Gathering Wild Persimmons
Harvesting wild persimmons – How to harvest them, where to find them, how to know if they are ripe, their health benefits, and the difference between wild ones and those from the grocery store.
Fall has officially arrived. How do I know? The wild persimmons are ripe. We are fortunate to have a wild persimmon tree on the edge of our woods producing a sweet delight every fall and early winter.
Wild Persimmons vs Grocery Store Persimmons
Wild persimmons are not quite the same as those available commercially. They are much smaller in size – not even as big as a golf ball – and they have lots of large seeds.
Some people think, because of the small flesh to seed ratio, they are too much trouble to eat. But given their rich, luscious taste, I just consider it a lesson in well-rewarded patience.
Health Benefits of Wild Persimmons
Like many wild edible plants, wild persimmons are higher in nutrients than their cultivated counterparts. Just one tiny persimmon gives you 27% of the vitamin C you need for the day!
Pucker Up … Or How to Tell if a Persimmon is Ripe
How can you tell if the fruit is ripe? LOL! It isn’t very difficult! Just one mouth-puckering taste of an unripe persimmon and you’ll never want to make that mistake again. (Yes, I know this from experience.)
A wild persimmon is not fully ripe until it is super soft, somewhat mushy, and very wrinkled. To the inexperienced, a truly ripe persimmon may seem to be overripe and on the verge of spoiling (it definitely lacks the shelf appeal of commercial fruit!), but anything less will leave a nasty chalk feel in your mouth and make your mouth pucker.
Unripe or partially ripe persimmons should not be eaten.
We usually allow the ripe fruit to fall from the tree before gathering. The ones still attached to the branches are usually unripe.
Where to Find Wild Persimmons
The persimmon tree grows wild in zones 6 to 10 in areas that have moderate winters. They can be found along fence rows, on the edge of the woods, in rich bottom lands, along roadsides, and in parks of New Jersey, Southern Pennsylvania, Southern Ohio, Southern Indiana, Southern Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Eastern Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.
Persimmon trees prefer full sun, so fruit production may diminish on trees growing along the edge of woodlands as the woods grow out around the tree.
In late fall when most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, a persimmon tree crowded with loads of little apricot-colored fruit can really stand out.
When to Harvest Wild Persimmons
Depending on where you live, wild persimmons begin to ripen September through late November. Light frost doesn’t harm the fruit, so they can be picked very late in the year.
Do you have to wait for a frost before you harvest persimmons? Nope. Persimmon ripeness is not dependent upon a frost. Depending on where you live and the weather, persimmons can be perfectly ripe long before the first frost.
How to Make Persimmon Pulp for Jam or Pudding or Bread
To do anything with this fruit other than eating them straight up, you’ll need to extract the pulp. How do you extract persimmon pulp? You’ll need a food mill or a strainer – otherwise known as a jelly-making strainer or a China cap or a cone and pestle or a Chinois or a conical sieve. It goes by lots of names!
To use a strainer –
Be sure to use only very, very, very, very ripe persimmons. Place strainer in its stand. Place a container/bowl under the strainer. Remove stems from persimmons. Place a few clean and ripe (!) persimmons into the strainer. Use the pestle to press the fruit against the sides of the strainer. The fruit pulp will squeeze out the strainer holes and the seeds will stay in the strainer.
This is not a 5-minute task. It takes a while to get enough pulp to do anything with. Since it is so time-consuming, I usually just do enough for a couple very small containers (about 1/4 cup each) and keep them in the freezer for a yummy spread for toast.
To use a food mill –
Be sure to use only very ripe persimmons. They should be really mushy and wrinkly. Place a container/bowl under the food mill. Remove stems from persimmons. Place clean, very ripe (!) fruit into the food mill. Turn the handle. And keep turning. 🙂 The pulp squishes out the bottom and the seeds will stay in the food mill.
You can use the pulp right away or freeze it for later use. This pulp makes a nice spread for toast or waffles. It can also be added to cookies or bread.
Sweet, Rich Autumn Treat
I recently saw on a website that wild persimmons were not meant to be eaten out-of-hand, but rather included in cookies and other baked goods. I guess someone should have told our family that many years ago. We thoroughly enjoy the sugar-sweet feast every autumn.
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I have eaten many a wild persimmon in my 71 years on this planet. I used to pick them off the trees in the winter when I was out rabbit hunting, they were small and shriveled like raisins but were as sweet as sugar. My old aunt, who was born back in 1892, used to pack them in fruit jars where rather than spoiling they would collapse into a sticky mess but remain sweet and edible for quite some time.
