I have a couple non-astringent persimmons fruiting this year. Some of the fruit has colored up very nicely to a deep orange while some is still a paler orange, but they all still feel like they’d be crunchy. I think Phil said something in his video that he just posted, though, about persimmons getting soft on the inside first, so I’m wondering if it’s better to pick them before they start to soften. Will they ripen more evenly/uniformly off the tree? I don’t have a lot of experience eating non-astringent persimmons, but I think I like them best just slightly soft, about like a peach, where I can slice it into pieces that will still very much hold their shape, but not at all crunchy any more. Thanks in advance for any advice or pointers.
My impression is that if there is even a hint of orange when picked, the persimmon will eventually sweeten and turn orange. Once it is all orange, I doubt there is much/any benefit to letting them hang longer and certainly not enough to outweigh the various risks of leaving them hang.
I picked all my chocolate when they were red but still hard and they ripened on my kitchen table. The birds got none this year.
I currently have over 100 Fuyu on my kitchen table, picked about two weeks ago and did not soften yet. Still waiting but getting there slowly without any help.
Most people eat the Fuyu before they soften. While the are crisp, or at least firm.
The Surugas here develop the best flavor with the least amount of funky astringent aftertaste when the fruit-top leaves become 100% brown/dry/crumbly, and at that time taste like wonderful, sweet, juicy sugar cane with cinnamon added. Great treat. The Fuyus and Hana Fuyus have no such partial astringency to prompt the extended waiting time, but still taste their best when the leaves are similarly brown/dry/crumbly. They get picked just as the firmness begins to lessen a bit, or they get picked/rescued sooner if critters become an issue. If there are woodpeckers/fruitpeckers poking holes, or wasps eating out holes, or rodents munching on the fruit that are not pickable, they get protected to allow more ripeneing time by enclosing them in plastic grocery bags.
that includes me! As with most fruits, it is often more refreshing when many of the fruit cells are still living, or haven’t been dead for too long.
but going back to topic, any tinge of yellow is a sign the fruit is mature and will ripen on its own. California farms ship their fuyu produce at >90% green early in the season, and don’t notice any difference with later crops
When does suruga ripen for you compared to the others. My understanding is that it’s fairly late, otherwise I’d try it in a pot here in Mass.
It’s hard to judge the color through the yellow gauze, but it looks like they are mostly orange so I’d expect them to get palatable and deeper colored inside if picked now.
I would pick them when they become dark orange in color, that’s when they reach peak flavor and sweetness. Yellow is under ripe.
