Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Persimmon Tree





The Persimmon harvest promises to be pretty darned good this year so far. Of course we are still a good amount of time away from a possible harvest since the fruit that grows wild around here requires a good solid frost to make it edible.

It seems a long standing joke among anyone who lives far enough South to have wild Persimmons is to get some unsuspecting Northerner to bite into an unripe Persimmon. Having tried one myself years ago it seems like something a little too cruel for a joke.

Then again I used to delight in making sure my Northern Wisconsin cousins got introduced to ticks and chiggers when I was younger so I can see how some might find it funny. My Grandpa almost beat me to a pulp one Summer when I lead my cousin through a flooded bottom field and then around the farm pond a few times. She was covered in chigger bites and ticks so bad she cried for days wrapped in a wet sheet and covered with calamine lotion wanting to go home.  The thing was I really didn't do it with any thought to a chigger attack I was just trying to find a snapping turtle for her to see.

She also had a problem with negotiating Locust thorns barefoot but that's another story.

Anyway if you are lucky enough to have Persimmons growing nearby and get to the fruit before the coons and deer devour it you are in for a real treat. I can't really describe the taste of Persimmons except it's kinda halfway between a Plum and an Orange kinda sorta although I have heard many people claim there are a variety of different tastes depending on the region.

Over the years I have heard that Persimmon trees have many added uses besides their fruit too. I have heard the seeds can be used as a coffee substitute and also used when mixed with Hops for a beer or even used to make a brandy. The pulp was often used to make a specific Molasses variety and the leaves supposedly can be made into a soothing tea.




A very old Persimmon tree begins to form a true ebony heartwood that many woodworkers, knife makers and other craftsmen love to turn into laminates and other artsy uses. An old woodsman around here told me once that you could also brew a tea from the inner bark that helped with stomach aches if you made the tea very weak. He also said you could dye stuff yellow if you made that tea strong too so I don't think I would try it.

I have my eye on a couple of small Persimmon trees I am hoping to transplant into my woodlot this Winter if the temperatures and such work out. Although I don't currently have any Persimmons growing on the Small Hold proper there are several stands of them on my parent's place just down the road.

With luck in another month and a half or so I will be posting pictures of some harvested Persimmons. I plan on being out there the next day after our first frost.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!




21 comments:

  1. With our thunderstorms yesterday a apple farm was wiped out of this years harvest. We are talking 38,000 trees, 20 acres worth gone in 10 min with large chunks of ice. We had some pea size hail here. There farm is a couple of towns east of us. They took a hit on their other crops too, but it was the apples that took the biggest hit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rob - 38K trees on 20 acres? That seems a bit crowded but what do I know? Ya that hail can be a real b%tch at times. We haven't seen any really big hail since I was a kid but man years ago it was scary sized stuff sometimes.

      Delete
  2. Our persimmons are looking good and the limbs are starting to bow a little. I think you might have to add just a touch of vanilla to your description.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sf - Oh ya I believe you are right I have experienced a little vanilla flavoring from them.

      Delete
  3. Around here, the only creature with a strong enough stomach to eat a persimmon is a possum, and they are nasty enough to eat anything. YUCK!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SD - Ya know I have sometimes wondered if maybe the Persimmon wasn't a border state fruit more than any thing else. Supposedly they grow all over the Southeast but if the frost date comes too late in the year I suppose it's possible the really Southern trees would never have sweet enough fruit to eat?

      I know up here before a frost they are, well so horrible it's hard to describe.

      Delete
    2. One of my favorite fruits! At the house I grew up in Port, Or we had several persimmon trees. They grow very well here in the Willamette valley. I'll be planting some here at the farm.

      Delete
    3. MV - Nice. I didn't know they grew that far North.

      Delete
  4. Your first frosts appear to range from Oct 10 to Oct 15. Ours, outside of the mountains tend to be at the end of October. The little persimmon festival in Oak Ridge, NC is November 1. So they grow here, but I don't recall seeing or hearing much about them.

    You are tough on your relations! I can see the slippery slope of starting with chigger attacks at an early age, progressing to cattle prods and what now later in life. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Russ - I swear I thought that cattle prod had a dead battery.

      Delete
  5. Do the deer and raccoons eat them before the frost, or do they wait too? I've never had one. I'm thinking the next time I visit the produce store, I may have to get one just to try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Izzy - Supposedly they can be palatable even without a frost if you let them over ripen. I have seen some partially eaten before a frost sometimes so I guess it is possible. They do taste bad off the tree pre-frost though I assure you.

      Delete
  6. My Grandmother had a persimmon tree next to her clothes line and she loved those dang things....
    Me, being the little naive kid, my brother gave me me one and I bit right in to it...ICK !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JuGM - I bet you got the unripe trick played on you. They are horrible when not ripened properly.

      Delete
  7. As Jerry Clowers used to say, we got a tea and fruit farm -- sassafras and persimmons. I have a bunch of persimmons and too many sassafras. I was threatening to dig some sassafras roots back in February. My wife fell ill about that time and so much for plans.

    I usually just eat my persimmons off the tree, but they make a pretty good jam for those so inclined.

    If a possum can eat it, a hillbilly has probably tried it - including eating the possum. I have not been hungry enough to cross that line myself. Yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mushroom - LOL I like your phrase and it is true I am sure. I haven't tried possum either, nor raccoon. I would eat them right off the tree but they never seem to last more than a day or so after the first frost.

      Yes Persimmons make an excellent Jam.

      Delete
  8. That reminds me of how much I like the wild fruits. Persimmons is another of my favorites I’m planning on making a big ole batch of jelly when they are ready. Between it and the two or so gallons of sand hill plum jam I put back a about month ago I should be all set till spring the strawberries come back in spring.

    All of the wild fruits are pretty good, and practically zero effort. The blackberries take their toil in blood though.

    Best,
    Dan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dan - I really should make myself start harvesting the Wild Plums. I just always seem to have other things higher ont he priority tree at the time they ripen each year.

      You are correct about the effort part and Wild fruit trees are more hardy I think.

      Delete
  9. Never tried them but I would like to. I've research them for here but hey say they won't ever ripen in our climate so not much point in planting them. that said on a hot year I bet they would but it's probably not worth it for having fruit once in every ten years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KV - All the Varieties? I thought there were a few that would grow and ripen almost anywhere.

      Delete
    2. Maybe I'll have to look again. We do get quite cold winters here (although not much snow) and lots of late frosts.

      Delete

Leave a comment. We like comments. Sometimes we have even been known to feed Trolls.