Fresh is usually available in the grocery stores. Stores like Costco sell it in bulk. It can be pricey compared to other fruits.

You can get canned persimmon pulp from Dymple Green, in IN. Linked below is the Persimmon Recipes page from Barry & Jeannie Blane's page, with Dymple's contact info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Persimmon

Yes, most groceries will carry them when in season. Even the Wal-Mart produce sections.

Otherwise, try Asian grocery stores or your farmers market.

I am serving persimon pudding at the "Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves" Herb Festival. Dymples not in business anymore. Still looking for pulp.

Here is a link that might be useful: festival

how do you know when they are ripe and do you need to do anything to them to make them edible
cheers
Peter

Note that there are two commonly-available species of persimmons. The ones in the grocery are just about always the big (tomato size) Japanese type, and the ones that are sold as pulp are the small (apricot size) American type. Persimmon pudding recipes generally call for the pulp (you could probably use peeled, seeded, pureed dead-ripe Japanese ones, but the taste and/or texture might be somewhat different).

Around here, there are two ways of getting persimmon pulp:

1) Grow your own or ask a friend if you can pick up persimmons under their tree (in the fall, of course). Rinse them and put them through a strainer to remove the seeds & skin.

2) Buy the pulp frozen at a funky farm market (the sort of place that also sells "homemade" jam, which may actually be made 500 miles away). It's most readily available in the late fall or early winter, but some places carry it year-round.

"Non-astringent" Japanese varieties can be eaten either ripe or semi-ripe, in which case it's simply a matter of how ripe you like them, like bananas. The other Japanese varieties and virtually all American ones need to be *dead* ripe. Cultivated varieties of either Japanese or American persimmons (and most wild ones) are dead ripe when they are soft and squishy, like a plastic bag with water in it. (An occasional wild American persimmon tree bears fruit that are still astringent even then.)

If you're not sure whether a persimmon is ripe, you can taste it and see if the aftertaste makes your mouth pucker. By "pucker," I don't mean that you dislike the flavor -- it's a physical effect, like gargling with skin bracer. (Once you've experienced the effect, you'll know exactly what I mean.)

If you're not that brave (and I don't blame you), I've heard that you can make sure that apparently-ripe persimmons have lost their astringency by drying the flesh, or by using half a teaspoon of baking soda per cup of pulp in your recipe, or sometimes by freezing and thawing the pulp. (This info is from Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden by Lee Reich.)

Other than making sure they're ripe, the only thing you need to do to make a persimmon edible is to remove the skin and seeds.

I just found an online newspaper article from Louisville KY that says, "Paul's Fruit Markets and Burger's Super Market carry native persimmons (along with Asian persimmons from California). Burger's also sells frozen persimmon pulp, usually putting up enough to last well into the spring." That's dated just last October, so it may be of some help to Beyondyonder. Didn't turn up anything in Maryland -- sorry!

Don't know if this will work for you, but you might try. Asian markets often sell whole persimmons that have been pared and dried - they look rather like brown donuts with a dimple instead of a hole. You might be able to rehydrate them (a la dried prunes?), then chop them up and proceed with the recipe.

For those others out there with kaki trees, this is a good way to preserve a large crop. Take seedless persimmons (the pointy, kaki kind such as Tanenashi, not the flat Fuyu sort) when they are solid orange but still hard. Pare them thinly, leaving the calyx and the basal skin attached. Sit them on a tray, or on the windowsill (my Japanese mother-in-law's way) in the sun. Turn as needed until they are dried like a raisin. They will ripen and "un-pucker" as they dry.
Since they have no preservatives, they should (ideally) be kept in the freezer to keep off both bugs and mold. Tasty!

for the last 7 years my persimmons tree produced good fruit.the last 2 seasons the fruit would fall off while they were still green and half the size.the leaves would curl up and remain green. they would not fall off until the cool weather.i miss my fruit help.

ok guys i was doing a search for persimmon and this came up , my grandmother told me that persimmons werent ready to eat until after the first frost, does anyone know if this is true? and what do i do with them? i would ask her this but she passed away several years ago, any help would be greatly appreciated
tracey

Tracey, I've heard that too. But I've also heard that it's not the actual frost that makes them edible, it's just a guideline -- they ripen that late. This is in reference to native persimmons.