My Japanese wife prefers the seedless Asian types that are large but the little wild ‘simmon is the one for me.
I had a friend a few years back who had a small herd of goats. The goats used to lay under a persimmon tree that was in their pasture eagerly waiting for a persimmon to fall. These goats were no fools and knew what was good.
My crazy goats will climb the tree to eat them!!
Lol! Really? That’s hilarious!
Yes
I bought a house 3 years ago with this crazy tree in the back yard. Since then have been trying to figure out what this beautiful fall fruit was and could I eat it. I will admit I tasted one a while back to see if it would make me sick. I see the deer eat them every year so I figured I should be ok. Yuck!! It was obviously not ripe or just not meant for me to eat is what I thought. So happy I found your blog. My tree is so full and fall is almost here and I cannot wait to try again using your advice.
Lol! Those unripe ones sure are terrible. 🙂 I hope the deer leave you a few persimmons and you get to enjoy some ripe ones this year!
here on the west coast of Florida, it is August 2014 and the ripe fruit are falling to the ground already.
My wife thinks I am nuts to “mess around” with this little fruit, but man, it is a treat. As if it wasn’t enough of a chore to harvest and ready them for eating, I like to peel the skin off, as I find it better without. I am on the hunt for some kind of recipe for making a bread (ala….banana bread) with the fruits.
Jam’s or Jellies are not for me, this fruit needs no extra sweetener.
I read one article that stated persimmons could be used exactly as banana would be in baked goods. I was thinking of gathering some when they ripen in Oct and trying substituting them in my favorite banana-bread recipe.
Later response: Hope you found a persimmon pudding recipe. It can’t be beat. You need a food mill to extract seeds from the pulp. But you probably already know that. Happy persimmon picking.
THE BEST is persimmon pudding, made mostly in southern Indiana. But cakes ,cookies, bread, is great too.
Look up persimmon pudding. It’s not much of a pudding at least in the sense in the u.s. it is closer to a brownie or I guess maybe an English pudding who knows either way it’s famtastic.
Persimmon cookies are a wonderful treat. Just look them up on line. My grandma used to make these for us when we were growing up. She always used raisins and walnuts in hers. I prefer just the walnuts. Takes awhile to get the pulp.
I just found a huge tree in a park in Georgia. I can’t wait to try them
1 cup persimmon pulp
2.5 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup oleo
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp soda, 1 tsp allspice
mix soda into pulp, mix sugar and oleo until creamy, add a beaten egg and persimmon pulp. add dry ingidients and stir into a soft dough. in a small bowl make a cinnamon and sugar mix. roll small balls of the dough through the mix. bake at 350-375 for 10-12 minutes on greased cookie sheet.
I have many trees on our property. What is the easiest way to get the pulp from these small persimmons. I’ve been told to peel them which is impossible, mashing with a potato masher and boiling down. I would love to use these, but am clueless on how to get the sweet pulp from them. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Hi Alison,
How nice that you have lots of trees on your property! 🙂 There are directions in the post for how to get the pulp from the persimmons.
Cheers!
