On 11/8/2010 11:41 AM, Bill who putters wrote:
In ,
Doug wrote:

Oren wrote:

Our neighbor just returned from California and gifted some Persimmons.

What shall we do with them? A little reading in Wiki helped. When ripe
would they be okay for a jam or jelly or just eat them like other
fruit?

Before persimmons are ripe they taste like nuclear powered lemon acid
chalk. After they are ripe they are more like pears. The change is
amazing. Out of hand, reduced to jam - Good either way.

I'd just point out that there are 2 types of persimmons perhaps more.
The wild or common are large trees with lots of small fruit around here.
I don't know who uses these but would guess a possible wine or jelly
candidate.

FIL used to make persimmon wine from the American persimmon. My Dad
always waited until after the first frost to eat any of them, said it
sweetened them. They still tasted like distilled battery acid to me.

The other is the orange baseball size fruit grown somewhere that are
expensive. But left on a kitchen window and becoming very soft they
become a sweet tart astringent counter point to ice cream. Many stars.

There are at least two types of Japanese persimmon here in the states.
The Fuyu, the one the original correspondent had the picture of and the
other, the name of which I can't remember at the moment. The Fuyu can be
eaten out of hand without waiting for it to get soft and is crisp and
sweet. The other, more common, Japanese persimmon must be absolutely
soft to eat. My DW like to put the whole common persimmon in the
freezer, get it frozen solid, then eat it like sherbet. I have used that
one for pies, cakes, cookies, and about anything that calls for any sort
of fruit. Both are prolific in my USDA Zone 9b.

Unfortunately, my clueless next door neighbor sprayed Round Up along our
common fence line and both my Fuyu persimmon and my St. John's quince
dropped their fruit. We've had a chat about it and he won't spray my
fence line anymore. I will weed eat it each time he mows and that saves
him time. He's a deputy sheriff and is always busy so I forgave him - once.