Persimmons

 

Got it right, Persimmons.

 

thanks! that was quick

 

Yep! Usually they ripen coinciding with the first frost. Go back there in a few weeks and try them. If they are soft, they are ready to eat. Quite delicious.

If you try them too early, they are very astringent.

 

If you try them too early, they are very astringent.

I call that Pucker Power!!

 

They're also the best natural deer
attractant besides honeysuckle that ever was

 

You've just never seen them on my tomato blossoms.

 

YEP!!

 

Those are nice size persimmons, I regularly hike past a small grove of them and the fruits are always about 1/4 of the size. The larger fruits are quite likely due to the proximity to water.

 

Individual trees vary a lot in quality of fruit too.

 

Just in case you your walk by and happen to have a bucket or bag or empty backpack when they ripen....

Persimmon Jam (Recipe for Canning)

Make persimmon jam with this canning recipe—sweet, rich, and full of flavor, this jam preserves the unique taste of persimmons for a delightful spread on toast or in desserts.

creativecanning.com

 

The wild ones in my warmer 9a-9b take a long time to lose all of the astringency since we do not get cold weather until well into November and at times it starts in december.. Perhaps taking them inside to frig would help. I wonder if one can make brandy from them.

 

I wonder if one can make brandy from them.

Maybe so- they get very sweet when ripe.
Persimmon pudding is a real treat when the cook knows how to make it.

 

I recognised that straight away as a persimmon tree.

I have an Asian 'Fuyu' persimmon tree in my yard. It can be eaten while still firm and is not astringent like the North American ones. I like to eat them while they are still firm, but others like them when they are soft and sweeter. It has a delicious flavour when fresh but loses a bit of flavor when cooked or preserved.

 

I recognised that straight away as a persimmon tree.

I have an Asian 'Fuyu' persimmon tree in my yard. It can be eaten while still firm and is not astringent like the North American ones. I like to eat them while they are still firm, but others like them when they are soft and sweeter. It has a delicious flavour when fresh but loses a bit of flavor when cooked or preserved.

If you have 4-legged critters, the astringent ones allow one to pick while still astringent and take them inside. The critters seem to know with in a few hours when perfect ripeness has occurred.

 

Hopefully no opossums live nearby, they'll clean them out.

 

That's why they sell traps

 

I put a net over my persimmon tree to stop birds and chickens from helping themselves. It works, unless the fruit is up against the net, then the birds, usually parrots will chew the fruit through the net. My chickens love persimmons and will clean up any fallen fruit.

 

there's a large tree with same fruit about 100 yards away
thinking racoon or similar ate some and excreted the seeds, thus more, smaller trees.

 

You found a gold mine. Harvest it.

 

If you ever want to plant or transplant Persimmons, keep in mind that they are usually dioecious, meaning that you must have a male and a female tree in close enough proximity for the female flowers to get fertilized, or there will be no fruit. Female plants can sometimes produce male flowers, but it is pretty uncommon.

 

I am pretty sure that fruit with viable seeds needs pollen. Once had some HA69 persimmon variety and one year they produced some strange fruit with out seeds. Maybe it lacked pollen that year. There are three types of ploidy numbers for members of the american persimmon group native to the USA.

There is one in texas that is 30n and it is not called a persimmon for some reason.
The rest of american persimmons are 60n or 90n (tetraploid and hexaploid). The bigger numbers represent increases in the total number of chromosomes. I do not know if the pollen from one will fertilize another.
Asian persimmons can even have higher ploidy numbers.
Anyway just a few definite male persimmons seem to be enough to fertilize the female trees. Asian persimmons can have male flowers on female plants, but one tree asian tree is often enough for a harvest with no other asian trees in the vicinity. Pollen for Asian persimmons can result in seeds in the fruit. Persimmon sexuality would leave our alphabet group in utter confusion.

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/141756/ajb211026.pdf?sequence=1

 

For the first 3 or 4 years that my Fuyu Persimmon produced fruit, there were no seeds. That made it easy to process for drying and eating. Now the fruit has seeds, which is a nuisance. I found out that it is because there must be another tree nearby which is fertilizing my tree. I haven't had to use another tree to get fruit.

 

Most grafted Asian persimmon trees are sold as 'self fruitful'. As you noted if there is pollen around you get seeds and most people do not want seeds in their asian persimmons. You did not give a location. In my area Asian persimmons are not as common as they are on the west coast. The american persimmon is common on road sides in my part of north west florida.

 

looks like local raccoon is doing some planting. (note tracks in upper left of pic)

I think this is the daddy tree.

nice red color. still hard though. will return after frost.