We're coming to the end of persimmon season — September through December, peaking in November — and I wanted to try one before it's too late. As the title of this post suggests, this was my first time tasting the brightly colored fruit. My association with persimmons is more from Japanese art than from flavor and I wanted to change that. I picked up two varieties at the co-op: Hachiya and Fuyu.
The Hachiya is slightly acorn shaped and is best eaten when it is very ripe. Until it is fully ripened, it has an extremely bitter, astringent flavor. Once it is ripe, that bitterness has mellowed to a strong sweet flavor with a little bit of spice. You cut it in half and remove the core. The flesh can then be scooped out with a spoon. I really liked this texture and flavor.
The Fuyu is shaped more like a squat tomato than the Hachiya and has a crisper texture. It is slightly smaller and sweeter, too. I cut this one up into slices like an apple to eat it. I think next time I would remove the skin as it was a bit harder than I would like. Overall, I preferred the Hachiya.
For those of you newer readers, this is a bog feature that shows up every now and again. You can read about my experiences trying new foods like lychees, Ugli fruit, kumquats, and pea shoots.
