When I was a child in the 1960s, we lived in base housing in Warner Robins, Georgia. The backyard was a huge field, bordered by some woods. There were huge persimmon trees, and we used to pick the ripe fruit after the first freeze. They were really good. Unripe persimmons were used for throwing at our friends, we would sharpen a thin stick and use it to fling at your target. I'm 70years old now but I remember the persimmons. There was also poke salad and wild blackberries growing all over the place. The trees were eventually cut down for building a stadium in 1965. I used to finds lots of arrowheads on the ground. They looked like they just floated up out of the red dirt after rain storms. Thanks for reminding me of that, and the sweet taste of the ripe persimmons!
I am 71 and our cellar was full of jars of wild black berry, blueberry, strawberry and grape jellies and jams. We had apple, cherry, trees and would go to SC for peaches and can these also. Would pick branch lettuce in the spring and wilt it with grease, vinegar and onions and have with cornbread. Squirrels, rabbits and venison rounded it out. Those were the good old days of some mighty fine eating and times to grow up in the hills of NC.
We planted a native persimmon tree years ago. Absolutely love the fruit. We never "pick" fruit but it only drops when it's ripe. We gather them in late afternoon so we beat the wildlife to them.
A stick with a small plastic cup screwed to the end will save your back 😊 the hardest part is picking them up. A serving bowl full will make approximately two cups of pulp. Pies and cookies is what I do with them. 👍
@@lyndonwhitson2269 would you mind sharing your pie recipe, we have a tree of Fuyu and I just make cookies and dehydrate them. I would love to try a pie, thanks 😊
I prefer to pick them before they fall. Crunchier. The crows comes for them as soon as they're soft and ours never get to that fall off the ground stage.
I grew up on a peach orchard in Missouri and have had some incredible tree-ripened fruit unlike everyone who has only eaten store-bought fruit and I STILL remember how incredibly good the last persimmon tasted more than 45 years ago!
Peaches grew at one time in Tennessee. Growing up I lived on a street where peach trees flourished. New home owners over the years have since cut them all down. Of course this was over 40 yrs ago @tribalismblindsthembutnoty124
Southern Indiana native here. Lucky enough to have grown up with two big persimmon trees in my home yard, always had gallons upon gallons of persimmon pulp every year, and gave most of it away-and it ended up coming back in part, in the form of desserts shared among neighbors and family! Love persimmons and persimmon pudding,
My family is from Taiwan and we have a persimmon tree in our backyard here in California. I've always associated persimmons with East Asia, so imagine my surprise to learn that they're also native to the American South! I wish they were more widely loved in the US, they're such lovely fruits.
I have a Yates american persimmon in the back yard, and I also forage a few locally. The best indicator I have found of a ripe persimmon is a white blush on the skin. When the fruit is ripe, some of the sugar will come through the skin, and yeast will begin to grow. Also, the tannins that cause the astringent taste will suppress the yeast. So, when you see the yeast, it indicates the astringent taste is gone.
My grandma had a rhyme she would always say about persimmons. Possum up a simmon tree Raccoon on the ground Raccoon says y'ol crank you Throw them simmons down ! I can't hear any mention of persimmons without repeating it in her memory. 🥰
lol your gma was cool. Mine payed child support for a few years while her sister raised me and my 14 yr old mother. I wish she had raised me like she did my brothers (same mom different dad). Wouldn't've happened if gmas husband hadn't taken the easy way out. Things we do reverberate through the generations. You got some good stuff. I didn't. I have to admit, I am jealous.
Our first persimmon tree gave us over 500 persimmons in one season. We froze all we couldn’t eat fresh. The following year there were too few to freeze, but we still had frozen persimmons we enjoyed after being in the freezer for over a year. The process of baking with persimmons seems too messy; we just eat them fresh. This year we’ve eaten all with none to freeze; the squirrels have come to enjoy them as well. Thx for featuring this amazing fruit!
I always wondered how people ended up with large Asian-variety persimmon trees in their backyards in California. Most homeowners don't care for them, so the kind folk will allow elderly Asian women to pick a few from their trees. The trees seem old, so I wonder if they were planted by Asian owners of the land back in the day. There was never much of a market for them in the US, so I can't imagine that they were part of a commercial orchard. A mystery.
@@Cletus_the_Elder I think there’s a decent market for the Asian type, I’ve seen them in supermarkets. In the right spot in California like Santa Barbara, you can literally grow anything, lucky, not like my home Canada.
I am in the LA basin and we have both the small and large types. My folks(Italian born) love them!! Me not so much. You can find them in Asian supermarkets in the SGV.
Yes, the stores in California have two types of persimmons. I think they are Fuyu and Hachaya. The Hachaya ones are much bigger than those native American ones but they have the same astringency when not ripe. We have to leave them on the counter until they are mushy and ripe. The Fuyu type is good even when still firm and only slightly soft.
@@ericfielding2540 I grew up in the 70s and 80s in California. We had 2 Fuyu trees in our backyard and I would 4 or 5, every day, when they were in season. I love those things. Hachiyas were/are more popular and used mainly for cookies and dried fruit.
Hello! Thank you! I have learned so much from you. I few years ago, I saw and tasted my first persimmon fruit. I live in eastern Putnam County, TN, and was at Hidden Hollow Park there in early autumn. I came upon a small grove of trees that had red-orangey, and black spotted fruit that had newly fallen ones among the spoiling on the ground with a smell of sour cider in the air, attracting Yellow Jackets. I knew the fruit was Persimmons, and felt if they fell off, they were ripe with sweetness. So I found one fallen not rotting and in tact, undamaged and peeled off some of the skin & tasted the pretty pulp. It was the most unique, mild flowery fruit flavor, and perfect sweet taste and the texture was like a soft, ripe, black plum. I loved it!!!!
