Growing to a height of 20-60 feet with glossy, leathery oblong leaves, bluish-green in color, turning yellow, orange and red in the fall. The trees, dating back to prehistoric times, are very hardy and can adapt to any number of weather and soil related issues. The persimmon is highly regarded by many prominent Japanese poets, so much so that it is the subject of and/or mentioned, in countless of their works.Īmerican persimmons (Diospyros Virginiana) are part of the Ebony family. Introduced to Japan in the 7th century with cultivation beginning three centuries later, the persimmon (kaki) became so revered that it was named that country’s national fruit. In the Chinese culture persimmons are a symbol of good luck. The main production districts are the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the sixth-longest river system in the world with an estimated length of 3,395 miles. Persimmons (shi) were domesticated in China during the Qin and Han dynasties (221BC-220AD), with large-scale cultivation taking place during the Tang and Song periods (618-1279). This variety can be further divided into two groups, the “Hachiya” cultivar, which is so astringent that it is inedible until soft-ripe and the non-astringent “fugu” variety which can actually be eaten like an apple while the fruit is still green and firm. And although there are a number of persimmon varieties and cultivars worldwide, the predominate Asian cultivar is Diospyros kaki (aka D.kaki). Wild persimmon trees existed in China more than ten thousand years ago. And to this day, I’ve never broken that vow. With that knowledge I silently vowed never to eat another persimmon. “it’s so sour it’ll make your mouth pucker,” they said. Laughing at my reaction, they told me that if I thought the ripe fruit was bad I should taste it when it’s green. “It’s like eating a mouth full of sugar.” So I took a big bite which I promptly spit out. When I asked what it was, they told me a persimmon a deliciously sweet fruit that I should taste. I remember visiting a cousin who lived in a small Texas Panhandle town when one of them approached me with a reddish-orange baseball-sized orb picked from a large tree in their back yard. My first experience with persimmons was as a young lad about 9 or 10 years old.

Pale moon ebony black persimmon