Hi Alison,
I live in Missouri & we have 21 persimmon trees in our persimmon grove, the malnes are on the other side of our property by our pond, which are both in the horses back wooded field, so I am usually unable to get persimmons. This year it worked out that the horses weren’t in the field yet, but the deer were. When we noticed them not coming as much, I was able to start foraging myself. During this year a new tree has grown & it’s a girl! She’s about 6′ tall & am looking forward to pruning her in the spring. She bore 6 persimmons this year. (I have read that it takes a few years for them to bear fruit.) I am looking forward to her getting big & then I won’t have to disrupt the horses & the rotation of the fields. And hopefully won’t have to bring a shovel with me to kill the baby copperheads. I put a little water in a bucket or bowl & I use one of those grabbers that the elderly use to reach things to pick them up after a few backaches. It’s also helpful to knock around the leaves on the ground that they get stuck under. I bring my 2 big dogs with me that way they scare whatever is below or in the leaves. When I bring them in, I put them in another bowl of cold water, but not all at once. I renew the water as needed. I shake them individually as to get off any dirt, grass or debris. Then I turn the sepal off at the top & cut off the black piece on the bottom. Then I put them in a bigger bowl & seal it with Glad Press ‘n’ Seal & add to itasI gather more each day & date it the day I start the bowl. After 2 or 3 days I remove the bowl from the fridge put them in an old enamel collainder & put a bowl under it that the collainder sits in but leaves headway underneath for pulp to have some room. I use a firm spatula to smash them against the bottom of the collainder until all that is left in the collainder are seeds. Then I lift the collainder from the bowl below & scrape the pulp from underneath into another bowl. Washing my collainder after about 50 or so. After I have smashed all I had & the other bowl is full of pulp I return it to the fridge with Glad Press ‘n’ Seal on it & date it. I wait until the next day or 2 & there will be more moisture in the content to smear them easier. Then I use a bright lamp & sit it by my thin clear plastic cutting sheet (used side down.) (I have white countertops.) It makes it easier to see the “impurities”. I remove the bowl of pulp from the fridge & use the spatula to make a small pile of pulp. Then I use a smaller spatula to smear a bit of pulp thin. I use wooden skewers to pick out the skin bits & other things like the little black things in the berry other than the brown seeds. After this, I scrape it into a clear measuring that has a push up bottom & fill it with each smear, pressing it against the sides of the cup first & removing air pockets. I fill it a little more than full to make up for any air label a freezer bag & turn the bag upside down over the cup & slide the bag down. Push the pulp out of the measuring cup & flatten the pulp out in the bag & put it in the freezer to freeze flat & stack. I wear disposable plastic gloves to do everything….lol
I hope you can get some ideas of what will work for you from what I do.
At times, I’ve gotten more than 5 or 6 days behind, as in late Oct. I was getting close to 300/ day, so I gave those to the horses. Now that we’ he had a “killer frost” they don’t fall as often. So far I have frozen 40 1/4 cups! They will stay good in the freezer for 6-8 months, so you can just take a bag out & thaw it in some cold water in the sink & use it in a recipe.
(If you get behind & can do them later or don’t have horses or wildlife to give them to….I filled a gallon freezer bag with some & may just cut it open for the horses in the summer or thaw it & work on it later.) If you give any to horses, you may limit the amount or remove the seeds. They say they can get bezoars (intestinal blockage), I assume from the seeds. I know they are whole in scat from the wildlife….lol.
Stacy, the seeds are passed if eaten. It’s the skins that are so high in tannins that causes the blockage.
Jennifer, you’ve learned much more than many supposed naturalists. I have done quite a bit of foraging and have lots of persimmons near my home. The typical advice is to wait until after some frosts in order to get ripe persimmons, and that usually will not hold true. The fact that the persimmon fell naturally and has wrinkled and even has some darkened areas is far more reliable sign of ripeness. Further I have learned that even in the middle of a cold December in Virginia when experts expect all fruits are ripe, they are not! After eating a bunch earlier in November that fell naturally and tasted great, we had a day in December when a big crop had fallen. Every one of those later fruits was astringent. Why? They had fallen due to some help by higher than normal winds and therefore it was not the trees decision to let them go. So they should be picked only off the ground after a natural release, and they will be wrinkled because this starts occurring while they are still attached. It was so good to see your post advising people to eat only the wrinkled persimmons, as they are the only ones of the wild species that are delicious.
I take the ripe persimmons and smash them through a screen colander and scrape off the pulp from the back side. then dry out the pulp. doing it in the oven works but i am looking into getting a food dehydrator.
A food mill is the answer.
Enjoy! 🙂
I use a colander type strainer, it has a wooden peice you stir around and it mashes the pulp out nicely!!
Foley food mill. Just turn the crank, the pulp comes off the seeds the more you crank. Delicious. Just make sure they are totally ripe or you will have a pucker mouth 😴I just made a delicious pudding and put whipped cream on it, Ummm. I freeze the rest I have run through with skittle sugar. Delicious at Christmas time
we have lots of trees and they are loaded this year! the horses stay under them grabbing all they can before the cows get them. i am going to try processing some if i can convince my husband to pick a few. there are alot of recipes to choose from! years ago my grandfather had a cook who, according to my dad, made a delicious persimmon cake. all he remembered was that it was good, nothing about how it was made.
As a teenager, back in the mid 50s, we kids fortunately found a wild persimmon tree by a creek in Tx. Tree was unclimbable, and fruit was too high so we picked up and ate a few persimmons from the ground, that had fallen from being ripe. One day, we had strong winds during the night, and in the early morning, I took off towards tree carrying the biggest paper sack from home. I filled that up real quick and finally had my fill of the sweet delicious fruit. I never told the other kids about it, but whenever we had strong winds, I knew I would hike down there again.
