I am thinking of getting a persimmon tree this year. We have very few varieties available in Australia.
I only have room for one tree, should I chose an astringent or a non-astringent variety? Or does it not really matter?
I have only ever eaten astringent ones and I love them. I am told that the astringent ones are far sweeter, is this correct?
If wildlife eating your fruit is any concern, an astringent variety might be easier to grow, and astringent persimmons can be harvested even before they lose their astringency and the astringency removed by dehydrating or other methods, including (although I haven’t done it myself) sealing up for a few days with an open container of high proof alcohol, which would allow you to even eat the fruit firm and crunchy like a non-astringent variety. I see a lot of advantages to astringent varieties and no really big disadvantages.
Depends on personal preference. In the appropriate season, buy a non-astringent fruit at the market to really see if you would prefer it. Astringents when ripe have a very sugary taste, and while I love it, others say it is too sweet. Non-astringents are much less sweet but mellower in flavor. Again, depends on personal preference. Just like choosing between espresso vs coffee.
Astringents are far better IMHO. That said, I am also growing a Jiro which just doesn’t compare with the astringents.
Another advantage of astringents: birds learn quickly to leave them alone.
Unfortunately I have never seen a non-astringent fruit for sale. All of the persimmons I see in markets (they are rarely sold here so cost a small fortune) are astringent.
I will have a look around and see what varieties are for sale as that may solve this problem for me. So far I have only seen ‘Ichikikijiro’ and ‘Fuyu’ (or unnamed trees which I am not interested in) which are both non-astringent.
The non-astringent ones are good, but are quite different from the astringent ones. If you like the astringent type I would go ahead and buy that. You might be able to find a non-astringent one to taste depending on what the stores in your area are like. The Asian grocery stores where I am regularly carry them in season. (soon in the northern hemisphere)
There is a ton of non-astringent persimmons growing in my area and I don’t care about them a bit. They taste like nothing to me, just a bit of sweet. Some people want their fruit crunchy, and this is why they prefer non-astringent ones, but for me it’s not important at all. Astringent ones have more distinct flavor in my opinion.