Wild persimmon flavor varies a lot from tree to tree. I’ve tasted lots of them that were better than named varieties, but they are usually smaller with lots of seeds.
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It was interesting: some had 6 seeds for that small size and some had 2.
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The only reason I used such green under-ripe fruit this year is that I have a deadline of October 10 (the local Hoshi Gaki contest with $100 prize) and wanted to try to finish 2 different batches before then. I will start a second batch as soon as these are sufficiently done.
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Ahh, that makes sense. Thanks for explaining, and good luck!
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My Meader persimmons are not ripe yet. Seems later than usual. Still very green.
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Are you getting lots of rain there too now?
@jrd51.. I found a post from 2023 where you gave some details on size and taste of H63A and Barbaras Blush.
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H-63A. These are obviously small. I ate the two that seemed the most ripe. They were well-flavored. In this small sample, they were the best.
- 1 Barbra’s Blush. This is the fruit I found on the ground. Given where it fell, it had to be from either the Prok tree or the BB grafts. Given that it was completely non-stringent, I infer that it is Barbra’s Blush. It was slightly larger than the H63A. I ate it. It was delicious but slightly less intensely flavored than the H63A. Given the small samples, I’d happily call this a tie.
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That is pretty much exactly how I am describing them so far.
H63A has the most intense flavor..fruity, rich sweet, delicious but is a bit smaller fruit than Barbaras Blush.
Barbaras Blush has all those .. nice rich fruity flavor, sweet, delicious but a little less intense than H63A.
My 25 year old son has tasted several H63A so far and he says (that richness I am referring to) does include some caramel flavor and perhaps a little vanilla too.
Barbaras Blush has that too.. just a little bit less intense than H63A.
I have a Prok and some BB and H63A in my ripening chamber now.
I will have my son and son in law do a taste test soon and list all the special flavors they can detect in all those.
To me Prok is large but it tasted very similar to the others, just toned down a bit more.. more mild, not as intense.. but still very enjoyable.
TNHunter
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OK, thanks. Me too. Mid to late Sept is when those two varieties begin to ripen here. Dollywood is later. i may also get somne fruit from H-118 and Morris Burton.
My issue is partly personal – my fruit garden is a huge multi-species experiment. I’ve planted way more of everything that i can actually use. So one problemis what to do with it all, other than let it ort. Some excess (apples, pears) I can donate to the local food bank. But American persimmons are not a good candidate. Neither are most berries. I give away figs but the big donations go to a restaurant that can store and use them properly. Some of it can be dried (e.g., figs) or frozen (e.g., blueberries); and i store a ton of both. But i’m not aware of any technique to store American persimmons while preserving taste and sweetness.
The bigger problem is that there’s just too much work. I can barely manage it all.
So i’m beginning a process of cutting back where i can. You’ll recall that this year I removed three Gerardi mulberries that were mediocre here; Illinois Everbearing confirmed its superiority this year, bearing delicious fruit from late June into early September. My hybrid American plums have a target on their back – they’ve never produced much. And the American persimmons are on trial. If they don’t show me something soon, i’m gonna top-work all of them to hybrids.
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I assume you’ve tried freezing them already, did it impact the taste a lot? I ask because I see myself running into the same situation some years from now since I already have 6 persimmon trees in the ground and have read a mature American persimmon (my Prok for example) can produce something like 100lbs of fruit.
I read another option other than freezing ripe fruit whole is to puree the pulp and freeze that, for use in baked items. I’m personally looking at garage freezers and plan to get one fully dedicated for fruit since my main kitchen fridge is not handling everything I have planned. Might even do a second freezer in the garage if one is not enough.
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No we have been dry. Grass was turning brown. About a half inch so far this month. August was very wet with about 6 1/2 inches for the month.
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Im telling yall use the excess pulp to make persimmon soap. That shit is 20 dollars a bar
Or sell to some soap shop i guess. Or donate
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Thanks. I have a freezer dedicated to my stuff. It’s packed with venison, fish, blueberries, apples, tomatoes . . . . stuff that freezes well. Soon it will get some pawpaws. Those are all items that i would use. I can’t imagine using large quantities of frozen persimmons.
We also dry a huge amount of figs, apples and pears. And i’ll dry some Asian persimmons and possibly hybrids. I’m just not sure that Americans make the cut.
We don’t eat much baked stuff. Mostly fruit-laden pies and galettes. Very littlle bread. Zero cake. It’s a soft Paleo approach with most of the carbs from fruit and vegetables. Banana bread on holidays.
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First time even hearing this is a thing. I’ll have to look into it for when I start getting true excess of fruit. Seems like a cool use case and I know some people that have generally made soap before that could help me.
I just like having whole frozen Persimmons, you can get them out give them a quick wash in hot water peel the whole skin back if you want, and then leave them on a plate until they’re unfrozen enough to your liking, they’re a great ice cream substitute or at least better than popsicles!
