It looks like a tomato or a mini-pumpkin but actually this sweet, crunchy fruit is well loved by Asians and Persians, especially my family. It’s fall and my parents’ Persimmon tree is full of Persimmons. One year, they had close to 500 of these orange beauties on ONE tree! Then we had a late frost in April one year and my parents feared that their tree of 20 years may be dead. Luckily, it’s now getting back to bearing plentiful yummy fruit.

Given that it’s an unusual looking fruit, my parents sometimes have people knocking on their door asking if they can try one.

There are two kinds, astringent and non-astringent. My parents tree is the non-astringent and the persimmons are crunchy/hard like apples. The astringent kind is heart-shaped and much softer. They can’t be eaten unless mushy soft.

How do you eat one of these? Just peel it and slice it and eat it. If it’s the mushy kind, just use a spoon and scoop it out.  There’s no hard seed in the middle. If you eat it before it’s ripe, it can have a “chalky” taste so make sure it’s ripe!

I looked it up on Wikipedia and found some interesting facts:

So full of Vitamins and can assist with constipation and hemorrhoids? Interesting.

To learn more about Persimmons, click HERE.

People think that these are Halloween decorations on my parent’s tree. Perfect  since they look like mini-pumpkins.

-Jane, Persimmon Fan

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