When the persimmons starts to ripen, we turn into possums. We are always on the look out for an un-tapped tree to scamper up and pilfer. Briefly, we will turn back into civilized humans just long enough to sweet talk an octogenarian into letting us in their backyard.
If they are jelly with skin, they are to be enjoyed immediately. They might last a day in the fridge in this state of ripeness. If they are soft, but not jelly, I either put them in my kitchen window to ripen up a little more, or slice them into rounds and put them in the dehydrator. If they are hard, they wait. Once I have a haul, I check them every day, rotating which ones go on the sill, in the dehydrator, in the fridge, and in the gullet.
It can be hard to wrestle some away to dehydrate from other persimmon-crazed possums at first, but after a few days of gorging, their excitement will slack a bit. Once they try them dried, it will get harder and harder to fill that jar. Try as I do, I have not yet been able to save enough dried persimmons to last more than a month or two past harvest.
The word persimmon is derived from the Powhatan words pasimenan, meaning “fruit dried artificially“, and pasimeneu,”he dries fruit”.
dehydrating
When dehydrating, I leave the skin on. It helps the slice stay together and gets nice and crispy. You can get away with dehydrating persimmons that would be slightly under-ripe. If you have never eaten an under-ripe persimmon, it is very astringent and not delightful. They do sweeten up in the dehydrator.
I use a serrated knife and try to slice them between a 1/4 and 1/2 inch. The softer they are, the thicker you must slice them or they will fall apart, but I try not to go too thick to decrease drying time. Every night in October, the last thing I do in the kitchen is slice up those persimmons and crank up the dehydrator to medium(which for mine is 140 degrees). In the morning, some of them will be done, some of them will take the rest of the morning, but they should all be done enough by 11 am, making the drying time between 12-15 hours. They are done when they are the consistency of fruit leather. Wait a half hour or so until they cool down before you store them, as they will sweat and rehydrate in the jar.
other preservation methods
You can also freeze whole ripe persimmons to throw in smoothies, ice cream, daiquiris, etc. They make a great jelly, as they are naturally gelatinous and high in sugar and pectin. Thanks to my Mom, I have more jelly than I can ever use, so I prefer to dry them. It is too humid and buggy down here for me to want to try to sun dry them, but my good friend, Ellie, is attempting the Japanese traditional method to make Hochigaki(Japanese dried persimmons). Its pretty high maintenance for me and I have doubts about it working in this climate. I cheer her efforts and do hope it pays off and that I get invited to the tasting. I will bring a good bottle of sake.