What a nice memory! I wish kids these days knew that kind of fun. Thanks for sharing.
Just realized I have several wild ones on my property. My grandmother had them on the edge of her yard also. I can’t wait to share this with my kids and one day grandkids. Now to find recipes and figure out what to do and when to do. ….and not to listen to my cousins when they say go out there and try one now.
Lol! There’s nothing quite as bad as an unripe persimmon, is there? That’s great that you have some wild ones on your property! Enjoy!
We had a peach tree for years that grew great peaches that we had to fight the squirrels over. Four years or so ago it died and I cut it down, leaving a short piece of the trunk. Another tree sprouted from that same spot, I believe from the old peach trunk and wondered what it might be. It has turned out to be a wild persimmon, bearing delicious little persimmons.
Oh wow! That’s sweet!
Has anyone else experienced opossums eating wild persimmon? Even though they are nocturnal, several times I have seen an opossum underneath a persimmon tree in my yard in the Pine Barrens. Piney folk will tell u to wait for the 3rd frost before before trying one or beware the puckering.
So I’m sitting here in the middle of a persimmon grove deer hunting. I’ve watched deer eat them for years and I’ve never really even thought about eating them myself. But today was different, I thought to myself I wonder if these things that are hitting me in the head are edible. So I gooogled it and found this site. Clicked on and read for about 10 minutes after which I reached over and picked a rather wrinkled up looking one so as not to get the terrific chalky taste that a few of you have talked about. Pondered how I wanted to try my first persimmon for a few moments. Took out my knife cut the top and the bottom off or it and popped it in my mouth. As soon as I finished off about ten of them I stood up and kicked myself square in it butt for not having done that 20 years ago!!!!
As a teen I was very interested in looking at plants and foraging. Coming from and being raised in an urban environment, you don’t really see much bugs or nature. Witnessing the first milkweed plant and seeing so many different types of flowers and plants was such an experience. Once I bought my car of course, I was able to explore. At 20, seeing so many different colored bugs and dragonflies was incredible. Growing up in a city you don’t see too many things. I remember going to elementary school and seeing that a puddle of water in the corner of a street that, had sat around for months, had tadpoles swimming in them.
Anyways, last year I was walking around a trail in the Fall and found a fruiting tree. They looked like the tiny version of persimmons you see in the grocery store. I googled it and found out that is was the American Persimmon. I went ahead and plucked it from the tree and bit it. HUGE MISTAKE. After my mouth and throat felt like numb needles had passed, I was afraid to ever eat anything that was not from the grocery store. I thought I was poisoned at that moment! I then researched and found out that they carried tannins and are edible after the fall from the tree. So reluctantly I came pack to the tree and took a bite from the fruit on the ground and it was so delicious. I carried so many back. I can’t wait for fall this year, as this would become my second your harvesting them. Right now its July and am currently picking blackberries and raspberries. 🙂
We have one of these in our yard and have been enjoying it for the past 11 years since moving here. However, our tree is getting old and is dying. 🙁
Do you know how to reproduce them? There are a bunch of little trees sprouting on the ground around it, and I’m wondering if these are little persimmon trees or are they from the nut tree next to it. The fruit and the nut trees have similar enough leaves that on a small (12″) tree with fresh, bright shiny leaves I can’t tell for sure which ones they resemble the most. I thought I had read some where that the persimmon seeds have to pass through a digestive system before being able to sprout. Do you know about this? or do they send sprouts from the roots of the parent tree, similar to the way an olive tree reproduces?
Hi Ruth,
I’ve never started a persimmon tree and, unfortunately, I don’t know how it is done. I’ve heard that the mama tree sends up baby trees around it, but I don’t know if that is true or not. Wish I could help you. I suppose it would be worth it to allow a couple of them to grow. 🙂
Jennifer
To Ruth:
It’s very possible that your aging tree IS suckering from the roots and if so, you could save several of the “daughters”. Here is the scoop: with persimmon trees, there are distinct male and female trees, and *only* the female trees bear fruit. What we’re hoping is that your “mama” tree grew from a seed and anything coming from its roots are female as well. Usually the suckers can be distinguished from seedlings based on the stem and the way they emerge from the ground. Their leaves should be identical to the adult tree. With trees growing from seeds, you’d have to spot the babies right as they begin to sprout to notice how the stem changes color and the first leaves unfurl, as a way to quickly distinguish them from the suckers breaking through the ground from the mama tree’s root system. Your biggest clue is how less delicate the suckers are. They’ll seem to pop up overnight, pushing up through the surface and showing a more sturdy stem and vigorous growth because they are actually drawing sustenance from the already-established root system of the parent.
