’t kidding.   What awful lyrics.   Someone definitely researched only the title without listening to the clip.

  • http://www.facebook.com/rebeccaripple1 Rebecca Ripple

    It sounds great. I’d be happy to try it, but I’m trying to avoid foods high in iron because of a medical condition I have. I would have liked it, because I love fruit in general.

    • Carol

      Compared to other fruits, they may have more iron, but it’s still pretty low, and non-meat sources of iron are fairly poorly absorbed anyway, so a persimmons shouldn’t be a problem for you (but ask your dr. how much iron you can have daily). The USDA data for persimmons appears to be wrong (can tell because they have the weight for one fruit at only 25 g (it’s closer to an average of 125 g depending on variety and ripeness). This site seems to have more accurate info: http://www.seedtosupper.com/persimmons.html (.26 mg iron is less than 2% of the Daily Value).

  • http://www.facebook.com/rebeccaripple1 Rebecca Ripple

    It sounds great. I’d be happy to try it, but I’m trying to avoid foods high in iron because of a medical condition I have. I would have liked it, because I love fruit in general.

  • erica

    The song had been posted?  I didn’t even see it.  I was going to leave a comment suggesting you remove the “Strange Fruit” part of the title of this post.  It references the song, and lynching, and is not an appropriate phrase to introduce a discussion of food.  Please consider changing the title of the post as well.

    • http://andiegoddessofpickles.blogspot.com/ Andie

      I saw the title and said to myself “Oh lord.. please don’t let them reference the Billie Holliday song.”  So inappropriate.

      Otherwise, however, it was a good post.  

      • Holiday

        I was just going to make this comment! When I first saw the main post, the title itself didn’t bother me (persimmons are kind of a strange fruit), but then today when I saw the link in the “You Might Like” section, there was a picture of Billie Holiday, and I thought, uh oh, someone’s not paying attention! Glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed.

  • http://www.rainbowplate.com/ Janet Nezon

    Thanks for helping to spread the word about this colorful, healthy and delicious fruit!  Did you know that the Fuyu variety is also marketed as Sharon fruit? Here are some more great ideas for enjoying it:  http://wp.me/p1iZrA-4d

  • EvanT

    In northern Greece I see this fruit often (though we call it “lotus”). It’s quite tasty, but it’s important to know that there is a variety that is really, really astringent (in my experience three times as bad as a quince) and you can never be 100% certain that they’re ripe enough (unless they’re mushy, that is).

    If you get stuck with some of those (they’re practically inedible) try freezing them completely for a couple of days and then defrost in warm water as many as you plan to eat. It helps ease the astringent quality. I’ve also heard that it works if you let them ripen in the drawer along with a couple of apples, but I haven’t tried this method myself.

  • carolc

    Be sure to warn people, there are two types!! One you eat crisp and the other you have to eat soft.  Please correct me here if I am wrong. (of course there are more than two types, but in your regular grocery store, this is what you will find)

  • Tamara Sellman

    What a useful followup post! They are such beautiful fruit, and their skins are also the same color at the Pantone color of the year (LOL). I often forget to check the exotic fruit section at this time of year, so many fun bright flavors and textures. Persimmon is one of them; thanks, too, for differentiating between the two varieties. 

    Tamara at Extra! Extra!
    http://extraextrarecipes.blogspot.com

  • Tamara Sellman

    What a useful followup post! They are such beautiful fruit, and their skins are also the same color at the Pantone color of the year (LOL). I often forget to check the exotic fruit section at this time of year, so many fun bright flavors and textures. Persimmon is one of them; thanks, too, for differentiating between the two varieties. 

    Tamara at Extra! Extra!
    http://extraextrarecipes.blogspot.com

  • Sarah

    LOVE Fuyu persimmons, peeled, sliced thin and marinated in lime juice. Oh, so addicting!

  • Fra

    I love persimmons! 
    This is how i tell the difference between the two: Hiyachi, tall & dome shaped, needs to be soft to the touch.  My parents always bought them hard and put them in the boiler room (warm room) and within a week the were done.   The Fuyu however is compact & squat-like (smaller than an apple) eaten when still hard and crunchy….still delicious and sweet but different because its crunchy consistency and not as messy to eat.  FYI be careful with spilling, it can cause a “rust-like” stain on your clothing/ dish towel.

  • Yo

    In Spain we call them Kakis ;-)

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