@Red Star. I agree with you that there are a lot of good quality Asian persimmons that you will never see at the store. Saijo, for example, tastes good and you’ll never see it there. I’ve also had many others. Yes, they tend to be the astringent ones. I still just prefer the American ones due to their complex flavors. I’m not saying that everyone else should agree with me. It’s just what I prefer. There are a lot of places where only American persimmons are grown, and down in much of California, they only grow Asian persimmons. We grow both kinds here. I think everyone should try many of each to see what they would like to grow and eat.
Have you tried Kassandra? It is 75% Chinese and 25% American. It is hardy and full of flavor. Texture is probably similar to American too. The size is probably between Chinese and American persimmons too.
I am personally most interested in what I could grow in my 6b location, yes. But at the same time, it would be nice if this topic could be useful to many folks, maybe down to zone 5b or 6a, and up to zone 8. The only way that can happen is if those living in a variety of zones, and who have successfully grown several kinds of persimmons, mention which types had the best taste for them. It would fall to the reader to determine what has a good chance of successfully growing in their area. Is this an achievable goal? I am resigned to the fact that some folks’ favorites would not make it in my neck of the woods.
@ Red Sun: I haven’t tried Kassandra. I like Nikita’s Gift. They come out with new varieties every year and I can’t taste all of them, but I would like to.
John S
PDX OR
I’m trying to stay accurate with this information on provenance. Can you help me with the arithmetic? I believe that Kassandra is 50% Chinese Kaki (Great Wall) on one side, then the rest is F2 Rosseyanka back-crossed to D. Virginiana. So I think that would be 37.5% unnamed D. Virginiana and 12.5% unnamed D. Kaki, probably Japanese but I really don’t know. How do you get to 75% Chinese? Thx.
Great Wall is presumed to be 100% DK and crossed to an F2 Rosseyanka (we don’t know the parental genetics for sure on this one but it is stated as Rosseyanka X DV). Given the uncertainty, Kassandra could be 62.5% DK and 37.5% DV. I would love to see the actual parentage to verify.
As with many above, I agree Saijo is one of the best.
Glad to see the comment by @Fusion_power, “I agree Saijo is one of the best.” It sounds like Kassandra deserves to be on such list, too. With that, may I encourage turning the discussion from persimmon genetics back again to Top 5s? As @Barkslip pointed out above, we have a topic already going on this in a reply on Jan 31, '22.
One variety I have wondered about, but don’t see mentioned often these days, is Sheng. Is it in the Top 5 for anyone? I’d kind of like to trial that myself. If anyone has scions to share,PM me, please.
My friend has both Kassandra and Rosseyanka that we bought together. Their friends have Sheng, Fuyu and Ichi Ki Kei Jiru.
Sheng is an early astringent variety. Fruit is very large. Suitable for fresh eating and for dried persimmon. That is their main “crop”.
Kassandra is commonly or a little late variety. Could be a little earlier than American. I’m not so sure. I picked some on 10/3/2021 and rest of them on 10/31/2021. They are small, but very sweet. If you do not want fruits to be very soft (and wet), pick them before frost. Frost can ruin the skin.
My friends much prefer the flavor of Kassandra over all the rest. But Kassandra is for fresh eating only and due to its small size, production is on the low side. Can’t make dry persimmon since they turn a bit soft when picked ripe off the trees.
Years ago I grew Giboshi with a nearby Gailey pollinator. Pollinated/seeded Giboshi is plain fabulous.
Gailey has dropped off the face of the earth as far as I can tell. Used to be used commercially to pollinate orchards. I’ve tried and failed grafting other males (Chocolate, Rojo B) to pollinate my current seedless Giboshi which is very good but not as complex as pollinated, at least as I recall.
Thanks for the input. I’ve got scions of Giboshi, slated for grafting. It’s reportedly the best PVNA and also reportedly very amenable to ethanol treatment. My fingers are crossed that I can get top flavor without seeds, but if necessary I may eventually graft on a male-flowering scion.
My favorite natives are early golden, yates, and ruby. My favorite asian’s are (hands down my #1 favorite is giboshi also known as smiths best) saijo and hanafuyu.
