Ingredient

Persimmon

There are two persimmons in the shops and getting them the wrong way round is the reason so many people try one, find it appallingly mouth-drying, and never buy another. One is eaten firm like an apple. The other must be so soft it is barely holding together.

The two kinds

The single most important distinction in the fruit.

Non-astringent — Fuyu, Sharon fruit

Squat, tomato-shaped, flat-bottomed. Eaten firm and crisp, skin and all, like an apple. Mild, sweet, no astringency at any stage.

Astringent — Hachiya, kaki

Acorn-shaped, pointed at the base. Mouth-puckeringly astringent until completely soft, then honeyed and superb.

How to tell

Shape. Squat and flat means eat it firm; pointed and acorn-like means wait until it collapses.

Sharon fruit

A commercial name for a non-astringent Israeli-grown variety. Eaten firm.

The astringency

Soluble tannins that bind to proteins in the mouth. They become insoluble as the fruit ripens and the sensation vanishes completely.

Ripening an astringent one

It has to go further than instinct allows.

1. Leave it at room temperature until the skin is translucent and the fruit feels like a water balloon. This can take a week or more.
2. Speed it up in a paper bag with a banana or an apple. Ethylene works well on persimmons.
3. Do not eat it while any firmness remains. Astringency at that stage is severe and unpleasant.
4. When ready, cut off the top and eat the pulp with a spoon, or push it through a sieve to use in baking.
5. Freezing and thawing also removes astringency, and a frozen-then-thawed Hachiya is a reasonable shortcut.

What to do with them

• Fuyu sliced into a salad with chicory, blue cheese or rocket and a sharp dressing. The firmness is the point.
• Fuyu eaten out of hand, skin on, like an apple.
• Hachiya pulp spooned from the shell with cream, which is one of the best things any fruit does.
• Hachiya pulp in a steamed pudding or a loaf cake, a traditional American use.
• Dried. Hoshigaki — peeled, hung and massaged over weeks — is a Japanese preparation of extraordinary quality, and even simple oven-dried slices are good.
• In a chutney with warm spice and vinegar, using firm fruit.
• With cured meat or a sharp cheese, where the honeyed sweetness works like a membrillo.

Buying sensibly

Shops label persimmons inconsistently, and "persimmon", "kaki" and "sharon fruit" are used loosely. Judge by shape rather than by the sign.

A squat, flat-bottomed, tomato-shaped fruit is almost certainly non-astringent and can be eaten firm. A taller, pointed, acorn-shaped fruit is almost certainly astringent and must be left until it collapses.

If you are unsure, wait. A non-astringent persimmon left to go soft is merely soft and still perfectly good; an astringent one eaten firm is genuinely unpleasant.

Common questions