Personally I like soft persimmons with a jelly like consistency and high flavor.
But I realize there are others with who prefer firmer texture with less sweetness and flavor.
Perhaps the CO2 could be a valuable technique that can be used to produce crunchy/juicy persimmons for those that like them but cannot grow the non astringent kinds due to their climate.
I wonder if this technique can be used on American persimmons picked before they fall or hybrids that are very cold tolerant.
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I have tried CO2 treatment using small gas cylinder on Hoverla and Nikitas Gift with no success. After treatment the fruit was still mildly astringent when firm and turned soft in few days. These are hybrids…unlikely to work with American persimmon. I can’t imagine eating hard and crunchy D.virginiana.
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I have used CO2 treatment on nearly all my variaties including nikitskaya and it works fine for all of them. Personally I prefer a naturally softened persimmon because I like the juiciness and the more pronounced aroma. But it seems that most people prefer a crunchy persimmon. In Europe e.g. it is virtually impossible to market a soft type pca persimmon because people wouldn’t even know what to do with it. They would bite in an astringent persimmon, throw it away in horror and never try to eat one again …they just don’t know any better.
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Mikatani, I thank you for posting this. I’d been thinking of how to use dry ice, but I have a Sodastream and that seems so simple and obvious now that you suggest it, but it hadn’t occurred to me.
I also prefer a perfectly ripened astringent persimmon. The problem is, its a very small window during which it is optimal, and its difficult to nail it on more than a few fruit if you want to eat one or two a day for many days.
What I like about non-astringent persimmons is that I can buy a dozen of them and start eating them right away until I’m finished with them.
Treated seems the best of both worlds.
I also have a handful of American persimmons that have been coloring up slowly and I’m afraid they’ll be damaged or stolen by wildlife before I pick them. When I do pick them firm, I don’t know when they are safe to eat. I prefer them firm soft, rather than mush, but it is very risky both from an experience and waste perspective if I try to get them at just the moment they’ve lost their astringency.
If I use your method, perhaps I can just eat them when the texture seems ideal, and not worry about whether all the astringency is gone.
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I haven’t tried the method with american persimmon and don’t know if it will work but it’s worth a try. It works fine for nikitas gift so it may also work for americans. I’ll try rosseyanka and see how that works…
Just wanted to follow up on this thread… I had a lot of NG this year, so I picked some prematurely in October hoping to artificially ripen them. I didn’t treat them with CO2, but I closed them up in ziplock bags. They turned bright red and ripened, but the taste wasn’t as good as leaving on the tree as long as possible. Some still haven’t ripened up yet despite being a deep red.
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We haven’t had frost yet and leaves are still green.
All neighborhood trees still have persimmons on them. Maybe they can keep ripening on the tree into December
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Ramv
How come you don’t put your Nikita’s gift trees into the ground? Your climate is very mild.
It is in ground Tony.
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I am still putting fruit sox on my American persimmons here in Portland during the last 5 days. The fruit is hard when I put them on and softening up, developing a spectacular flavor. It keeps the birds and squirrels off of them.
John S
PDX OR
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They are coloring up beautifully here. Should start tree ripening In a week or so.
Saijo by comparison seems much later
I am looking into a second, and possibly third persimmon to go next to NG. Should I go with a full American, another hybrid, or a Saijo? I need to decide before they are all bought up.
Last year I tried something I had read about with fully-colored persimmons that were given to me.
These gift fruits would take weeks to ripen in the house, even a month.
When I put the tip of a knife blade in a half-inch or so and created several injuries around the equator of the fruit, those ripened in days instead of weeks.
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I would recommend an Asian and an American since they are so different from each other. Saijo is a good Asian to grow. Vincent likes Giombo so that might be a good one to grow too. Saijo ripens around mid to late November here.
Nikita’s gift ripens in early November here.
An American such as Prok or Early Jewel might be the next one. The good thing is that Prok/Early Jewel will start ripening in late Sept/early October so will extend the season quite a bit.
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@ramv have you found a persimmon variety more intense and rich than Nikita’s gift? How does it compare to a squishy sligthly wrinkled hachia?
To date, my favorite is still Nikita’s gift. That said, my other Americans and hybrids aren’t large enough to produce fruit.
Oh Hachiya is excellent tasting. One of the best Asian varieties. But the hybrids have a more complex taste. NG has a firmer texture as well when fully ripe.
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have you heard of or tasted tanenashi?
I’m told not tasty. Hira tanenashi a good one however.