Persimmon

"There would also be several hundred persimmons from two trees that grew in the garden: picked after the first frost, they ripened slowly and were eaten with a spoon when they went soft and squashy."

				Andalusia, c. 1920, from Gerald Brennan's "South from Granada," 1957.
				Anthologized in "FOOD", ed. Brigid Allen, Oxford University Press, 1995.

A tree fruit, usually orange in color, the persimmon eaten unripe does to your lips what the word sounds like---makes them purse, as the tongue tastes the bitter tannic acid. This may have deterred the early European settlers from devotion to the persimmon, a fruit eaten by the Indians in many places, either dried, made into brew, or just very, very fresh and ripe.

The persimmon must be eaten ripe, even overripe, when the fruit falls from the tree. It can even be plucked from the tree in the winter, as long as the fruit has not frozen on the tree. Described by some as "apricot-ish", by others as akin to the guava or mango, the persimmon, though honored by a festival in Mitchell, Indiana, is not widely eaten in the United States. A sub tropical plant, the persimmon grows well in the American Southeast and Gulf States, and is cultivated commercially in California. The American persimmon is believed by some to be native, by others to have been brought to the Western hemisphere from Asia, possibly in the 16th century.

Its relation, known as the Japanese persimmon, though it comes from China, is called "kaki", informally, and is a great favorite of the Japanese at New Year's. It's also sampled by the French along the Riviera, and grown in Spain, Africa and Brazil. And, evidently, the Israelis have perfected a variety of persimmon that can be eaten unripe or barely so, and has no tannin at all.

There are signs that persimmons are making major strides into the mainstream American marketplace----Price Costco, the huge membership merchandiser, now carries them by the box.

Persimmon painting by Else Bostelmann, published in The World in Your Garden , 1957, National Geographic Society. At the top the small native American persimmon. Below the larger "kaki, " originally from China

"Commune Persimmon Grove" painting by Wen Chih-chiang. Part of the series of Peasant Paintings from Huhsien County, People's Republic of China, 1974.

Ceramic of Chinese child holding a persimmon, a New Year's gift and symbol of prosperity.

Persimmon-shaped soy pot--Japanese

Japanese Persimmon nursery letterhead dated April 4, 1873. Based in San Francisco, nursery owner Rev. Henry Loomis explains he is unable to supply any more persimmon tree orders until next year, as his stock is exhausted.

	Persimmon painting by Else Bostelmann, published in The World in Your Garden , 1957, National Geographic Society. At the top the small native American persimmon. Below the larger "kaki, " originally from China
	"Commune Persimmon Grove" painting by Wen Chih-chiang. Part of the series of Peasant Paintings from Huhsien County, People's Republic of China, 1974.
	Ceramic of Chinese child holding a persimmon, a New Year's gift and symbol of prosperity.
	Persimmon-shaped soy pot--Japanese
	Japanese Persimmon nursery letterhead dated April 4, 1873. Based in San Francisco, nursery owner Rev. Henry Loomis explains he is unable to supply any more persimmon tree orders until next year, as his stock is exhausted.