Fall is upon us in North Carolina. In the mountains, the leaves are moving into peak season, a little past at the highest elevations. Greensboro is not quite at peak; however, this weekend would be a great one to take a day trip and enjoy the season. Appalachian State University's biology department maintains a fall color report to help estimate the timing of fall color peaks for the various NC regions.
Above, you see the native persimmon, diospyros virginiana, nicknamed the possom apple. In North Carolina, the Scotch-Irish families have been enjoying persimmon pudding and other dishes since moving into the state in the 1700's and the Native Americans were eating the sticky, glue-like pulp long before colonial times. Fullsteam Brewery in Durham puts a different spin on the fruit, making it into beer. They will even pay $3 a pound for fruit, as long as it is picked at peak readiness and they don't have an overabundant supply.
With the loss of farmland in the Piedmont area around Greensboro, the native persimmon is not readily abundant. Consider planting a few trees on your property if you are in the position to do so. Unfortunately, the native persimmon doesn't like to be crowded and it takes a male and female tree to get fruit. As fussy as nature can be, it is hard to believe that these these used to be everywhere.
Sorry for the late post. Time Warner Cable is coming out a second time today to see why we don't have internet access at our house.( Thanks to wi-fi at a local coffee shop, we're able to post). If the TWC worker gets our internet fixed, we just may fix him a 'simmon puddin.'
just waiting to be made into persimmon pudding, lest they be devoured by birds.
"Possom Apple" I have stored that term away for future use.
Autumn arrives very late out here so this time of year I enjoy the photos of other bloggers in the East and Midwest to get into the spirit of things.
Good luck with Time Warner today.
Posted by: Janis of So Cal | Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 03:18 PM
My brother used to have a farm with a Persimmon tree. The deer would go bonkers to browse underneath it in October.
Posted by: Hugh | Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 06:34 PM