Persimmons were not ever considered poverty food. Actually, they came into the stores for the holidays. By Thanksgiving you could finally find them in the supermarkets. They were and still are considered a specialty fruit. They arrived in the markets about the same time as pomegranates. Always very expensive, due to the fact they were not widely grown in the United States.
As for the American, or ,wild persimmon, they grew primarily in the northeast. Again more of a rarity than a crop. The wild persimmon, when ripe were high in sugar and a form of molasses was made from them. Poverty food is moreso the potato, onion corn and more.
The Kaki, native to China took a while to start growing here.
Wild American persimmons were and are considered poverty food by many, especially by Euro-Americans. As we moved away from a pioneer mentality, most wild foods were considered poverty foods, even the now much-loved blueberry. More bluntly, many white folks in the 18th and 19th centuries considered persimmons “only fit for negroes and Indians.”* When I lived in the south and the plains, most people I talked to still hold the idea that they are poverty food at best, and the wild persimmons were the only kind they knew about.
The exception, of course, is parts of the midwest where persimmon puddings and other treats have stayed a part of Euro-American food traditions. I think it’s no coincidence that’s where most of the best wild types (and subsequent bred varieties) hail from.
*for more on this, check out Michael Twitty’s excellent book The Cooking Gene
We move to cities, rely on processed, stored food, losses touch with where everything came from…then as we get older we look to nature and what it has always provided and struggle to find what has been lost.
Deer food is all I thought wild persimmons were good for as a kid. We put up a deer hunting stands on our farm next to persimmon trees and wait for the deer to come by to eat them.
I picked a bunch after several hard freezes for my mom to make a pudding out of them. Wasn’t worth the trouble as it was still astringent. So never paid any attention to picking anymore.
There use to be one growing on a fence line that had huge fruit on it that we would ride past when out motorcycle riding but no one ever stopped to try them.
As far as people knowing about persimmon, its probably 50/50 and more like @jcguarneri said. Most folks I ask only remember the astringentcy from childhood pranks, and are unfamiliar with kaki types. I’m in South Carolina.
That’s consistent with my experience with folks around here. You’ve typed what I started trying to say yesterday, but didn’t finish for lack of clear wording.
Just yesterday a woman I was talking to knew there were two types, the crunchy ones and the ones that make your mouth feel fuzzy.
Around where I live, it’s just as much the rural poor living in mobile homes who eat mostly processed food as it is people in town. You’d think with all the yardage they have, more of them would garden, but they don’t.
As best I can tell, it’s culturally and economically impoverished folk who most often eat out of cans and boxes their whole lives. I say culturally impoverished, because most of the poor Hispanics still use a lot of fresh ingredients. And it’s not like fresh ingredients are too costly (I really HATE that excuse). A bag of carrots costs less than a snickers bar. A Big Mac meal these days costs the same as an entire half loin. The cost in using fresh ingredients is time, effort, and know-how, not financial (ok, rant over).
The rural poor used to grow a lot of their own food, but that mostly stopped about two generations back.
Well, at least in my area. I know it’s different in other places.
So having already stated that though I just planted a persimmon tree, I haven’t ever eaten one.
Well there is a persimmon tree just off a local highway that I see driving by. Stopped to take a photo and grab one…
I am assuming it is an American persimmon by the small sized fruit. Many had already dropped. Size smaller than a pong ping ball but bigger than a cherry.
So THAT’S what they taste like? Or at least this one.
It was quite a complex flavor. I’m not sure I’ve processed it yet. Texture wise it was a bit like taking a spoonful of partially granulated honey. Definitely left an astringent aftertaste I could feel on my teeth. Ended up brushing after I got home.
I still can’t tell you what it tasted like… Sweet, gummy. Probably a persimmon but I didn’t have that adjective until now.
Looking forward to my own tree’s fruit in a few years.
And now you know. Pretty great, right? Once the astringency is fully gone, it’s quite amazing .The Asian persimmons are much subtler, but similar in flavor.
Did you pick it off the tree, or the ground? My rule of thumb for American persimmon is that they should fall off the tree on their own or with only a shake to be ready.
I have 2 nice sized female American persimmons that produce very astringent fruit. Could I just bud or graft other varieties to these trees? If that would be a fairly simple and reasonably successful thing to do, what varieties would be the best tasting right off the tree in the Seattle eastside area?
There are a bunch of threads already started on the best persimmons. You should start with reading there and then think about what variety best fits your space and climate.
