Drying Persimmons

persimmons

autumn is not the same without my auntie Emy’s wonderful persimmons.  she has a humongous tree that produces so many fuyu fruit.  fuyu is the type of persimmon pictured here, it has a flat bottom shape and is eaten when it is hard like an apple. this yummy fruit ripens in the fall and i always look forward to them every year.  my auntie is now in a retirement home and no longer sends me her wonderful boxes of fresh fruit from her tree.  i hope to plant one either this fall or in the spring and continue the tradition.  the following project and photos are provided by my cousin’s wife, Polly!  she is so kind to allow me to post them on my blog.  when i get a free moment i hope to try this drying process on my store bought persimmons.  if you don’t get around to drying this fruit, go out and buy some in the store and try it!  have a great day!

Polly has a wonderful tree!

peel all but the top of the persimmon, so that you can hang them from the top.

tie a string to them and hang them in a sunny dry spot for 3-6 weeks.  you don’t want the strings to hit the persimmons, since they’ll stick to it.  so hang them at different levels.  i have tried drying the hachiya (soft) type so i’m curious to see how these turn out.  when you dry them, they get this wonderful powdery white sugary layer on the outside.  if you were to buy them in a specialty store they would be very expensive.  

beautiful….