My small astringent persimmon died before I got a chance to taste the fruit. I have several fuyu types and not a fan at all of them. Do the astringents taste different? If they are the same basic taste maybe I will pass on replacing with another. Advice?
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Astringents are far better tasting than Fuyu.
IMO of course. Some people like the crunchy Fuyu. I’d rather eat an apple.
Several fuyu types , could you share the names
Personally I feel astringents have more of a rounder richer flavor, I simply prefer the crunchier texture of non-astringents. If I want the jelly consistency, I turn to American persimmon which has a floral, spicy, butterscotch-like flavor.
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To me, the taste of astringent Asian persimmons is much sweeter and flavorful. Of course, the flesh will be much much softer than non-astringent types. So, there will be a texture issue, which some folks may not like.
I especially like Saijo and Sung Hui. Sung Hui is probably my favorite of those that I’ve tried.
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I generally agree that your average astringent persimmon is better tasting than your average non-astringent, to my tastes. That being said, I’ve found that if you get a well grown, well ripened non-astringent, and let it soften a bit, it’s still pretty dang good.
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Robert. Unless you have plenty of room to experiment, I would recommend you try eating some native wild persimmons before trying to grow them. (Also, male nd female are on different trees…you’d need one of each.)
I have room to experiment. The asian astringents is what I was looking at though. There are a couple wild ones around, but I have not had a chance to beet the wildlife to them. For the most part they are small and have seeds. Most of what I grow is for sale. Does the american persimmon have a market?
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@jcguarneri This year I did let them soften. Liked the texture better but the taste was still the same. You know how other fruits the varieties all have the same basic taste just slight variances. Is that the way astringent and non-astingents are? Sounds like the same taste, just more powerful flavor in the astingents.
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Fuyu, jiro, and ichi kiro.
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Pretty much. I have to say, I got more of an appreciation of non-astringents after I’d had some good astringent and American persimmons. I still like the astringents better (sweeter, more flavorful, especially a good D virginiana fruit), but it’s almost as if I notice more of what’s going on with the non-astringents than I had previously.
Thanks. It was a sheng that went down if you are familiar with that one. I like fruits that have a sort of jelly texture, so I may yet replace with another. Even if I do not like it I am sure someone will buy them. It’s just the price. You can buy 2-3 regular fruit trees for one persimmon tree price. Just curious. You consider the american better than asian?
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To my tastes, yes. Although “different” may be a better description than “better.” They all taste like persimmons, but they each have a little something different going on. That being said, I’ve only had the Asian types I can find at the supermarket, and fruits from wild American persimmons. I have not tried any of the improved varieties of American persimmon, or any of the hybrids. I like all that I’ve tried enough to put some American cultivars in here, with plans to add a hybrid down the road.
I hear you on the price! I think between it being a niche market and being harder to graft (so I’m told) than apples, it gets the prices up. I’m going to be grafting my trees this spring. I don’t know if I’ll actually save much money when all is said and done, but at least I’ll have learned something.
Oddly enough I have had american persimmons in my landscape most of my life but never ate them. I can tell you that they sometimes take well over 10 years to start fruiting though. I would recommend grafting over yours if you would like something quicker. You have renewed my interest in the wild ones around the property. Think next year I will try to beat whoever is eating them. Problem is the trees are 50-60 feet tall.
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If you have wild ones then maybe you have suckers or seedlings you can graft in the field. @cousinfloyd does this on his property. I’ve noticed persimmon rootstocks can be elusive or pricier than other fruit tree rootstocks which might result in the higher retail prices for grafted trees, but you can grow your own from seed if you have wild trees.
Another advantage of having astringent varieties is the fruit can be dried whole into hoshigaki which are very tasty.
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Have not tried it but, I have heard dried persimmons actually taste a little different and better than fresh. Any truth to that?
No suckers or seedlings here. I am near the end of converting forest to orchard. I kept some of the forest trees like wild persimmon, walnut, mulberry, ect. but most everything else has been leveled.
Dried tastes significantly different. Better or worse is a matter of opinion (are raisins better than grapes?)
American persimmons taste so different from Asians that I don’t think you should group those two astringents together. They have very different flavors.
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Excellent analogy. Your right, it is possible for some people to like grapes but not raisins and vice versa because of the taste/texture change. Dried persimmon is praised pretty highly.
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