Persimmon Snack

During this time of year, my grandfather has a tree FULL of persimmons.  We use some for Thanksgiving when my mom makes her famous Persimmon Chocolate Chip Cookies--everyone looks forward to them. But after the big meal, we have a lot of fruit left to get creative with.

The downside of the Hachiya Persimmons is that they are astringent until they are fully ripe.  If you wait for them to ripen on the tree, you have oodles of persimmons ready to eat NOW and it's impossible to keep up with them since they are fragile when ripe. So you have to pick them when they are still hard and wait for them to ripen. And wait, and wait, and wait...

You might wonder what astringent tastes like? Imagine sucking on your toner saturated cotton ball after washing your face. *Pucker up* Hachiya's are very deceptive too.  On the outside, they look yummy and ready to eat. But they are very astringent until they are squishy with ripeness.

The following were picked two weeks ago and are still hard as rocks.  Aren't they pretty? One little lick and you'd be gagging.

One thing you can do instead of waiting for these babies to ripen is to dehydrate them. For some reason, even though they are hard and bitter, after they are dehydrated, the astringency is gone and a sweet, nutritious, dried treat remains.

astringent-inedible-nasty

sweet-chewy-satisfying

**Not to be confused with the Fuyu Persimmon. (Below) They are sweet when they are hard. Notice how they have flat, pointless bottoms unlike the Hachiya above.  They're ready to eat as soon as they turn orange.  I tend to get impatient so I have to admit, I like the Fuyu better.  I think we might have to plant a tree too. (I've gobbled a couple of these already today.)

Check out this great Wiki article about persimmons.