Persimmon Kids Encyclopedia

Ripe Persimmons

The persimmon is the edible fruit of some trees in the genus Diospyros. Diospyros is in the Ebenaceae family.

The fruits are usually taken from culivated varieties (cultivars) of the tree. They can be eaten in all stages of life. They are edible from when they are hard like an apple, to melting the moment they are touched. They are also used in smoothies and juicers when hard.

They come in all different shapes and sizes depending on variety. Some have even been known to leave your mouth feeling "furry" and dry. Other names the fruit go by are Sharon fruit and Kaki. It has no stones, no pips and no seeds. It has pure flesh. The leafy top should not be consumed. The leaves of which will go brown well before the fruit has ripened. Best kept in a basement or garage out of the way, but still warm.

Images

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  Persimmon leaves

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  Persimmon leaves in Autumn

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  This is a sound, ripe kaki, soft enough for one to lift the calyx out cleanly and split the fruit for eating

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  A whole Jiro persimmon fruit and a cross-section of one.

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  Nanyo City, Yamagata, Japan. October 2005.

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  An example of persimmon wood furniture

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  Persimmon tree

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  Peeled, flattened, and dried persimmons (shìbǐng) in a Xi'an market

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  Kaki preserved in limewater

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  Hoshigaki, Japanese dried persimmon

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  gotgam, Korean dried persimmon

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  dangam kkakdugi

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  Persimmon orchard northern Kansai region, Japan.

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  Hachiya persimmons in December

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  Japanese persimmons hung to dry after fall harvest

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  Their red color and cracking skins show which persimmons are ripe. The yellow fruit are nearly ripe and will ripen, especially if exposed to ethylene.

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  Comparison of hachiya cultivar and jiro cultivar kaki persimmon size.

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  Persimmon cut open.

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  Japanese persimmon (cultivar 'Hachiya') - watercolor 1887

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  Kaki fruit (Japanese persimmon)

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  A branch heavily laden with persimmons