One of the tastiest fall fruits is by far the persimmon, that is also beneficial for our health.
Let’s find out more about it!
- The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros.
- The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, Diospyros kaki.
- Diospyros is in the family Ebenaceae.
- A number of non-persimmon species of the genus are grown for ebony timber.
- In 2019, China produced 75% of the world total of persimmons.
- Its scientific name is diospyros virginiana.
- The word Diospyros comes from the ancient Greek words “dios” and “pyron”.
- Dios stands for Zeus and piros for fire.
- A popular etymology construed this as “divine fruit”, or as meaning “wheat of Zeus” or “God’s pear” and “Jove’s fire”.
- The dio-, as shown by the short vowel ‘i’, has nothing to do with ‘divine’, dio- being an affix attached to plant names, and in classical Greek the compound referred to “the fruit of the nettle tree”.
- The word persimmon itself is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language of the eastern United States, meaning “a dry fruit”
- There are about 2,000 varieties of persimmons.
- There are only 2 types of commercially available persimmons: hachiya and fuyu.
- Persimmons are typically in season from September to December.
- Fresh and dried persimmon leaves can be used to make tea.
- Persimmons originated from China.
- Actually like the tomato, persimmons are not commonly considered to be berries, but morphologically the fruit is in fact a berry.
- Persimmons belong to the berry family.
- Persimmons first came to California in the 19th century.
- It can take a persimmon tree up to 7 years before it produces fruit.
- Persimmons can be used to bake cookies and breads.
- Persimmon trees can reach 70 feet tall.
- Persimmon fruit is moderately high in calories (provides 70 calories/100 g) but very low in fats.
- Its smooth textured flesh is a very good source of dietary fiber.
- Persimmons are also a very good source of vitamin-C, another powerful antioxidant (especially native Chinese and American persimmons- provide 80% of DRI.
- Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
- In color, the ripe fruit of the cultivated strains range from glossy light yellow-orange to dark red-orange depending on the species and variety.
- In Korea, dried persimmon fruits are used to make the traditional Korean spicy punch sujeonggwa, while the matured, fermented fruit is used to make a persimmon vinegar called gamsikcho.
- Dried persimmon fruits can be used in cookies, cakes, muffins, puddings, salads and as a topping in breakfast cereal.
- Dried persimmon fruits are called hoshigaki in Japan.
