Persimmon trees good for more than juicy fruit
The first time I plucked a persimmon from a tree and took a bite, I was horrified. The taste was so astringent, I spit out that first bite. Even then, the taste lingered in my mouth for what seemed like a long time.
Little did I know that the fruit’s pale-orange color doesn’t signal readiness. A persimmon’s mellow, apricotlike flavor doesn’t develop until the flesh is so soft the uninitiated might think the fruit is starting to rot.
If you’re used to the larger size and bright orange Asian persimmons at the grocery store, don’t worry about the smaller size and black markings on the skins of ripe American fruits. Both are normal for our native persimmon species.
After the leaves of the persimmon tree fall to the ground in autumn, much of the fruit still clings to the branches through November. These are still edible, as are any you can gather from the ground. Tales abound of early pioneers treasuring persimmons in the late fall when other foods were scarce.
In the wild, persimmon trees are normally male or female, with only the females bearing fruit. But if you’d like to have a persimmon tree in your yard, there are also some self-pollinating varieties on the market, which make it possible to harvest fruit even if you don’t have room in your yard to plant two trees.
There are other good reasons besides a harvest of tasty fruit to plant a persimmon tree. Its small flowers are fragrant and a good source of nectar for bees. Songbirds are attracted to the fruit. Autumn color is often (though not always) spectacular. The tree is handsome in winter, with alligator bark and a picturesque branching pattern.
And a persimmon tree is easy to grow, little troubled by pests or diseases. It also has a reputation for tolerating an array of stressors, including floods, droughts, wind and sizzling summer temperatures. It is winter-hardy through USDA zone 4.
A persimmon is generally considered a midsize tree, although there can be a lot of size variation depending on growing conditions. You’ll have to be patient, though, because it is slow to grow.
It probably goes without saying that you’d want to choose a spot for a persimmon tree where dropping fruit won’t create a litter problem.
You can eat ripe persimmons out of hand or add them to salads or smoothies. You can dice them up along with hot peppers, onions and cilantro for salsa. You can make jam or you can substitute the fruit for ripe bananas in muffin, cake or bread recipes.