My Mom loved these. She grew up in the Depression and they found these, I think at their Granparents in SE Georgia (Brunswick, Alma, Waycross, Blackshear, etc). I did not care for them as a kid. I’ll try them again soon.
Same! I was wanting to hear why I can't get pawpaw except when I go home to visit😅 I brought some persimmon seeds with me to the Southwest, and they grow decently here.
When I lived on our farm in northeast Texas back in the late 60s and early 70s, persimmons were EVERYWHERE. They were literally weeds in the hayfields and pastures. We found that they didn't ripen until after the first hard frost. They would ripen within days after that. We had so many that we couldn't possibly eat them all so we fed them to our pigs in their fermented mix of corn, oats, and the excess milk from our two cows.
I have been a medicinal herbalist for over 30 years and enjoy your videos, Matthew. We pick wild persimmons when we find them on our coastal Virginia farm (or while foraging elsewhere). If we don't we won't get any because of the deer problem here. We eat the ripe persimmons or put them in a bag in the freezer. The unripe ones, we put in the fridge and then transfer them to the freezer as they ripen. They can take a while to ripen. Once they are all ready, we make the preserves and/or bake with them. We harvested nine pounds this year leaving some for wildlife The seeds my daughter opened showed spoons.
A friend gave me 2 bags of persimmons. Once they ripened I made jelly. It is delicious on baked salmon. Hard to get your hands on this wonderful fruit! Thanks for the video.
Aka 'fruit of the gods'. We have some persimmons on our property. I've had them both, ripe and not ripe. There's an old wives tale about how their seeds can predict the weather of the upcoming winter. If you open a seed in half, you'll see either one of these: a knife, a fork, or a spoon. In fact they look exactly like little plastic utensils! The knife claims your area will experience a brutally cold winter, one that will 'cut you to the bone'. A fork, a mild winter. A spoon means shovel snow, or more than average precipitation. So far, I found this to be true here!
@@Brianabelle7337AL-Astarastani Ok, you can believe that, but the etymology of the name 'persimmon' is an Anglicized version of “pessamin”, with the genus name 'Diospyros'. In Greek, Dios translates into gods.Pyros translates into wheat or grain.
@@Brianabelle7337AL-Astarastani geez, try to control your impulse to bash people over the head with your personal religious beliefs. Nothing drives people away from faith more effectively than people like you driving your point in like a hammer does a nail. Unrequested, at that!
Love these fruits. It was a staple at my grandmother's table in the fall. Her rule of thumb for harvesting these was to wait for the first frost of the year before heading for the trees on her property.
Yes... I've always heard this regarding persimmons in Arkansas...must wait till a frost...then go next couple of days. I would make a persimmon custard.. so delicious
@@terryenglish7132 Probably depends a lot on where you live. For Virginia, first frost used to be a solid indicator. With the way the climate's been edging hotter, it's not as accurate these days.
@philipjacobs394 As a time indicator, yes. Most were ripe around then here too, back in the day. But everyone I talked to thought that the frost ripened them. Before I realized it didn't, I tried freezer experiments w unripe fruit that did nothing
Good channels with good content attract good and interesting people. Thank you all here for your sweet and interesting comments and sharing your memories. It's a joy to read them.
This is my first time seeing native American persimmons. Here in So Cal where I live I am familiar with two main types, the pear shaped Hychia persimmon which are Very Bitter when unripe. The second type is the Fuyu persimmon, they are a flat shape and are eaten firm like an apple and delicious. Every year in the fall I harvest the Hychia persimmons to make sun dried Hoshigaki, which is a Japanese cultural favorite. I pick the fruit when the color is dark orange but the fruit is still hard. I wash and peel them, then hang on a string from a broom stick, 12 or 15 at a time. With a protective envelope of window screen they are hung in a sunny spot and gently massaged every few days to break up the sugar and moisture inside. After a week or two, depending on the weather, they are ready to eat and will have shrunken to the size of a large prune.
Great idea for preserving persimmons, which grow in large numbers here in California. FYI, the pear-shaped, soft (when ripe) variety is spelled “Hachiya,” if anyone wants to look them up.
Great idea for preserving persimmons, which grow in large numbers here in California. FYI, the pear-shaped, soft (when ripe) variety is spelled “Hachiya,” if anyone wants to look them up.
I absolutely positively adore 🥰 Persimmon!!! ( i even love 💕 the name ☺️ ) My Dad introduced me to them when i was young ... we would go hiking 🥾 in the woods & he would ALWAYS find the neatest things to show us! 🙏❤️🩹🙏
I have found unripe persimmon to taste and have the effect of alum. I really appreciate Japanese cured persimmons. Super sweet, fruity, with the consistency of taffy.
I grew up in Indiana, and we always went out and gathered them every fall to make persimmon pudding! I always could smell them as they started to ripen, and I would chase the smell until I found the tree.
Growing up we had an American Persimmon tree on our property (I think my dad planted it there). I always hated the fruit because it had a weird taste even when ripe. But as an adult I now know it was simply because I was used to eating overly sweet stuff like cereal and candy. The Texas Persimmon tree produces smaller fruit but they contain a CRAZY sweet black paste and they're ripe in winter. It's rare to find such abundant, easy to gather sugars during winter!
03:25 - On full screen both saw and heard them. I live in an area (northwest Arkansas) where these trees and the fruits are abundant, especially along roadsides and fence rows. Great tasting stuff! Best gathered off the ground or with a very gentle touch while still on the tree.
There are a lot of persimmons sold in California during winter months. They are nice and sweet and very delicious. They are not expensive. I love them 😍
when i was young, 7 or 8, my cousins told me a persimmon was a plum and was delicious, this was before it was ripe, my mouth muscles tightened up and my mouth puckered so bad i cant even describe it. My cousins, all sat there laughing their butts off at me.. so i know what they taste like not ripe lol..
