Well those little green flowers have turned into this:
A local farmer was telling me that pumpkins don’t grow in Texas. (So Texans, if you’re taking your children to pumpkin patches… all those pumpkins have been shipped in from somewhere else!) I guess God knows that everyone should have an orange crop in the fall. It’s just so… autumn! So He gave Texas persimmons! Aren’t they pretty!
I grew up in small-town Ontario (Canada!), so the first time somebody presented me with one of these beautiful little orange fruits, I bit right into it … and had a big disappointment! Wow! Can they be astringent! They have this way of sucking all the moisture out of your mouth and making your mouth and teeth feel fuzzy. I really didn’t see what the big deal is about. So, I was less than thrilled when Paper the Farmer decided to plant various types of persimmons in our fruit orchard a few years back.
This is the first year we’ve had a significant crop of persimmons! And let me tell you! There is a WORLD of difference between eating a store bought persimmon and eating a persimmon while you’re standing under the persimmon tree! They are so sweet and succulent and juicy. In fact, one website about persimmons calls them “food for the Gods.” The thing is, you have to pick them when they are really soft… almost squishy… for them to be sweet. So I guess they’re not really a highly transport-able item. And I suppose they would spoil quickly if you let them ripen on the tree. I wouldn’t know about that though. We eat them too fast around here!
I’ll leave you with two more pictures. This tree has dropped all its leaves, but the persimmons seem to be just ripening up now:
And here is a different variety of persimmon. It is lighter in color… a beautiful autumn golden-yellow! Can’t wait to try this one!
from the look of things Paper the Farmer was doing good. They should grow big and tall. It looks as if you have two varieties. Fuyu & Hachiya (sp) The Fuyu is the apple type you can peel and eat with out waiting once it is ripe. The Hachiya is the big apple round shaped ones and you have to wait until it is very soft to eat. When I was newly married I had some ripening up and the day I was going to eat them newly wed missus said Oh they are rotten and threw them all away.
ReplyDeleteMIne wont be ready for a few months so it was nice to look at them. BTW they do travel well and you can sell them on Farmers Mkts etc...
In Korea they dry them whole and they conserve them that way and they look like dried figs.
Wow! You are the man to ask about persimmon information! I'm still learning! Really excited to try drying them... I'd like to build a solar dryer one of these days!
ReplyDeleteBe thankful your wife only threw out persimmons. My husband came home from work (on his first day back after our honeymoon) to discover that his favorite chair was gone!!! In my defense, it's an extraordinarily ugly chair and I had no way of knowing he liked it. Sadly, he was able to salvage it and we still have it in our bedroom. You probably remember the chair... A big black leather seat in a wooden shell with a matching ottoman. AND, I've been informed that this ugly thing is a family heirloom so even after he dies, I can't get rid of it. Gotta save it and pass it down to one of the boys! =)