I'm ashamed to admit I've lived on this farm for nearly 4 years and have just discovered some wonderful persimmon trees in the woods. (I kinda have a good excuse--we sell the hay to the man who harvests it and it's impossible to walk through before then. In the fall, my husband isn't keen on human scent down there before deer season so I usually don't spend much time roaming until winter when there is no tall grass, no snakes, no chiggers and ticks but also no wild foods to speak of.

This year I'm going any way to get the walnuts, hickory nuts and persimmons. I love to eat them out of hand but if I get there first, there should be plenty to freeze and cook with. I don't know how to separate the pulp from all the seeds. Any suggestions? I have a Victorio strainer but I think the seeds would be too large for it unless I use the squash screen. I do appreciate the benefit of others' experience.

I say "if I get there first" because there were 3 piles of scat in our lane out near the public road that were full of persimmon seeds.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), October 03, 2000

Answers

I don't have your answers, Marilyn, sorry. I just wanted to mention that I read, somewhere, just recently, that persimmon is one of the seeds that needs to be "processed" through an animal in order to sprout. So, if you don't get any of the bounty, perhaps in other years there will be many more persimmons! :-)

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), October 03, 2000.

I use a Foley food mill. You can also use one of those funnel-shaped deals with holes in it that sits in a 3 legged holder. I know thwew's a proper name for it but, I couldn't tell you what it is right now.:~] It takes a little more elbow grease than the the Foley, and it's a slower process. Check out the past two persimmon threads in the archives for good recipes. Enjoy!

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), October 03, 2000.

Marilyn I have never tried persimmons they dont grow in our area but have heard that they are very good is there anyone intrested in shipping me a small amount to play with I would be happy to pay. thanks Ronda Wa.

-- ronda (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), October 03, 2000.

Marilyn I have never tried persimmons they dont grow in our area but have heard that they are very good. Is there anyone intrested in shipping me a small amount to play with, I would be happy to pay. thanks Ronda Wa.

-- ronda (thejohnsons_doty@hotmail.com), October 03, 2000.

Ronda,

We have a bumper crop this year! This is the first time I've actually seen limbs breaking on persimmon trees because of all the fruit! I could ship you some if they could get there overnight. I'm not sure how they will hold up to shipping. You might ask again or e-mail me in another month or so. They won't be ripe till about then and trust me....you don't want green persimmons!

As for more trees growing, persimmons are about the most prolific tree around here. Persimmon sprouts are one of our biggest headaches in the hay meadow!

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), October 04, 2000.

Well! You can see how much I know about persimmons! LOL!

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), October 04, 2000.

Dear Marilyn, A few years ago my husband and I used our Victorio Strainer to seperate persimmon pulp and seeds. We can't remember is we used the pumbkin screen or regular screen, but I do think we used a grape spiral. The grape spiral allows bigger seeds to get processed without crushing.

The purree that came our was a beautiful dark golden, brownish, redish color. It did have black specks that my husband said were common in persimmon pulp and often mistaken for dirt or leaves.

Our purree was a little alkaline, the fruit wasn't fully ripe yet. Hope you have fun with yours.

-- Kathy (redfernfarm@lisco.com), October 05, 2000.