" possum fruit" is what we often called them. Mama had us pick and gather everything when we were children , including persimmons. She canned it all . I miss all the plum trees or bushes that we used to have everywhere. I don't see them anymore. Is there a video on the pawpaw fruit? I have several pawpaws growing along the river here in Alabama
Growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina countryside, and at the coast of North Carolina in the sandhills persimmon trees were planted near the house so you could keep an eye on them and pick them right at the perfect time as the commentator is discussing
Have a loaded Japanese persimmon tree, right now, & picking some today. The ripe fruit tastes like a cross between a mild apple & a pear. Very sweet & yummy! And this variety is not astringent at all. They fully soft-ripen around Thanksgiving & early Dec, perfect holiday timing :) (And I will try your wife's recipe - it sounds delicious!)
I have had both the Asian (baseball size) and the American ( smaller than a golf ball) persimmon. They do not taste the same. The Asian variety is very mild while the American variety has a much stronger persimmon flavor.
We've got the big permission trees along our river swamp in south Georgia. They fall in August just before archery season. The deer love them. Take a pocket full of rocks with you and occasionally toss them under the trees to attract the deer.
They are super popular in Italy and sold in every store.. and they are not ugly or moldy at least the ones over there. The ripe ones are really delicious especially the super large ones
I love Persimmon Nut Bread! I've always used the native pecans growing on my place. That truly makes an all American dish to serve for Thanksgiving (and then Christmas). More seeds than pulp but we'll worth the effort 👌! Yummy 😋 !
When I was a kid, out hunting with my dad, it was cold and misassemble and still a mile from the truck, but then we found a persimmon tree. What a feast!
I have 1 male tree about 16 + inches diameter and a female about 8 + inches about 30 feet apart and it's usually absolutely loaded with fruit. Deer and wildlife love them too.
@@edstimator1 Must be somewhere or it wouldn't produce. Native persimmons These trees are usually dioecious, meaning they produce either male or female flowers, but not both. Female trees need pollen from male trees to produce fruit. Oriental persimmons These trees can produce female, male, and/or perfect flowers on the same tree. Some oriental varieties can produce fruit from each gender.
@@jimb96828 I have no reason to doubt your assertion. I am just surprised. There are many fruit trees in particular that need a pollinator to produce. I just never thought that persimmons was one of them. Lots of fruit trees in Orange County ca. I'm sure there is another one nearby.
Were in western NC and lost most of or persimmon crop this year after the hurricane. Thank you for pointing out the male / female trees. I always knew some of our trees produced while others didn’t.
I’ve seen them go for over a buck apiece…..Japanese persimmons….I’ve got six trees here in Mississippi….the Vietnamese love them….one of my trees has large apple size.
@@oliverlamie3449 They do not have a long shelf life. Pick off the tree when the skin starts turning spotty and it gets soft, scrape out pulp and put in freezer bag in freezer until you want to eat it. After 20 years of trying to get pawpaws to grow to over 3 foot tall, I got mt second crop. 3 fruit last year, about 12 this year on 2 10-12 foot trees. Lost several to -20 F, weather and people running them over with lawnmower, after removing the fencing before mowing the yard.... so they could mow closer, then they forgot.... and ran them over. Me, I remove the fence, cut around each one immediately and then immediately replace each fence before cutting more of the yard.
All those wild fruits are slowly disappearing. I have never seen any of these trees in my area, though I do hear rumors of where one might be, occasionally. It’s almost like my city goes out of its way to cull them out of the wooded areas.
As a child growing up in the northern part of Etowah County in Alabama, we had a Persimmon Tree in our yard. Yes, we lived in the country on a dirt road. Mom warned us not to eat them until ripe. She explained that there had to first be a frost. However, as a child, I was too tempted. I can confirm what you said about the taste. Double yuck. Green apples have nothing on the terrible taste. Anyway, in the fall, my favorite thing was to gather and eat was persimmons. We never used them in cooking because three children gobbled them up. Thank you for bringing back some sweet memories.
My sister is blessed to have a small farm. On the occasional visit I’ve been able to show her that she has a mulberry tree and that the fruit is wonderfully edible. I’ve also shown her the persimmon trees and red sumac. My sister has no idea what wonderful things she has on her farm. She’s not the least interested in what the wild can provide.
@@teresastrayhorn1813 on our family farm, the work was endless, from sunrise to sunset and often beyond. I can see how your sister might not notice amazing things right under her nose!
In October clear the area around the persimmon tree of leaves and debree Put clean tarps on ground around tree and be sure to secure tarps to ground. After first frost watch for persimmons that hsve fallen and continue to check each day for more that fall, keeping them in refidg. Use a baby food grinder to pricess them. It is a little tedious but it separates the seed and skin and gives a good product.
I love these fruits. They are everywhere, and they hang on the tree into the winter. My Grandmother had a dog that loved persimmons. Oh, the fruits are totally good to eat when found in the winter... they wont turn your mouth inside out.
You can buy persimmons at grocery stores in georgia and Florida almost anytime of the year. Theu even sell the longer persimmons as well as the short squat ones. I know this because i bought some in st. Marys Georgia then drove around the country back and forth from orwgon to Florida multiple times over 3 months until they finally became ripe.
I did see persimmons sold in stores once, so I bought some. Most of them were very good, but I think one was slightly underripe. But they didn't look like this. They must have been the Japanese persimmons that you mentioned.
@@annep.1905 The cultivated native taste like less flavorful wild. The Japanese are even less flavorful; even missing some of the secondary flavors entirely. Thick skin, thats ok to bite tho . I like the native better. I had a Japanese Persimmon tart at a local gourmet restaurant. Almost no taste even as a concentrated pie filling.
Matthew, 2024 was a 'off' year on our farm for persimmons, but was able to freeze about 20 pints from one tree in 2023. Your recipe looks delicious, my wife makes persimmon puddings, but we're going to try your bread recipe. Thanks!
Super sweet is nice once in a while in moderation, but I prefer somewhat tart fruits. That said, I’ve never tasted a persimmon and am now curious to taste one.
