Persimmons - Seasonal Fruit Spotlight
These fantastic persimmons are from Happy Farmers Organic Farm. They taste even better than they look, and they look pretty darn cute. So shiny.
Interestingly, persimmons are related to Black Sapotes - another unusual but tantalizing fruit - which are seasonal later in the year.
So right now - we have the beautiful bright orange persimmons. Persimmons are native to China and mostly grown there - thankfully persimmons have made their way to Australia too.
Another fall-coloured fruit, persimmons are mildly sweet and a little juicy. Perfect for our post autumn equinox days.
You can probably do lots with persimmons, but they are terrific just eaten as they are. Either bite straight into them or chop them up. Its best to leave the core - it's a bit tough. Generally they come seedless these days, but those with seeds have a few moderately sized black/brown seeds (actually the seed are quite similar to those of the black sapote seeds, which makes total sense).
Persimmons are either astringent or non-astringent. The non-astringent variety can be eaten crisp/crunchy or soft. Whereas the astringent varieties are only ripe when they are super soft - pretty much squishy. Their delicate flavour remains similar across the range of textures. The persimmons pictured below are the non-astringent variety and depict them at a crunchy-but-with-a-little-softness moment.
Get your gob around a persimmon if you can. They are also rather addictive. They were available from Happy Farmer Organic Farm via the Echo Valley online shop. Happy Farmers will also likely have them at Northey St Organic Farmers Market in the next few weeks, and persimmons were spotted today at Market Organics too.
So that is pretty much it for now. If you have got this far, i'm sure you'd like a reminder that our Homemade Nut Milk food skills workshop is coming up next Thursday at Food Connect Shed. If you would like to come along and join the fun, you can book here.
One last picture of a persimmon, because, well, we won't see them again for a whole year.
Enjoy!
References: https://www.fruittreecottage.com.au/pages/persimmons-astringent-or-non-astringent
Photo Credit: Persimmons from Happy Farmers Organic Farm.