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I’ll be in a similar predicament with Persimmons. My idea is to eat as many as I can ripe/raw, give a bunch to family when they visit (a parting gift), I have a daily Kefir smoothie… they will go in my daily smoothies. Then the rest can be used to make stuff like Persimmon jam/jelly/etc. It would simplify my life during Christmas time. Instead of giving unique gifts to 20+ people during Christmas. They are all getting Persimmon jam. 
I have enough fruit I’m growing to experiment with different flavors. That should be fun over the years.
The jam will allow me to enjoy Persimmons throughout Winter, Spring, and Summer. Then do it all over again the next harvest.
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My tiny first year tree now has one leaf left. I took too long to look closely enough to see the caterpillars doing the damage. I’m no moth person, but the 3 doing the damage appeared to be Unicorn Moth caterpillers. Kinda worried about this one. It leafed out really fast when I planted it, but hasn’t put out a new leaf since Spring.
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Will these Kassandra ripen? Picked them because possum is testing them - teeth marks on fruit near by that are of similar size and color.
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Well.. last night we had my son Cole 25 year old.. and my son in law Houston 30 year old over for dinner … also my daughter and granddaughter.
After dinner I set up Cole and Houston to do some persimmon taste testing. Note both of these guys have persimmon eating experience.. mostly with Rich Tooie, Persimonilla, Kasandra, IKKJ.
I prepped 1 large Prok persimmon split in half. 2 Barbaras Blush and 2 H63As.
They both started with Prok and both agreed the flavor was good but quite mild. They noticed that right off. Once they realized how mild it was they really had little else to say about it. It is good.. but because of the mildness not very good.
They moved on to H63A next.
My son Cole really liked H63A.. he said it has that rum cake flavor he loves.. he said specifically caramel, vanilla and rum cake and a strong intense fruity flavor.
Houston noticed mostly the intense fruity flavor and agreed it was very good.. much better than Prok.
Neither of these guys has ever tasted an apricot so they did not associate the fruity flavor with any specific fruit.. but just that it has a very strong fruity flavor and plenty of richness to go with it.
They tried Barbaras Blush last.
My son Cole said this is very good, similar to H63A but a little milder and more balanced classic persimmon flavor.
Houston agreed BB was excellent. He liked it a little better than H63A.. and mentioned the classic persimmon flavor, full bodied, more balanced flavor. He said I like BB better than H63A.
But he had left half of a H63A uneaten and when he ate it he said wow that is good.
Both of these guys are probably a little partial to the flavor of Rich Tooie.. since they have been eating thise for a few years.. and Rich Tooie taste more like BB than it does H63A.
Hope that helps some with flavor details on those 3.
TNHunter
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Thanks. That is useful.
So here’s my prioblem: Or problems. First, in my ecperience American fruit has to be carefully curated. Someone has to monitor the fruit, then pick it soon after it loses astringency but not after it plops on the ground. Also, the specific fruit needs to be free from serious flaws, such as cracking around the calyx, which allows for invasion oif spoilage organisms. Without this careful curation, the exoperience of eating an American persimmon is unreliable.
Contrast with either (1) a good Kaki or Hybrid persimmon, which can be eaten ripe off the tree or after some time on the kitchen counter with strong confidence that quality will be high. I have the most experience with Kasandra and i can pick and eat a dozen in succession with zero issues; and (2) many other popular fruits, such as apples or pears. You can pick and eat any one of the hundreds of apples sitting on a given tree in late September or October, confident that it will taste great. If it’s a little under-ripe, it may be less sweet or more tart. If it’s a little over-ripe, it m ay be a buit mushy. But either way, its a tasty fruit. Here, maybe one in 5 American persimmons is B+ quality or better.
Second, a taste test like this tells us that an American persimmon may be worth eating if there is nothing else available. The real question is: If there’s a choice among, say, H63A, IKKJ, Saijo, Kasandra, and Dar Sofiyivki, which will I (or my wife or my grandkids) choose? Right now i’d have to say that H63A (or any other American) is last on the list. So should I grow it? I want the eating experience to be not merely novel but spectacular.
My assessment of these fruits may be impacted by my location. It seems entirely possible to me that American persimmons are much better further south.
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One other bit of information about the flavor of H63A and Barbaras Blush.
My trees are young.
Last year my H63A was in year 2 and it ripened 7 fruit.
I was not all that impressed with it last year because it mostly just tasted very fruity… I dont recall any richness.
Last year my Barbaras Blush was in year 3 and it ripened 9 persimmons.
I was much more impressed with them because they tasted very similar to Rich Tooie.. a nice balance between fruity and richness.
This year they are both a year older.. a little more mature and H63A has developed a nice dose of richness that is very good combined with the strong fruity flavor.
I first noticed the richness come on strong in H63A when we had a string of weeks bumping 100 degrees and I had H63A fruit on and ripening.
If you have a H63A and you are still just getting that strong fruity apricot type flavor… perhaps it just needs to mature a little more… or some extra hot summer will bring that on.
Barbaras Blush had a good amount of richness in year 1 and 2.
TNHunter
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