I live in central WI, so zone 4b can't grow persimmon trees. Ihave ordered dried persimmon slices to make tea. I have seen some fresh ones occasionally in our food coop. Thanks for sharing this! 💯
I’m a hardcore hunter in Missouri and I have only found persimmon trees in the woods once they do love the edge of fields woods and fence rows and Whitetail love em
My older brother tails me orange ones were rotten and the green ones were the best! ( brothers!) so yes, I tried a fully hard green one. Definitely a memory I’ll never forget! 🤢🤢🤢
I grew up in South Carolina and we had a persimmon tree in our yard. The common belief was that they are best after a light frost, but we ate them regardless of the weather. They drop when ripe. Delicious!
You can make mead out of any fruit. Question is, should you? I made jam from it. Don't really care for the texture. I don't know how to describe it other than it tasted like a sweet paste you added flour to. But thanks for the idea, if I get enough next year I may try mead for sheets and giggles.
We have multiple native Texas persimmons which are purple black in color and smaller. We had an unusually wet spring and early summer so had the largest crop I have seen in 35 years. I am grateful for their presence as they are evergreen and drought tolerant preventing erosion on our hill. They have spread, likely by birds and animals.
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American persimmons are great. Few put up with finding them when ripe, but a real joy when you find a tree with ripe fruit.
Then why does mine suck all the ass.
When I was a child in the 1960s, we lived in base housing in Warner Robins, Georgia. The backyard was a huge field, bordered by some woods. There were huge persimmon trees, and we used to pick the ripe fruit after the first freeze. They were really good. Unripe persimmons were used for throwing at our friends, we would sharpen a thin stick and use it to fling at your target. I'm 70years old now but I remember the persimmons. There was also poke salad and wild blackberries growing all over the place. The trees were eventually cut down for building a stadium in 1965. I used to finds lots of arrowheads on the ground. They looked like they just floated up out of the red dirt after rain storms. Thanks for reminding me of that, and the sweet taste of the ripe persimmons!
Hi I am from Warner Robin's. Where did you live my name is Phyllis I went to R.W. Lindsey.
Oh the memories of a nasty knot on your back if you get hit by one of those unripe projectiles 😂
I am 71 and our cellar was full of jars of wild black berry, blueberry, strawberry and grape jellies and jams. We had apple, cherry, trees and would go to SC for peaches and can these also. Would pick branch lettuce in the spring and wilt it with grease, vinegar and onions and have with cornbread. Squirrels, rabbits and venison rounded it out. Those were the good old days of some mighty fine eating and times to grow up in the hills of NC.
We had one in our front yard in Charlotte, North Carolina, Persimmon cookies are delicious.
Holy crap! I guess that's a thing lol. My cousin and I would fling them at the barn from a stick. I thought it was just us😂
We planted a native persimmon tree years ago. Absolutely love the fruit. We never "pick" fruit but it only drops when it's ripe. We gather them in late afternoon so we beat the wildlife to them.
We spread tarps under the tree to keep the soft fruit from picking up debris.
@phil2u48 it's more fun looking for them in the leaves. Reminds me of an Easter egg hunt.
A stick with a small plastic cup screwed to the end will save your back 😊 the hardest part is picking them up. A serving bowl full will make approximately two cups of pulp. Pies and cookies is what I do with them. 👍
@@lyndonwhitson2269 would you mind sharing your pie recipe, we have a tree of Fuyu and I just make cookies and dehydrate them. I would love to try a pie, thanks 😊
I prefer to pick them before they fall. Crunchier. The crows comes for them as soon as they're soft and ours never get to that fall off the ground stage.
I grew up on a peach orchard in Missouri and have had some incredible tree-ripened fruit unlike everyone who has only eaten store-bought fruit and I STILL remember how incredibly good the last persimmon tasted more than 45 years ago!
Yup, all the persimmons I've had were in rural ozarks area. Outside Mountain Grove, specifically. Amazing
Pawpaw is my favorite fruit, but persimmon is great, too. Kind of a cinnamon taste to it, to me.
The seeds are similar, too.
@curtisgoss2669 Never had paw paw, sounds tasty from what I've read :)
peaches in missouri? We barely can grow them here in tennessee.
Peaches grew at one time in Tennessee. Growing up I lived on a street where peach trees flourished. New home owners over the years have since cut them all down. Of course this was over 40 yrs ago @tribalismblindsthembutnoty124
Southern Indiana native here. Lucky enough to have grown up with two big persimmon trees in my home yard, always had gallons upon gallons of persimmon pulp every year, and gave most of it away-and it ended up coming back in part, in the form of desserts shared among neighbors and family! Love persimmons and persimmon pudding,
This is such restorative content. I am reminded that this land offers sweetness and nourishment as days grow shorter and colder.
Restorative?!
My family is from Taiwan and we have a persimmon tree in our backyard here in California. I've always associated persimmons with East Asia, so imagine my surprise to learn that they're also native to the American South! I wish they were more widely loved in the US, they're such lovely fruits.
I have a Yates american persimmon in the back yard, and I also forage a few locally. The best indicator I have found of a ripe persimmon is a white blush on the skin. When the fruit is ripe, some of the sugar will come through the skin, and yeast will begin to grow. Also, the tannins that cause the astringent taste will suppress the yeast. So, when you see the yeast, it indicates the astringent taste is gone.
My grandma had a rhyme she would always say about persimmons.
Possum up a simmon tree
Raccoon on the ground
Raccoon says y'ol crank you
Throw them simmons down !
I can't hear any mention of persimmons without repeating it in her memory.
🥰
lol your gma was cool. Mine payed child support for a few years while her sister raised me and my 14 yr old mother. I wish she had raised me like she did my brothers (same mom different dad). Wouldn't've happened if gmas husband hadn't taken the easy way out. Things we do reverberate through the generations. You got some good stuff. I didn't. I have to admit, I am jealous.
