I really enjoy hoshigaki especially when I drink various green teas. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find and expensive when available. These Hachiya persimmons were a decent buy at $18 a box so I decided to try my hand at drying them.
Following this with great interest. Has anyone tried this with American or hybrid persimmons? I plan to once my orchard is up and producing.
I usually boiled a pot of water and dipped them in for 15 seconds and hang them. Massaged them when turned a little brown and wrinkly.
Tony
I think @Bass has successfully dried the hybrid Rossyanka if memory serves me right.
@tonyOmahaz5 why do you boil them prior to drying? Do you dry yours outdoors or indoors? How often do you massage them?
I boiled them right before hanging them indoor. I massaged them every 4 days. No mildew so far by boiling them for 15 seconds.
Yes I dried russyanka and saijo and both came out excellent. It’s not worth making if you’re paying for the fresh fruit. You can buy them already dried in Asian market for less.
Cool! I didn’t think it would be much of a stretch for the hybrids to work, but good to hear that it’s been done successfully before.
I will be very interested to follow this, too.
@tonyOmahaz5
Thought you were the one posting this Youtube drying persimmons naturally in China a couple of years ago.
I’ve found the video very interesting and beautiful. I wish I had persimmon trees producing like that.
I also bought one box of dried and frozen every few months and kept them frozen moist in the freezer for year around enjoyment with green tea. $14 for 35 dried flat shape ones.
Tony
Ooh, I’ll have to keep an eye out for those next time I go to the Asian market.
I’m wondering if anyone on this forum has ever made hoshigaki more or less the traditional way and then compared that to persimmons simply dried in a dehydrator. How different are they? I know persimmons dried in a dehydrator are normally sliced, but I’ve dehydrated whole persimmons, too, and I think I slightly prefer the results dehydrating them whole (and peeled).
Have you tried this method on any of your virginiana varieties? Or just the kakis?
@tonyOmahaz5 and @PharmerDrewee,
You guys made me feel like I need some persimmons. Went to the largest Asian Market in the city. Fuyu is $1.99 a lb. Hachiya are 3 for $5,
Tony, is it better to ripen them in a paper bag with bananas or apples?
I may try to line-dry a few, just for practice.
I used the ripe banana.
Chips from a dehydrator are crispy like potato chips. They taste nice but too chewy for me. I made my first hoshigaki this year. Picked fruit when it was still quite hard and have had success. Last year the fruit were too soft and all failed. Fruit are mostly saijo.
Frozen persimmons from the local chinese grocery?
I just leave them in the table surrounded by other assorted fruit, one week later and they’re nice and soft.
Has anyone tried drying Fuyu persimmons like this? Does it work? Fuyu are much cheaper here than Hachiyas.
