Persimmon Fruit Taste
Persimmon Fruit Taste
Sweet, flavorful and packed with antioxidants and nutrients, it’s no wonder that the persimmon fruit was dubbed “the divine fruit” by the Greeks. This fruit is equal parts versatile, nutritious and delicious, accounting for its widespread popularity in many Asian countries. It is also becoming increasingly common in other areas around the world and is now featured in many seasonal pies, cakes and desserts. In addition to bringing plenty of flavor to dishes, it can also provide you with some serious health benefits, from promoting regularity to dropping cholesterol and blood pressure. Not to mention, it can be a delicious way to meet your needs for many important nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese.
Persimmons are red-brown or orange fruits that grow on trees like plums and look like a small, rather flat tomato capped by a calyx. The two varieties are stringent and non-astringent, the latter being pleasingly sweet. To avoid bitterness, the paler varieties should be eaten only when very ripe, usually peeled
The persimmon /pərˈsɪmən/ (sometimes spelled persimon) is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros. The most widely cultivated of these is the Asian or Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki. Diospyros is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-persimmon species of the genus are grown for ebony timber.
The tree Diospyros kaki is the most widely cultivated species of persimmon. Typically the tree reaches 4.5 to 18 metres (15 to 60 ft) in height and is round-topped.[1] It usually stands erect, but sometimes can be crooked or have a willowy appearance.[1] The leaves alternate, are oblong with brown-hairy petioles that are 2 centimetres (0.8 in) in length.[1] They are leathery and glossy on the upper surface, brown and silky underneath.[1] The leaves are deciduous and bluish-green in color. In the fall, they turn to yellow, orange, or red.[1] Persimmon trees are typically dioecious,[4] meaning male and female flowers are produced on separate trees.[1] Some trees have both male and female flowers and in rare cases also bear the 'perfect' flower.[4] Male flowers are pink[4] and appear in groups of 3.[1] They have a 4-parted calyx, a corolla, and 24 stamens in 2 rows.[1] Female flowers are creamy-white[4] and appear singly.[1] They have a large calyx, a 4-parted, yellow corolla, 8 undeveloped stamens, and a rounded ovary bearing the style and stigma.[1] 'Perfect' flowers are a cross between the two[1] and contain both male and female reproductive organs.[4] Persimmon fruit matures late in the fall and can stay on the tree until winter.[4] In color, the ripe fruit of the cultivated strains range from glossy light yellow-orange to dark red-orange depending on the species and variety.[1] They similarly vary in size from 1.5 to 9 cm (0.6 to 3.5 in) in diameter, and in shape the varieties may be spherical, acorn-, or pumpkin-shaped.[5] The flesh is astringent until fully ripe and is yellow, orange, or dark-brown in color.[1] The calyx generally remains attached to the fruit after harvesting, but becomes easy to remove once the fruit is ripe. The ripe fruit has a high glucose content and is sweet in taste. Like the tomato, persimmons are not commonly considered to be berries, but morphologically the fruit is in fact a berry.