Watched a raccoon eat the Simmons out of the top of a tree recently. I guess they figured it out.
Thanks. I know a Japanese folk tale, the Monkey and the Crab. The same theme but with a bad twist.
Sounds like the lyrics to the folk song "Bile them Cabbage Down"
I can buy them at Sam's Club in my area.
My brother made a liquor from persimmons. We named it Persnickety. It was awesome! I shook one of his trees recently. & got 7.
😂
I'd buy a bottle of that
That's sounds amazing!
👌 nice
I make persimmon wine every year my friends love, that stuff will make an unattractive person cute!
Our first persimmon tree gave us over 500 persimmons in one season. We froze all we couldn’t eat fresh. The following year there were too few to freeze, but we still had frozen persimmons we enjoyed after being in the freezer for over a year. The process of baking with persimmons seems too messy; we just eat them fresh. This year we’ve eaten all with none to freeze; the squirrels have come to enjoy them as well. Thx for featuring this amazing fruit!
Thank you for watching!
They’re good dried too!
Here in California, we have both kinds of persimmons. They grow well and produce abundant fruit.
I always wondered how people ended up with large Asian-variety persimmon trees in their backyards in California. Most homeowners don't care for them, so the kind folk will allow elderly Asian women to pick a few from their trees. The trees seem old, so I wonder if they were planted by Asian owners of the land back in the day. There was never much of a market for them in the US, so I can't imagine that they were part of a commercial orchard. A mystery.
@@Cletus_the_Elder I think there’s a decent market for the Asian type, I’ve seen them in supermarkets. In the right spot in California like Santa Barbara, you can literally grow anything, lucky, not like my home Canada.
I am in the LA basin and we have both the small and large types. My folks(Italian born) love them!! Me not so much. You can find them in Asian supermarkets in the SGV.
Yes, the stores in California have two types of persimmons. I think they are Fuyu and Hachaya. The Hachaya ones are much bigger than those native American ones but they have the same astringency when not ripe. We have to leave them on the counter until they are mushy and ripe. The Fuyu type is good even when still firm and only slightly soft.
@@ericfielding2540 I grew up in the 70s and 80s in California. We had 2 Fuyu trees in our backyard and I would 4 or 5, every day, when they were in season. I love those things. Hachiyas were/are more popular and used mainly for cookies and dried fruit.
Hello! Thank you! I have learned so much from you. I few years ago, I saw and tasted my first persimmon fruit. I live in eastern Putnam County, TN, and was at Hidden Hollow Park there in early autumn. I came upon a small grove of trees that had red-orangey, and black spotted fruit that had newly fallen ones among the spoiling on the ground with a smell of sour cider in the air, attracting Yellow Jackets. I knew the fruit was Persimmons, and felt if they fell off, they were ripe with sweetness. So I found one fallen not rotting and in tact, undamaged and peeled off some of the skin & tasted the pretty pulp. It was the most unique, mild flowery fruit flavor, and perfect sweet taste and the texture was like a soft, ripe, black plum. I loved it!!!!
My Mom loved these. She grew up in the Depression and they found these, I think at their Granparents in SE Georgia (Brunswick, Alma, Waycross, Blackshear, etc). I did not care for them as a kid. I’ll try them again soon.
My favorite fruit.
I love the persimmon. So delicious.
Never heard of them. At first I thought you were going to talk about pawpaw fruit. Glad I clicked to watch.
@@cuda6872 yes, me too. Maybe a video sometime on pawpaw? Thanks! 🙂👍
Same!
I was wanting to hear why I can't get pawpaw except when I go home to visit😅
I brought some persimmon seeds with me to the Southwest, and they grow decently here.
Ate a pawpaw for the first time 2 months ago. The seeds look very much like the persimmon seeds he showed.
@@Lazy_Fish_Keeper Pawpaw fruit spoils very quickly so very unsuitable for transport to and sale in supermarkets.
Man, I love pawpaws! Very rare treat.
When I lived on our farm in northeast Texas back in the late 60s and early 70s, persimmons were EVERYWHERE. They were literally weeds in the hayfields and pastures. We found that they didn't ripen until after the first hard frost. They would ripen within days after that. We had so many that we couldn't possibly eat them all so we fed them to our pigs in their fermented mix of corn, oats, and the excess milk from our two cows.
Happy pigs!
I have been a medicinal herbalist for over 30 years and enjoy your videos, Matthew. We pick wild persimmons when we find them on our coastal Virginia farm (or while foraging elsewhere). If we don't we won't get any because of the deer problem here. We eat the ripe persimmons or put them in a bag in the freezer. The unripe ones, we put in the fridge and then transfer them to the freezer as they ripen. They can take a while to ripen. Once they are all ready, we make the preserves and/or bake with them. We harvested nine pounds this year leaving some for wildlife The seeds my daughter opened showed spoons.
A friend gave me 2 bags of persimmons. Once they ripened I made jelly. It is delicious on baked salmon. Hard to get your hands on this wonderful fruit! Thanks for the video.
Aka 'fruit of the gods'. We have some persimmons on our property. I've had them both, ripe and not ripe. There's an old wives tale about how their seeds can predict the weather of the upcoming winter. If you open a seed in half, you'll see either one of these: a knife, a fork, or a spoon. In fact they look exactly like little plastic utensils! The knife claims your area will experience a brutally cold winter, one that will 'cut you to the bone'. A fork, a mild winter. A spoon means shovel snow, or more than average precipitation. So far, I found this to be true here!
There is only one God
Never knew that. Will check that out!
@@Brianabelle7337AL-Astarastani Ok, you can believe that, but the etymology of the name 'persimmon' is an Anglicized version of “pessamin”, with the genus name 'Diospyros'. In Greek, Dios translates into gods.Pyros translates into wheat or grain.
