a few persimmons starting to drop

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joegrizzy

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noticed the persimmon tree is FULL this year. I have pics from last year when they were starting to look really good, then they got about 1'' of ice on them with that wild late october ice storm :( when they thawed i thought they still looked good, but i didn't go for it.

this year, seems like the tree went wild and has put out even more. most of them still very yellow and hard, but a few that get more direct light are pretty dark. i picked up a soft one from the ground and it tasted freakin' great. i'd had them prepared as a kid, but i don't think i've eaten a raw wild persimmon and holy crap it's basically a date. very sweet and very nice texture.

so, who's got persimmon recipes? if nothing else, i'll pulp 'em and ferment 'em, but might save some pulp for jam, butter, or other recipes.
 

dennishoddy

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No recipes from me although we have a grove of about 15 mature trees in the yard. The animals love them.
I thinks it's a tradition to take a kid or grandchild to a persimmon tree and have them pick one off the branch to taste. :laugh6:

We are getting a few to drop, but the most will come in a week or two. The limbs are sagging with the fruit.
Interesting side note, early golf club shafts were built from persimmon wood.
 

Hangfire

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No recipes but......

Several years ago I came across two wild persimmon trees on the land I was hunting that I didn't know about growing on the edge of a old overgrown clear cut......ripe fruit was on the ground and on the tree with lots of deer tracks around the tree.

I quickly built a ground blind about 75 yds. from the tree with what was available and let the area calm down for two days before hunting the blind and was in the blind a good hour before light the third morning.......right at 0715 three does came in and I took the biggest one with my old Marlin 336 chambered in 30-30.

The persimmons were soft and sweet and I'll admit to snacking on several then I figured since I knew that mama had never eaten a wild persimmon I thought I'd take some home for her to try and having nothing else to put them in, after taking my spare orange stocking cap out of my vest and putting it on, I filled my orange ball cap full and headed back to the truck dragging a doe with one end of a rope tied around her neck and the other end tied around my waist and holding a cap full of persimmons.

By the time I got back home and hung the deer I saw that most but not all of the soft sticky persimmons had squished and turned to mush in my cap but mama did enjoy the few that had made the trip home intact.......the cap was a sticky mess and beyond cleaning so I tossed it in the garbage can.
 
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joegrizzy

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yeah i was starting to think my knife was getting dull because when i tried to cut one i just mushed it. they get soft quick it!

that's quite a story, i've noticed foxes around this path but i never put two and two together and realized they made it a part of their daily journey likely for those persimmons...
 

swampratt

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@Hangfire you got to be kidding me!!!!!!!!!

I did the same exact thing but was not dragging a deer.
My orange stocking cap was full of mushed persimmons by the time I made it back to camp.

Those guys that fill the plastic gun stock with bags can pull one of those out and use it to haul deer heart or liver or tasty fruit.

I have eaten thousands of them persimmons and made jam with them.
5 cups of juice and 7 cups of sugar and 1 box of sure-jell. Yellow box.
That works for just about any fruit.
Cook the prepared fruit/juice at medium temp with the sure-jell in it.
I stir it constantly to keep it from bubbling into lava.

Once it begins to boil set the timer to 1 minute. Not a hard boil just a good heavy simmer.
Stir fast now.
Then pour in the sugar and keep stirring.
Once it begins to boil again set timer to 10 minute and turn down the heat a tick.
You want a good simmer but not a big bubble boil.

Stir the entire time.
If you get foamy top on the jam you can add a pat or 2 of real butter, salted is fine.
This will reduce the foam.

After 10 minutes turn off the heat and skim off the foam.
You can place foam in a plate because it is also tasty.

Now you can add this super hot liquid to hot sterilized jars.
I have the flat lids in a pot of simmering water ready to cap the jam and twist on some rings.

Set on counter to cool.
Clean your mess and wait.

You can thin the fruit with some water if it is too thick.
I use the above for making grape jelly with welches grape juice and I have used it with sand plums, black berries, mulberries, strawberries and peaches and the peach juice left over from canned peaches.


It works very well.

If you cook the fruit juice too long you can cook the flavor right out of the jelly/ jam.
Too long as in 20 minutes.
 

2busy

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No recipes but......

Several years ago I came across two wild persimmon trees on the land I was hunting that I didn't know about growing on the edge of a old overgrown clear cut......ripe fruit was on the ground and on the tree with lots of deer tracks around the tree.

I quickly built a ground blind about 75 yds. from the tree with what was available and let the area calm down for two days before hunting the blind and was in the blind a good hour before light the third morning.......right at 0715 three does came in and I took the biggest one with my old Marlin 336 chambered in 30-30.

The persimmons were soft and sweet and I'll admit to snacking on several then I figured since I knew that mama had never eaten a wild persimmon I thought I'd take some home for her to try and having nothing else to put them in, after taking my spare orange stocking cap out of my vest and putting it on, I filled my orange ball cap full and headed back to the truck dragging a doe with one end of a rope tied around her neck and the other end tied around my waist and holding a cap full of persimmons.

By the time I got back home and hung the deer I saw that most but not all of the soft sticky persimmons had squished and turned to mush in my cap but mama did enjoy the few that had made the trip home intact.......the cap was a sticky mess and beyond cleaning so I tossed it in the garbage can.
Sneak a dirty ball cap in the dishwasher machine if you have one, doesn't mess up the bill like a clothes washer.
Persimmons are still green down here in SE Oklahoma.
 

AKmoose

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I cracked some seeds open and they're all spoons. We'll see.. If one needs some persimmon tree's we're got'em all over here.
Talking to my dad today, he said if the seeds were shaped like shovels it means a lot of snow. Old wives tale?? Guess we'll find out in a couple months!
 

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