I’d say, if there are some small-size trees coming out of the ground near your big tree that you think ARE its daughters, wait until fall after the leaves drop on both the big and small trees and they’ve gone dormant, before trying to potentially dig around the base of the little ones. Then, digging very carefully, separate them from the mama’s root system (you should find the horizontal root coming in from the side, as confirmation that it’s a sucker and not a seedling), then transplant permanently to where you’d want another tree to grow, with plenty of space and sunshine.
In 2006, I’d purchased my two female persimmon saplings from the late John Gordon, a renowned upstate NY nurseryman, who specialized in nut trees and diversifying native fruits such as persimmon and pawpaw. One of the two trees he sent me (the “SAA Peiper” variety) was a sucker on-own-roots, rather than a graft like the other young sapling, and now as a grown-up tree, not only has beautiful persimmons but – just like its mama – suckers All.The.Time! I’m hoping you have one just like that.
The other alternative is to sprout seeds, but – you won’t know whether you’ve got males or females until they are bearing age, which is a looooong wait of many years! If your mama tree is putting out lots of fruit, there’s at least one male tree within a mile of your location that’s providing pollen, so the safer bet is to try to transplant some suckers which hopefully are genetically female. They should bear a bit sooner than seedlings.
Just to remind again, the suckers on your tree will only be females IF your tree was a seedling tree and not a grafted one. Grafts from female trees can be put on a young persimmon sapling of either sex, and if the graft ‘takes”, then the upper part of the tree which bears leaves, flowers and fruits is fully female. But if the roots are male, then the suckers are genetically male. If your tree looks like it was specifically planted as part of the yard’s landscaping, it might be a grafted tree and possible to spot the graft union on the lower part of the trunk. But if not familiar with what it would look like, that might take a tree expert. If you think the odds are good that it’s a “wild” mama tree, go ahead and try getting some of the suckers separated, and see if they will do alright on their own. Once they’re established, it will probably take five to seven years before you start getting flowers on the young tree, but oh the rewards of having those sweet persimmons! My two have been in my yard 12 years now, the grafted female is probably 30′ tall and was “raining” persimmons the other day at the rate of a quart an hour! The sucker female is shorter (because of being shaded by other trees during early years, now getting mainly full sun) but over 20’ tall and doing great. FYI – the seeds do Not need to go through an animal’s digestive system, but my understanding is that they do require cold-moist stratification to germinate. So if you’ve got a bunch of land and room for a persimmon orchard (!!), in the fall plant freshly harvested seeds (which have not been allowed to dry out) into good soil, and watch the crazy growth of baby persimmon trees next spring when the weather warms up!
Wishing you many years of more persimmon delicious-ness ☺
Sherry
Hi Jennifer! We have persimmon trees all along our property. I have picked the fruits that have fallen on the ground. My question to you, are these fruits typically ripe and ready to be eaten, cooked etc.? Or even though they have fallen, if they are not yet soft they are unripe? Also, why can’t you eat unripe persimmons, is there a danger other than the bitter taste?
Hi Mallory,
The ripe fruit is usually wrinkled and almost mushy. Anything that doesn’t look like that is probably unripe. As far as I know, there is nothing dangerous about eating unripe fruit, but it is super astringent and definitely isn’t an enjoyable experience.
What a wonderful site. Thank you for all the information. We found a persimmon tree today on a hike in Maryland not far from Frederick. They were beautiful and I tried a couple that had fallen. Nice but not amazing. Have to admit we shook the tree! In my next life, at my farm, I will have one of these trees. Just looking at them is inspiring. I remember seeing these fruits on bare trees in Italy in the winter in the hills above Pisa. So beautiful in winter light
Thank you for your kind comment, Kathy,
I agree, they really are a beautiful site in late fall/early winter.
When I was growing up I attended one of the last one-room schools. We had 2 springs about 2 miles from the school. Two or three students were selected to go get a bucket of water for drinking. In the fall we went to the one that had a persimmon tree close by. The other spring was near a creek and In the spring we walked on the rocks in the creek. 42 years ago we bought a house in SC and it had a wild persimmon tree at the edge of the property. I think we were meant to have this house and luckily my husband and grandchild doesn’t like them.