I open 5 or 6 here in TN every one had a fork
@@Brianabelle7337AL-Astarastani geez, try to control your impulse to bash people over the head with your personal religious beliefs. Nothing drives people away from faith more effectively than people like you driving your point in like a hammer does a nail. Unrequested, at that!
Love these fruits. It was a staple at my grandmother's table in the fall. Her rule of thumb for harvesting these was to wait for the first frost of the year before heading for the trees on her property.
Yes... I've always heard this regarding persimmons in Arkansas...must wait till a frost...then go next couple of days. I would make a persimmon custard.. so delicious
I heard the frost thing too. Its totally wrong. It was 85° + here when some were ripe and falling off the trees.
@@terryenglish7132 Probably depends a lot on where you live. For Virginia, first frost used to be a solid indicator. With the way the climate's been edging hotter, it's not as accurate these days.
YES! Like collards
@philipjacobs394 As a time indicator, yes. Most were ripe around then here too, back in the day. But everyone I talked to thought that the frost ripened them. Before I realized it didn't, I tried freezer experiments w unripe fruit that did nothing
Love persimmons
Gathered just over 100#’s this year. Gonna make some “simmon shine”!
There's nothing out there that keeps on making like persimmons!
Good channels with good content attract good and interesting people. Thank you all here for your sweet and interesting comments and sharing your memories. It's a joy to read them.
This is my first time seeing native American persimmons. Here in So Cal where I live I am familiar with two main types, the pear shaped Hychia persimmon which are Very Bitter when unripe. The second type is the Fuyu persimmon, they are a flat shape and are eaten firm like an apple and delicious. Every year in the fall I harvest the Hychia persimmons to make sun dried Hoshigaki, which is a Japanese cultural favorite. I pick the fruit when the color is dark orange but the fruit is still hard. I wash and peel them, then hang on a string from a broom stick, 12 or 15 at a time. With a protective envelope of window screen they are hung in a sunny spot and gently massaged every few days to break up the sugar and moisture inside. After a week or two, depending on the weather, they are ready to eat and will have shrunken to the size of a large prune.
Great idea for preserving persimmons, which grow in large numbers here in California.
FYI, the pear-shaped, soft (when ripe) variety is spelled “Hachiya,” if anyone wants to look them up.
Great idea for preserving persimmons, which grow in large numbers here in California.
FYI, the pear-shaped, soft (when ripe) variety is spelled “Hachiya,” if anyone wants to look them up.
I absolutely positively adore 🥰 Persimmon!!! ( i even love 💕 the name ☺️ ) My Dad introduced me to them when i was young ... we would go hiking 🥾 in the woods & he would ALWAYS find the neatest things to show us!
🙏❤️🩹🙏
I have found unripe persimmon to taste and have the effect of alum.
I really appreciate Japanese cured persimmons.
Super sweet, fruity, with the consistency of taffy.
I grew up in Indiana, and we always went out and gathered them every fall to make persimmon pudding! I always could smell them as they started to ripen, and I would chase the smell until I found the tree.
Persimmons are so lovely! 🌿 Thanks for sharing this knowledge about the native variety.
Growing up we had an American Persimmon tree on our property (I think my dad planted it there). I always hated the fruit because it had a weird taste even when ripe. But as an adult I now know it was simply because I was used to eating overly sweet stuff like cereal and candy. The Texas Persimmon tree produces smaller fruit but they contain a CRAZY sweet black paste and they're ripe in winter. It's rare to find such abundant, easy to gather sugars during winter!
My mom used to make persimmon pudding. A truly unique and special treat! There's nothing that tastes quite the same
My husband's great aunt made one of my absolute favorite desserts:persimmon pudding (kind if like a fruity sheet cake). Unbelievably delicious!
Thank you!
03:25 - On full screen both saw and heard them. I live in an area (northwest Arkansas) where these trees and the fruits are abundant, especially along roadsides and fence rows. Great tasting stuff! Best gathered off the ground or with a very gentle touch while still on the tree.
My friend gathers them on bed sheets and makes pudding with them for Christmas delicious
Persimmon is my favorite fruit that grows on a tree! Thank you for covering this amazing plant.
Thank you for watching!
There are a lot of persimmons sold in California during winter months. They are nice and sweet and very delicious. They are not expensive. I love them 😍
I’ve only seen the Fuyu verity (non astringent) for sale in SoCal.
One of my favorite fruits. I love bothe types❤
a really good persimmon is a wonderful thing!
Persimmon cookies 🍪 are the best in the winter❄️❄️🔥🔥 time!!
M6 mom made persimmon pudding at Christmas time every year. We used to find them in the supermarket.
I so love persimmons mmmm… I need to add some to my backyard food forest 🤤
I want a backyard food forest!!!
She’s so cute ❤ glad she liked the bread. Sounds awesome man.
when i was young, 7 or 8, my cousins told me a persimmon was a plum and was delicious, this was before it was ripe, my mouth muscles tightened up and my mouth puckered so bad i cant even describe it. My cousins, all sat there laughing their butts off at me.. so i know what they taste like not ripe lol..
I was on the receiving end of the same joke nearly fifty years ago.
" possum fruit" is what we often called them.
Mama had us pick and gather everything when we were children , including persimmons. She canned it all .
I miss all the plum trees or bushes that we used to have everywhere. I don't see them anymore.
Is there a video on the pawpaw fruit? I have several pawpaws growing along the river here in Alabama
Not yet, I haven't found a good patch of pawpaws to film.
Never had a persimmon.
Growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina countryside, and at the coast of North Carolina in the sandhills persimmon trees were planted near the house so you could keep an eye on them and pick them right at the perfect time as the commentator is discussing
Just don't trick you girl friend into eating a raw unripe one 😂😂😂❤ ROANOKE RAPIDS NC 😂
Have a loaded Japanese persimmon tree, right now, & picking some today. The ripe fruit tastes like a cross between a mild apple & a pear. Very sweet & yummy! And this variety is not astringent at all. They fully soft-ripen around Thanksgiving & early Dec, perfect holiday timing :)
(And I will try your wife's recipe - it sounds delicious!)
