Wow that’s good to know. I’m cooler than Vancouver, so maybe with a little protection new persimmons will work. Funny how PNW pushes the envelope to grow like Ca, while Ca searches for low-chill apples.
The past 2 years I made a small batch of hoshigaki in the garage. I had read something that recommended drying them for 3 weeks. But I discovered that for myself 2 weeks is much better. When they’re fully dried out they’re too much like dry jujubes or fruit leather – nowhere near as good!
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@cdamarjian, how well did the vodka work for you?
One problem with mold is that it tends to spread from one fruit to the others nearby. Ideally, we get dry weather (or do this inside your house, where the heater sucks the moisture out of the air). That keeps mold to a minimum.
In my own batches, I inspected them daily. If I caught one that had a very small spot of white mold on it, I’d treat the spot ASAP. But if it reappeared or grew, I pulled that fruit off the rack entirely so the mold wouldn’t spread to the others.
Vodka was a good temporary fix for mold. But my ghouse setting (with the last of the tomatoes hanging on) just had too many opportunities for re-infection. Next year I’ll try a few different indoor spots.
Can they be dried in a box fan oast like this?
I am not growing hops yet, but I have been thinking about making one for drying fruit.
This set-up would work great for hops (I’ve dried hops over a wood stove and it took only about 2 hours) but most fruit requires a lot more sustained heat, sometimes 1 and 1/2 days. It probably would be dangerous to run a space heater for that long. As for persimmons, drying astringent Saijo in a regular dehydrator for 1 and 1/2 days did not remove astringency. It must be something about the lengthy Hoshigati drying that works to remove astringency.