Persimmons Galore

Yesterday, we shared information about the Colfax Persimmon Festival; however, we didn't show you any of the dark orange fruit. Above, we're featuring the last of the harvest from the tree in our back yard. It is an Asian persimmon, specifically, a chocolate variety. The name comes from the fact that, on the inside, the flesh is a chocolate color. Our persimmons are about the size of a small lemon and are easy to eat raw- like an apple. Native persimmons are between the size of a nickel and a quarter and have several seeds, making extracting pulp a labor intensive effort.

Yesterday, one of our readers, Jane, mentioned that she ate a persimmon for the first time this year and commented on its sweetness. We hope you will all find a persimmon to try this fall. Even better, we hope you will plant a persimmon tree. Native persimmons are hardy to about zone 5 and Asian persimmons to zone 6. So, to our dear fellow blogger, William Kendall of Ottawa Daily Photo (who said he'd never tried one), unfortunately, you are a little far north to grow these melt-in-your-mouth fruits. You'll just have to visit us in Greensboro and try one!

Comments

[David T]

You'll need to plant male and female trees if you go with natives. Most varieties of Asian persimmons are self pollinating, so a single tree will bear fruit.

[Jane T. Mitchell]

You could always bring me my second from your tree!!

[William Kendall]

They're a curious looking fruit.