That’s beautiful, Darlena.
Lol! And you can have them all to yourself 🙂
We moved to NC from Southern California and I found out that I have a wild persimmon outback So I’ve been trying to investigate and figure out if there’s anything to do with them, now I know. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Vonnie. What a blessing to have a tree in your own back yard.
I bought an old farm house in south Tennessee almost two years ago. Found out I have seven persimmon trees. Only three produce fruit. Mine are plum colored and about the size of a large grape. Ate a few last year- they are good! Plan on trying my hand at canning some this year. Maybe even making wine! Thanks for the article.
Wow!! What a treat to have a lilac persimmon tree. I’ve never had that variety before, but I hear they are delicious. 🙂
Simply a sweet reminder of home. I discover a lot of trees in the park I walk in. So I gathered a bagful to take home to ripen. Not to be shared. I’m considering making a persimmon sauce for a roast pork shoulder so I’ll need to go back for more. Just have to make sure I watch out for snakes in the grass!
The best way to get the pulp of a persimmon is to put it into your mouth, squash it, and spit out the seed. I wish I could find some. I did when I was a child, now as an adult I am afraid to go into the woods, imagine that.
Oh, I so agree! 🙂 This is my favorite way to get the pulp out! 🙂 🙂
Why are you afraid to go into the woods? There is such beauty and peace and wonder among the trees and the birds and all of Creation. I feel sad that you’re missing out.
My understanding is that what is referred to here as “wild” persimmons are actually American persimmons, which includes at least a dozen different varieties that are smaller than the Asian varieties referred to as “grocery store” persimmons. There are also Texas persimmons, which are dark purple or black. Not all varieties are astringent, and the nutritional value may vary slightly between the different varieties.
The ripening process used to tame the high tannic levels of astringent persimmons (such as the American varieties) is known as bletting. After bletting or ripening, persimmons can be enjoyed raw. Otherwise, it’s better to use them in cooked or baked recipes. That’s very likely what was meant by the statement that “wild” (American) persimmons were not meant to be eaten out-of-hand, but rather included in cookies and baked goods.
This is very interesting, Karen! Thank you! Yes, my persimmon trees are American persimmons. I call them “wild” because I didn’t not plant them.
I didn’t know the term bletting; thank you for sharing that with us. Great to know!
We have persimmons growing in my parent’s woods in Southern Indiana. As kids we would go out and look for them after there had been a good frost. To help us gather them, we had these fabulous “cave man clubs” made from sassafras trees that had been wrapped up in honeysuckle vines and had grown a knotty, bulbous trunks. One whack with one of those clubs against our huge persimmon tree’s trunk would make the persimmons come raining down.
Once, when I was a pesty younger sister trying to follow my older brother and his friend on an outing in the woods, he managed to get rid of me by giving me an unripe persimmon to try. It was my first time eating a persimmon, and I didn’t know better. It felt like someone had poured alum in my mouth! I ran back home as fast as I could and started drinking water like crazy to get the horrible taste out of my mouth. Mom saw how frantically I was guzzling water and asked what had happened. My brother ended up getting chewed out when he got back home for playing such a dirty trick.
We often spotted little opossums foraging persimmons under the persimmon tree in my parent’s woods.
In my present home, in town, we have “back door possums” that come up after dark to scavenge our outdoor cats’ leftover food. We pick up persimmons under the tree growing at the city park, and leave a couple out for them each night as an additional treat.
What a great story, Julie. Sweet (and funny) childhood memories. I can vividly remember the first time I tried a persimmon too. Of course it was unripe. lol! I couldn’t get a glass of water fast enough!
Thank you for the laugh. 🙂
Hi Jennifer, I live in a rural area of East Central Georgia and we were recently hit by hurricane Helen. I was driving near my home and noticed that the storm had uprooted a very large and tall wild persimmon tree full of fruit. Yesterday I picked a grocery bag full of the mushiest ones that I could find. I hope to eat one every day for as long as they last, for the medicinal value. I was hoping you could tell me what is the best way to store and keep them, should I refrigerate them or is it better to leave them out, or is there a better way?
Thanks for reading my comment
Hi Rita,
Sounds yummy! 🙂
If they are thoroughly ripe, they will stay good on the counter top for only a day or so. It’s best to keep ripe persimmons in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
Jennifer