Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Fruit of the Week: Persimmon


Name: Persimmon

Brand: Twin Girls Farms Organic

Place of Purchase: Wheatsfield Co-Op in Ames, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: My wife tells me that this is a Japanese Hachiya variety, but it was grown in California by Nachoand Casamira Sanchez and their daughters.

Price in Iowa: $9.99 a pound, but they're organic. At Cub Foods they were $3.99 a pound for the ones that come with wax and pesticides.

Description: A firm, orange, acorn-shaped tomato.

Flavor: Very sweet, slightly bitter afternotes.

Aroma: Fresh tomato-like.

Texture/Mouth-feel: Wonderfully silky flesh. It was almost like a piece of fillet Mignon, but cool and juicy.

Notes: I let my persimmon ripen over the weekend. I had bought it firm and you're supposed to let them soften up a bit. I sliced off the skin and quartered the flesh. Then I sliced it more thinly and ate it. The flesh closer to the skin had a stronger astringent aftertaste, but the flesh near the center was spicy and very sweet. Persimmons have been considered the food of the gods in the Old World and Asia for millennia, and it was very good. But, next time I might try a persimmon pudding or dried fruits. Or, I could get a less astringent fuyu variety.

Sorry no cheese post last week. I had the Mexican Pig Flu. I'm better now, but I wasn't in the mood for sipping water, let alone pungent fromage.
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2 comments:

  1. Miss StellaNovember 4, 2009 at 3:18 PM

    I found that persimmons left a dry feeling in my mouth after I swallowed. As if they swabbed with cotton as they went.

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  2. UnknownNovember 11, 2009 at 10:33 PM

    That's the astringent aspect of the rind. The closer the flesh is to the skin, the more astringent the taste. The fuyu persimmons don't have this problem. You can eat them like an apple, but they aren't as sweet.

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