Where are you ? In coastal Delaware, Our small native ones taste like sweeter apricots w out the sour note.
I have had both the Asian (baseball size) and the American ( smaller than a golf ball) persimmon. They do not taste the same. The Asian variety is very mild while the American variety has a much stronger persimmon flavor.
@justnorthofthebend9152 Yes, that is right :)
@@terryenglish7132 Coastal NC. But I know people grow them as far as NJ.
I remember my mother making persimmon jelly nearly fifty years ago..
One of my Aunt's use to make the most wounderful persimmon bread. I miss that.
so good seeing your loving family. thank you for sharing this recipe. i really have to wait that long to forage my 1st persimmons, ha. blessings all
We've got the big permission trees along our river swamp in south Georgia. They fall in August just before archery season. The deer love them. Take a pocket full of rocks with you and occasionally toss them under the trees to attract the deer.
some foods are only to be eaten by people who gather them in nature. its luxury and i love it
Sounds wonderful.
It's been 50 year's since I have had persimmon bread/cake.
They are super popular in Italy and sold in every store.. and they are not ugly or moldy at least the ones over there. The ripe ones are really delicious especially the super large ones
I love Persimmon Nut Bread! I've always used the native pecans growing on my place. That truly makes an all American dish to serve for Thanksgiving (and then Christmas). More seeds than pulp but we'll worth the effort 👌! Yummy 😋 !
I absolutely loved the recurring P words in the "How to Process Persimmons" section
You mean the alliteration.
Haha thank you, glad you enjoyed the video!
I'm from Eastern Kentucky and in the fall we would look for ripe persimmons and pawpaws ! I loved both !!!
When I was a kid, out hunting with my dad, it was cold and misassemble and still a mile from the truck, but then we found a persimmon tree. What a feast!
I hate it when it misassembles.
I live in NH , hickory nuts are something we gathered every year , and they were in our Christmas nut bowls .
Persimmons are big in asia. So epic to hear we have our own in the USA!
I find these in the grocery stores every fall....and now is the time. 😋
Thank you Legacy Wilderness for all your videos!
Thanks for watching! I appreciate the support!
Pudding! We make this family recipe every year. Amazing.
Lots of wild persimmons, here, in North Carolina. My sister made persimmon pudding this week.
We had persimmon pudding frequently when I was a child. I remember it being delicious.
We have several of the large Japanese Persimmons and they also make some great persimmon nut bread! As I nibble on some while watching this!
We had a persimmon tree on the property where I grew up, and I miss them painfully every fall!
I have 1 male tree about 16 + inches diameter and a female about 8 + inches about 30 feet apart and it's usually absolutely loaded with fruit. Deer and wildlife love them too.
I didn't know there was a difference. We only have one tree and it is a heavy producer without a fertilizer variety nearby that I'm aware of.
@@edstimator1yes there are makes and females. Google says they can change. Don't know that for sure.
@@edstimator1 Must be somewhere or it wouldn't produce. Native persimmons
These trees are usually dioecious, meaning they produce either male or female flowers, but not both. Female trees need pollen from male trees to produce fruit.
Oriental persimmons
These trees can produce female, male, and/or perfect flowers on the same tree. Some oriental varieties can produce fruit from each gender.
@@jimb96828 I have no reason to doubt your assertion. I am just surprised. There are many fruit trees in particular that need a pollinator to produce. I just never thought that persimmons was one of them. Lots of fruit trees in Orange County ca. I'm sure there is another one nearby.
Were in western NC and lost most of or persimmon crop this year after the hurricane. Thank you for pointing out the male / female trees. I always knew some of our trees produced while others didn’t.
I grew up with persimmon trees around. They are one of my favorites! So good! 😋
I’ve seen them go for over a buck apiece…..Japanese persimmons….I’ve got six trees here in Mississippi….the Vietnamese love them….one of my trees has large apple size.
Mississippi native here love eating them and have been tricked into eating a green one .😂😂
I love this video. I also love your mission. This is wholesome
Mulberries are so good and so fragile too. My MIL had a persimmon tree and would make persimmon cookies.
I love persimmons! Have since i was a kid and look for them all the time.
I don't remember eating a ripe persimmon, but I did like ripe pawpaw fruit. And those are kind of hard to find too.
Had some pawpaw seedlings and this year I harvested my first six this year.About 50 years.
I've seen persimmons in stores, never pawpaw
@@oliverlamie3449 They do not have a long shelf life. Pick off the tree when the skin starts turning spotty and it gets soft, scrape out pulp and put in freezer bag in freezer until you want to eat it. After 20 years of trying to get pawpaws to grow to over 3 foot tall, I got mt second crop. 3 fruit last year, about 12 this year on 2 10-12 foot trees. Lost several to -20 F, weather and people running them over with lawnmower, after removing the fencing before mowing the yard.... so they could mow closer, then they forgot.... and ran them over. Me, I remove the fence, cut around each one immediately and then immediately replace each fence before cutting more of the yard.
All those wild fruits are slowly disappearing. I have never seen any of these trees in my area, though I do hear rumors of where one might be, occasionally. It’s almost like my city goes out of its way to cull them out of the wooded areas.
@@shdwbnndbyyt I've only seen pawpaw trees out in the country or the woods of eastern Kentucky.
I love your channel. I have been looking for a channel like this for a while. Cheers.
Glad you found us, thanks for watching!
As a child growing up in the northern part of Etowah County in Alabama, we had a Persimmon Tree in our yard. Yes, we lived in the country on a dirt road.
Mom warned us not to eat them until ripe. She explained that there had to first be a frost. However, as a child, I was too tempted. I can confirm what you said about the taste. Double yuck.
Green apples have nothing on the terrible taste.
