The winner here too. Just wish they were bigger.
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Wow, I can’t disagree more. I’ve tasted 7-8 different Asians, 5 Americans, 2 hybrids (JT-02, Kasandra). The two hybrids are by far the best. Maybe I’d have a different view if the persimmons ripened further south.
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Sestronka fruited for the first time for me this year and is the most similar to an Asian persimmon of all the hybrids I’ve grown (Rosseyanka, JT-02, Zima Khurma, Nikita’s Gift, Kasandra) in terms of size and flavor. I think Rosseyanka tastes more like an American persimmon, and Zima Khurma and Nikita’s Gift have the best balance between Asian and American flavor of the hybrids I’ve tasted. Kasandra and JT-02 are more on the Asian side of the spectrum. I agree with @jrd51 that I generally prefer the flavor of most hybrids to that of any Asian and American cultivars. I do appreciate the flavor of American persimmons, but when dried the texture is unappealing to me - more mealy than chewy. Asians and most hybrids except Rosseyanka, on the other hand, are excellent dried, and that’s the way I eat most of my persimmon harvest.
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I am a big fan of americans for the extra flavor… but I tell you this… I had my first tree ripened hybrids (kasandra) and asian (ikkj) this year and they were absolutely delicious.
I had a couple kasandras that did not fully ripen on the tree… and I brought them and they counter ripened in just a few days. These were still very very good.
Now I have had 2 IKKJs … that were picked nice and orange on Nov 5th… and counter ripened for close to a month at room temp.
They finally did fully ripen… to that red soft stage. But they are not nearly as sweet and flavorful as the few fruit I got that actually tree ripened late Sept, early October when we still had hot weather.
Their flavor seems to be much more simple… very similar to a store bought hychia.
I think if you dont have a long enough season for hybrids or asians to fully ripen on the tree while it is still warm… and you are ripening them some other way (off the tree without heat)… that seems to be the flavor and sweetness deminisher to me.
My tree ripened (red soft) IKKJs were delicious… but these that have counter ripened for a month… taste very similar to a store bought hychia. Much more plain and simple taste.
TNHunter
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They were from Mars Organic Farm in NJ.
They were all ripe (minus a few stragglers that ripened later, esp Rosseyanka).
Here’s the fruit thats still leftover today:
I always hear Saiju is a great persimmon but its basically just sugar-water for me. I think my tastes have adapted to the American flavor and i can’t detect anything majorly different in hybrids like Kassandra/etc either. While having 800 hard fruits i can pick hard from my Saiju without much animal losses is pretty cool, I’d prefer the 100% American flavor (But i’ll probably still go back and buy $100 worth of hybrids again next year to try them out 
).
Ive done like 5 side-by-side comparisons so far, and will do 1 more tomorrow to see if i prefer any particular hybrid.
In terms of prettyness, all the trees hybrid or asian were pretty.
i liked how more red the Nikita Gift were getting.
and how the Mikkusu (JT-02) have a bright but light orange color and very flat shape that stands out.
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We ate a IKKJ last night that was red but still somewhat firm (not cunchy)… and the flavor and sweetness in it seemed better than the two red soft fruit we tried recently.
Perhaps they really start to go south flavor and sweetness wise if you let them ripen too much (soft and gooie) on the counter.
We have one fruit left now… it is red but still but still somewhat firm. We will eat it tonight and expect it to be very good.
TNHunter
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I made apretty interesting observation about dehydrating persimmons.
Using a dehydrator works well, but the flavor changes for the worse. I found when I used the dehydrator, the taste was muted/dull, and the complexity of the spicy flavor became almost nonexistent. The texture too, suffered from being gummy instead of date-like.
I left a bowl of persimmons in my fridge for almost 2 months now. These have become progressively more dry, with a couple of them dehydrating almost to a date like texture. The flavor and texture of Dollywood, with it’s more wet and fruity profile, has changed dramatically. It is intensely flavored, rich as rich can be. Brown sugar, warm spices and carmalized sweet potato casarole. These are fantastic, and had I intentionally sliced, massaged and flipped these, they would have become like the couple that have dehydrated more fully.
The hoshigaki method is too prone to mold with the americans because they have so much moisture, but the near freezing temps of a refrigerator and the constant “defrost” dehydration has largely prevented mold. Low, slow dehydrating in a cold and dry environment might be the way to go with american persimmons.
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In my experience, this is true for Americans but not for Asians.
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Nice. I wonder if you could place a fan in the fridge blowing on the persimmon, to accelerate the process? It would be convenient (and probably safer) if they could be dried an a few weeks instead of a few months.
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people do this sort of set up in minifridges for dry aging meat. could work.
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This is an N=1 scenario, but I would guess that there are different aromatic compounds in the American persimmons that change or dissipate when exposed to higher temperatures. Asian persimmons have little of that flavor to begin with, and the dried fruit/ date flavor becomes dominant. When I get hoshigaki, they are missing the strong flavors that I have in these dried Americans.
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Yeah, I am a bit of an adventurous eater. I have let some sit out this season, and I ate them after they had fermented. The ones I ate never got bad tasting; it was more like a cider. I feel like persimmons would work really well for cider blends or maybe even as a beer. I know they used to make persimmon wine, but I wonder how they separated the juice from the fiber and what kind of viscosity the end product made.
I think if these were intentionally split or smooshed flat, that they would dry a lot faster. A fan would be even better.
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I made fruit leather out of some very tasty wild americans… and the end product was not very tasty at all. It was low on flavor and sweetness.
I will have to try that with some asians and hybrids and see how it turns out.
TNHunter
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Have a bunch of it in the freezer now. It works good on asians. I used non astringents after they had turned soft and threw them in the blender. Made great fruit rollups.
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has anyone tried freeze drying?
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that was my reaction to Kasandra last year
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This would be interesting. I guess some persimmons might naturally freeze and thaw dry on the tree. A video I watched from Edible Landscaping said that the Rosseyanka would hang and dry in Virginia.
Someone should try it out! Probably a bit costly for large amounts though.
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Picked a few the night before the first freeze.
11-11-25
From top to bottom:
12-21
Nakita’s Gift
Bozhy Dar. 15-30
Rosseyanka
Just sitting on the counter to ripen Nakita and Bozhy which were already turning red were very good. 12-21 and Rossey never became palatable.
Left a few on the tree through a few freeze and thaw cycles. This one is Rossey.
This was your early white Christmas picture.
And now.
Definitely not dried out yet, the inside is almost the consistency of pulp that has already been processed. Taste good with zero astringency, but very messy to eat out of hand.
Happy Holidays!
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Finally ate one of the JT-02s I had picked firm to counter ripen. They’re all this size, which seems to be on the smaller size. We had a fairly decent drought and I didn’t irrigate. These are also the tree’s first fruits so my expectations were not super high. The texture was soft and gooey, and the flavors included date and caramel. Overall pretty pleasing.
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That’s weird. Theoretically drying fruit should concentrate flavors, and sugars. If it’s a matter of heat, would it make a difference if the heat units is set way low on a dehydrator, and just blowing air across the pulp at like 90*F ?
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