Persimmon

[1] They have a large calyx, a four-parted, yellow corolla, eight undeveloped stamens, and a rounded ovary bearing the style and stigma.

[2] In color, the ripe fruit of the cultivated strains range from glossy light yellow-orange to dark red-orange depending on the species and variety.

The ripe fruit is high in sucrose, mainly in the form of fructose and glucose content, and is sweet in taste.

Some varieties are edible in the crisp, firm state but it has its best flavor when allowed to rest and soften slightly after harvest.

When ripe, this fruit consists of thick, pulpy jelly encased in a waxy thin-skinned shell.

Astringent persimmons contain very high levels of soluble tannins and are unpalatable if eaten before completely softened.

Examples include ripening by exposure to light for several days and wrapping the fruit in paper (probably because this increases the ethylene concentration of the surrounding air).

For domestic purposes, the most convenient and effective process is to store the ripening persimmons in a clean, dry container together with other varieties of fruit that give off particularly large quantities of ethylene while they are ripening; apples and related fruits such as pears are effective, as well as bananas and several others.

Tanenashi fruit will occasionally contain a seed or two, which can be planted and will yield a larger, more vertical tree than when merely grafted onto the D. virginiana rootstock most commonly used in the U.S.

Non-astringent persimmons are not actually free of tannins as the term suggests but rather are far less astringent before ripening and lose more of their tannic quality sooner.

Its English name probably derives from Persian Khormaloo خرمالو literally "date-plum", referring to the taste of this fruit, which is reminiscent of both plums and dates.

[citation needed] Diospyros decandra is native to Mainland Southeast Asia and its fruit peel is golden yellow.

Harvested in the fall or after the first frost, its fruit is eaten fresh, in baked goods, in steamed puddings,[20] and to make a mildly alcoholic beverage called persimmon beer.

[24] The fleshy berries become edible when they turn dark purple or black, at which point they are sweet and can be eaten from the hand or made into pudding or custard.

[25] The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, pechimin or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language of the southern and eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit".

In China, the Taiqiu persimmon variety yields approximately 30 tonnes of fruit per year at full production.

The main export markets are Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.

[16] In the Valencia region of Spain, there is a production area of kaki called the "Ribera del Xùquer" which has a protected label and where only persimmons of the variety "Rojo Brillante" or derived mutations are cultivated.

One way to consume ripe persimmons, which may have soft texture, is to remove the top leaf with a paring knife and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.

Riper persimmons can also be eaten by removing the top leaf, breaking the fruit in half, and eating from the inside out.

[44] In Taiwan, fruits of astringent varieties are sealed in jars filled with limewater to get rid of bitterness.

In northern China, unripe persimmons are frozen outdoors during winter to speed up the ripening process.

Ripe persimmons can be refrigerated for as long as a couple of weeks,[46] though extreme temperature changes may contribute to a mushy texture.

[30] In China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, persimmons after harvesting are prepared using traditional hand-drying techniques outdoors for two to three weeks.

In Japan, the dried persimmon fruit is called hoshigaki, in China shìbǐng (柿餠), in Korea gotgam or Geonsi (乾枾), and in Vietnam hồng khô (紅枯).

In Ozark folklore, the severity of the upcoming winter is said to be predictable by slicing a persimmon seed and seeing whether it is shaped like a knife, fork, or spoon within.

[30] In 1999, the first report of leaf blight on sweet persimmon tree by fungal pathogen Pestalotiopsis theae in Spain was documented.