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Ripening astringent persimmons.

13 years ago

My mom brought me a huge box of Hachiya persimmons from gramma's tree last week, they're sitting in my garden window waiting to ripen. So far they've been harvested for 12 days and still hard.

My problem, is that I know if I freeze them they will soften up and lose astringncy, but IMO that sacrifices a lot of flavor. I can definitley tell the difference between freezer-ripe and tree-ripe. Plus they tend to turn brown when they thaw (not important, but it looks nicer if I'm baking with them when they are bright orange).

Are there any other tricks to ripening persimmons? And, should I put them in as warm a place as possible or would they be better off in a cool location?

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Comments (3)

digdirt2
13 years ago
I suppose you could always try the old standard - putting them in a brown paper grocery bag with a couple of apples and close the top of the bag. Set it somewhere cool and dry and check daily.

The ethylene ripening trick works for most other fruit so might also work for persimmons.

Dave
calliope
13 years ago
I was going to suggest the same thing. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will. I have an American persimmon tree, and it's a different animal I know and our weather is different than yours, but they don't often ripen until late and sometimes after a light frost hits.
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sautesmom Sacramento
13 years ago
You can also put them in a closed container with a few drops of vodka on their leaf end, which is what commercial growers do I understand. Here is a website that describes the process.

Carla in Sac

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.ukfoodguide.net/persimmon.htm

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