Persimmon

Diospyros kaki · Fruit

2 varieties40 pairings

The persimmon is the glossy, orange, tomato-shaped fruit of the Asian persimmon tree, Diospyros kaki — the most widely grown member of the ebony family eaten as fruit. It comes in two practical kinds: astringent types like the acorn-shaped Hachiya, which pucker the mouth ferociously with tannin until they soften to a jelly-like, honey-sweet pulp, and non-astringent types like the squat Fuyu, which are sweet and edible while still crisp as an apple. Ripe, it tastes of honey, brown sugar and a faint floral fruitiness, and is dried whole into the prized Korean gotgam and Japanese hoshigaki.

Picking a good onedrag

Rock-firm, shoulders greenSlumped, winey, weeping

YieldingEat out of hand, or dice for salads, cheese boards and salsas.Everyday best

CalyxCalyx dry and pale, still tight

Weight and giveFair weight, still smooth

SkinEven deep orange, waxy and glossy

Smell at the calyxFaint honey, clean and sweet

What to look for, from rock-firm, shoulders green to slumped, winey, weeping.

What one gives you

84%

Usable yield

168 g · calyx and skin off

200 g

Typical weight

one specimen

Keeping ittap a band

A domestic fridge holds it about 4× longer than the counter.

Humidity

90-95%

Loose in a bag or a lidded box. Bare on a fridge shelf the shoulders wrinkle and the calyx dries back within a week or two.

Airflow

Vented, not sealed

A perforated bag or an open box, never sealed plastic: trapped damp and their own ripening gas start rot under the calyx.

Softens fast beside apples

It gives off very little itself but suffers badly: boxed with apples, pears or bananas it softens within a week, and ethylene deepens cold damage too.

Preparing