so my wife and I tried some non astringent persimmons from the grocery store last year and my wife noticed a very specific off putting flavor (I don’t want to be vulgar but it is common so you can google it). I would like to grow some astringent persimmons and I was wondering if they tend to have that same flavor or if it is specific to non astringent varieties.
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I’m not sure I’ve experienced any off flavors in non-astringent persimmons. The worst I’ve found is bland.
We’re all adults here. Could you describe what you’re talking about?
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Semen
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I have been eating Fuyu type and Tam kam nonastringent persimmons for about 45 years and your answer was the first. If you can buy a Hachiya from a store or an Asian market and let it soft ripen then you will enjoy the sweet syrupy brown sugar taste. Delicious 
Hachiya Astringent Asian persimmon. My last until next season
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I can see why that would be off-putting! I would recommend trying an astringent persimmon if you can find it, as I generally consider them to have a more intense version of the same flavor profile.
I’ve heard some flowers described as smelling like semen. The most common example is Bradford pears. Also, my impression is that my Chinese chestnuts smell that way too. But I’ve never noticed it in persimmons.
Maybe it’s you? In which case, you’d have a great sales pitch – your semen tastes like fruit!
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its fairly common if you google it. Andy from Bon Appetit even mentioned it in a video we watched once called “Andy And DeVonn Make Burrata & Langoustine Salads”
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Sounds like something common enough to be talked about but not noticeable to most, like soapy taste from cilantro. Never noticed a smell/taste like that with any kind of persimmon. The asian astringent and non-astringent tasted almost identical to me, whether firm or soft, while the native persimmons have a richer flavor. Maybe that taste is only present at a difference ripening stage or if processed or stored a certain way. I’ve heard that what gives the callery pears that smell are ammonia compounds. Who knows, maybe this will lead to some funny cultivar names.
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This supports the hypothesis that the sperm-like taste is more about what the sperm tastes like (which may depend on what you eat) than about what the persimmon tastes like.
@drusket – I believe that the soapy taste of cilantro is genetic. If so, I’ve got those genes. To me, cilantro tastes just like Ivory soap. And I had my mouth washed out enough times when I was a kid to know that taste. 
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The dislike of coriander (cilantro) is genetic. The broken OR6A2 protein coding gene that messes with an olfactory receptor making it too sensitive to aldehydes. For people with this genetic error coriander smells horrid, for the rest of us it is delightful.
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I can’t dispute your facts, but why are you so judgy – e.g., “too sensitive” and “genetic error”? Could it be that there is a context in which sensitivity to aldehydes is adaptive?
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Did you ever find an answer to this? I enjoy the range of wonderful flavors across persimmon varieties but I know this flavor can be quite present and off-putting to some. I’d prefer to plant a variety that I can share with friends without some of them thinking I’m pulling a prank on them
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I never found an answer. I’m growing 2 miss Kim trees but they are only on their second leaf and no fruit yet.
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Have you tried the giant fuyu? I’ve read a lot on how it’s changed a lot of people’s minds about persimmon.
I use to hate persimmon too until recently i had a dried one when i went on a vacation. I went out and randomly bought a giant fuyu then wondered if i had made a mistake until i started reading everyone’s comments on this variety.
no. Specific varieties can be difficult to find by me for some reason. I feel like all the local growers sell them in DC instead of by the capital of Maryland closer to me.
I don’t have any interest in non-astringent type persimmons.
There’s a few wild American ones that I just noticed this year on my dog Walking path and I tried some earlier (most weren’t ripe) and it tasted pretty good. Basically like an orangy Kool aid and sweet. But big seeds and a lot of them. It did have a bit of a lingering astringent mouth feeling, but nothing major. I chalked it up to how 90% of the tree wasn’t ripe yet. Definitely not a semen flavor/taste.
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