Chances are you've seen them at the farmers' market lately. Like pomegranates, pumpkins, apples and pears, fall is the season for this somewhat perplexing fruit known as a persimmon. Usually some shade of orange and resembling a tomato with a sort of brown flower bud in leiu of a stem, persimmons are likely conjur a jumble of questions to swirl though the heads of those unfamilar with them. Are they a fruit? Are they a vegetable? How does one eat a persimmon and what on earth do they taste like? Well, here's the deal.
What's the Deal With: Persimmons
The most common type of persimmon typically found in farmers' markets are Fuyu and Hachiya. The Fuyu are a lighter orangish-yellow in color and sort of squat in shape, whereas the Hachiya are a darker orange and are more oblong or conical in shape. Hachiyas are considered to be more flavorful but must be eaten in a very specific level of ripeness (soft and shriveled almost to the point of mushy), otherwise the the flavor will be unpleasantly astringant. Fuyus are popular because they can be consumed when they are still a bit firm.
Persimmon enthusiasts insist the best way to eat a raw Hachiya is to just slice it open and spoon it out. Their delecate, sweet flavor makes them ideal to use in jams, chutneys, sorbets, baked goods and other desserts. Classically they are used in English-style steamed puddings. Fuyus, on the other hand, can peeled and diced, combined with cilantro, red onion and jalepeno pepper making an unusual salsa or sliced and tossed into salad along with other flavors of the fall like pomegranate.
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Informative *and* inspiring - I think I will have to try to make a persimmon chutney.
How about a "What's the Deal With: Dragon Fruit"? All of a sudden there's an abundance of these at our grocery store.
Also interesting to note, fresh persimmon skin is edible. Depending on where you are, you may see dried persimmon for sale in Asian grocery stores in little plastic snack-sized packs. Do not eat dried persimmon skin as doing so WILL result in kidney stones.
Ummm...I grew up eating persimmons. Mostly the Fuyu version. And I'd like to disagree with LTH. You CAN eat the skin of those dried persimmons. They're completely edible except of course for the stem part (looks like a little flattened flower in the middle). The dried ones always reminded me of the biggest holiday of the year--Chinese New Year.
I also grew up eating persimmons. For a long time, I thought everybody did! We only ate them in the winter, though, so I think it's seasonal. Be forewarned, though, DO NOT EAT the unripe Fuyu. It tastes bad and makes your tongue feel fuzzy. I think they're yummy but they might be an acquired taste. My husband had one for the first time last winter and was not a fan.
Oops, I meant don't eat the unripe hachiya
I just ate a parsimmon for the first time, just now a few minutes ago (I was Googling for whether it had to be peeled or not). Apparently the kind I ate, Sharon fruit from Israel, are chemically ripened. What exactly does that mean, chemically ripened?