Anyway, in the fall, my favorite thing was to gather and eat was persimmons. We never used them in cooking because three children gobbled them up.
Thank you for bringing back some sweet memories.
My sister is blessed to have a small farm. On the occasional visit I’ve been able to show her that she has a mulberry tree and that the fruit is wonderfully edible. I’ve also shown her the persimmon trees and red sumac. My sister has no idea what wonderful things she has on her farm. She’s not the least interested in what the wild can provide.
@@teresastrayhorn1813 on our family farm, the work was endless, from sunrise to sunset and often beyond. I can see how your sister might not notice amazing things right under her nose!
That’s a shame. What’s the point in living that lifestyle if you’re not taking advantage of the environment.
In October clear the area around the persimmon tree of leaves and debree
Put clean tarps on ground around tree and be sure to secure tarps to ground. After first frost watch for persimmons that hsve fallen and continue to check each day for more that fall, keeping them in refidg. Use a baby food grinder to pricess them. It is a little tedious but it separates the seed and skin and gives a good product.
Good idea!
That's how I harvest crabapples
I have a persimmon tree in my backyard. Best sweet and tart fruit ever.
❤ your channel 👍 Thank you.🙏
I love these fruits. They are everywhere, and they hang on the tree into the winter. My Grandmother had a dog that loved persimmons. Oh, the fruits are totally good to eat when found in the winter... they wont turn your mouth inside out.
You can buy persimmons at grocery stores in georgia and Florida almost anytime of the year. Theu even sell the longer persimmons as well as the short squat ones. I know this because i bought some in st. Marys Georgia then drove around the country back and forth from orwgon to Florida multiple times over 3 months until they finally became ripe.
The first time I ever tasted persimmons was in Miami FL and I fell in love.❤
Yep, bought some from Costco in Georgia. I have plenty on my property but they’re tiny
You can buy fuyu and hachiya varieties, but if you will never see american persimmons unless at a farmers market
Oh, boy!!!! I'm saving this recipe. I imagine some of this bread in my future - probably next summer since this one is already over. Thank you.
I did see persimmons sold in stores once, so I bought some. Most of them were very good, but I think one was slightly underripe. But they didn't look like this. They must have been the Japanese persimmons that you mentioned.
Yup. Our native persimmons don't make it to stores.
@@7owlfthrMust be Acme vs Winn Dixie. The cultivated native ones are here in Delaware, as well as the Japanese ones too.
@@terryenglish7132 So do American persimmons taste like Japanese persimmons?
@@annep.1905 The cultivated native taste like less flavorful wild. The Japanese are even less flavorful; even missing some of the secondary flavors entirely. Thick skin, thats ok to bite tho . I like the native better. I had a Japanese Persimmon tart at a local gourmet restaurant. Almost no taste even as a concentrated pie filling.
@terryenglish7132 Thanks! I hope I can try a U.S. persimmon one of these days!
Thank you for the free plant guide. Many blessings ❤
Taste approved by Georgia!
We have Persimmons getting ripe on in kitchen and I have my PAWPAW trees on order from Isons. I cant wait to get them.
Thanks for the great video.
They grow wild in my area. I’ve never had the pleasure of eating them ripe
You're definitely missing out, this video is spot on!!!
They’re GREAT when they’re green and crunchy 😊
Yeah, once.
Says no one ever! 😂
In Arkansas we waited for the first frost before harvesting.
Matthew, 2024 was a 'off' year on our farm for persimmons, but was able to freeze about 20 pints from one tree in 2023. Your recipe looks delicious, my wife makes persimmon puddings, but we're going to try your bread recipe. Thanks!
Super sweet is nice once in a while in moderation, but I prefer somewhat tart fruits. That said, I’ve never tasted a persimmon and am now curious to taste one.
FYI Wild Ones are Better
my Dogs Fought over them
@@CatheyLunsford next year I’ll have to find a place to forage for some
I live in central WI, so zone 4b can't grow persimmon trees. Ihave ordered dried persimmon slices to make tea. I have seen some fresh ones occasionally in our food coop. Thanks for sharing this! 💯
I used to eat persimmon as a kid and wasn't worried about my blood sugar.
We had two apricot trees growing in our yard growing up. Good stuff.
The Tuscarora Tribe were known a the persimmon eaters.
I’m a hardcore hunter in Missouri and I have only found persimmon trees in the woods once they do love the edge of fields woods and fence rows and Whitetail love em
Some Sprouts sells persimmons.
Persimmon Pudding is so yummy. My Grandmother made it every year at Christmas.
unripe persimmons taste like how I would imagine fiberglass tastes like
My older brother tails me orange ones were rotten and the green ones were the best! ( brothers!) so yes, I tried a fully hard green one. Definitely a memory I’ll never forget! 🤢🤢🤢
That's only astringent Persimmon varieties. Unripe Persimmons I ate early today and loved them because they was Japanese Persimmon.
@@mamabird2434😂😂
I can tell you have never eaten fiberglass. It’s not that bad.
@@davidpeightal4918😂😂😂
I grew up in South Carolina and we had a persimmon tree in our yard. The common belief was that they are best after a light frost, but we ate them regardless of the weather. They drop when ripe. Delicious!
Do you ever make mead with them?
You can make mead out of any fruit. Question is, should you?
I made jam from it. Don't really care for the texture. I don't know how to describe it other than it tasted like a sweet paste you added flour to.
But thanks for the idea, if I get enough next year I may try mead for sheets and giggles.
We have multiple native Texas persimmons which are purple black in color and smaller. We had an unusually wet spring and early summer so had the largest crop I have seen in 35 years. I am grateful for their presence as they are evergreen and drought tolerant preventing erosion on our hill. They have spread, likely by birds and animals.
Unripe ones feel like you accidentally got a lil deodorant in your mouth. Not taste like deodorant, feels like it.
Thanks for the video ❤
Beautiful. Delicious. Thank you.🌸