I don't (yet) grow them myself, though.

Tracey,
I picked and ate the first ripe persimmon off one of the grafted trees in my orchard nearly three weeks ago. I have one local native tree that's usually dropping ripe fruits around Sept. 1, and the nice specimen tree in a residential yard near my office, where I get most of the fruit I pulp out and freeze back is usually ripe around Sept 20. Fruit on both these trees are long gone before frost. As reginak says, it's a guideline, but the best indicator, to me, is, if soft, ripe fruits are dropping from the tree.

All American persimmons currently identified are astringent until ripe, but efforts are underway to identify & breed nonastringent types similar to those developed from the Asian persimmon, D.kaki.

Tracey and reginak were discussing whether frost is a key factor in the ripening of persimmons. I have often "ripened" American wild persimmons when they are a too hard by putting them in the freezer for 24 hours, so I think the cold does have an effect on the process. My mother and grandmother both did the same when I was a child. I suppose it would work on the pulp as well, but I've always just thrown the whole fruits in the freezer overnight. I would think they might be easier to pulp after they have softened, altho I've never tried pulping unripe persimmons.

We have two trees on our property, but they have not born well the last two or three years, and I would like to find a mail-order source for canned pulp, too. I know they used to sell canned persimmon pulp in the tourist area of Brown County IN, but it's been 20 or 25 years since I've been there, and I have no recollection of the name of the distributor, who could well be out of business by now anyway.

Pam R.

A number of years ago I was walking through the woods and happened across a persimmon tree (native). I picked several fruit off the ground and stuck them into a pocket of my coat. Several weeks later I reached into the pocket and pulled out 'dried persimmon'. They were the consistency of raisins, and were delicious beyond belief. I never followed up to do that again - has anyone else ever tried to dry native persimmons?.....Elder

Googled for "persimmon pulp" and found this website. The source for PP no longer exists, but we found the resource below. They charge $5.25 for a 16 Oz. frozen tub, and send the goodies next day air.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dillman Farms

I know this is more than a year after the last post, but I just discovered it. They sell frozen persimmon pulp in our local IGA grocery, Nashville, Brown County, IN. I bought two, two cup containers of it this morning as they have it on sale. Also, there are various individuals in the county that sell it. Persimmon trees are pretty common here and I have several on my place. Unfortunately, they didn't produce this year due to the weather.

I've been creating a sources page for native persimmons on my site. If y'all know of more, please let me know.

bcskye - can you tell me who produces the pulp at the IGA where you are?

elder - native americans dried persimmons for centuries if not longer. I have eaten persimmons off trees in KY, WV, IN and other states well into April. This usually means they're well out of reach of wildlife. Once they've been on trees that long they have usually lost much if not all moisture, but they are VERY sweet.

magichef - I don't think Dillman is producing persimmon pulp this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: persimmonpudding.com

I currently have 28 acres of Fuyu Persimmon for sale. Buy by the pallet(s) or truckload(s) or all of it. Ready to harvest in October. if you are interested feel free to contact me

I am growing a FUYU Persimmon in the charlotte,NC area. I planted the tree last year. It hasn't grown much at all. Is it normal for them to grow slow?

www.nutsonline.com sells organic dried persimmons (Oriental persimmons) in slices. Personally, I prefer the dried oriental persimmons occasionally found in Oriental food markets.

Persimmons are the number one fruit in the world. They are great dried, sauced, diced and just about any other way you enjoy eating fruit. This is our first year to sell persimmons out of our orchard. The fruit is ripe early this year and is not great for shipping as the shelf life is too short now. Still great to eat fresh and make sauce. We have You-Pick at .75/lb. will have sauce to ship later. Located 5 miles SW of Trenton, FL. You can see our orchard by going to the web site and clicking 'future orchard'.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fuyu Persimmons