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| Photo Credit: Felder Rushing |
| Persimmons are a wonderfully sweet fruit that ripen in fall after most of the leaves have fallen off the tree. |
Maybe you’ve seen them in the grocery store or at a friend’s house – those lovely orange fruits mildly reminiscent of a tomato. Did you wonder what they were? Ask to try a bite? If you did, I bet you got hooked!
The persimmon is a wonderfully sweet fruit that grows well in many warmer climates. Its tree has beautiful glossy leaves, and the fruit turns bright orange when ripe. Unlike many other fruits, persimmons generally ripen after the tree has dropped its leaves and the first light winter frosts hit. So while many fruits have finished their season, persimmons are just getting started! Fruiting persimmons are available in two primary types: American persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) and Japanese or Oriental persimmons (D. kaki). As a little girl growing up in Japan, I can remember standing under the “kaki tree,” waiting for a sweet, ripe persimmon to be picked so I could bite right into it. Soft and delicious, it tasted like an apple infused with honey. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Mary Swindle | | The fruit will grow to be about the size of a child’s fist, then start to turn ripe for harvesting. |
My mother grew up eating American persimmons in North Carolina. American persimmons are astringent until ripe, then become sweet. They’re primarily used to make puddings or jams. She used to tell me how much she missed making delicious persimmon pudding, and I could finally understand when we came home to the US and I tasted the thick, sweet pudding she grew up with. (I’ll share the delicious recipe with you in a minute.)
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