Persimmon Perspective
Persimmon Fruit Facts from the California Rare Fruit Growers
Oriental Persimmons from Texas A&M Extension - PLANT Answers
Insect Management in Oriental Persimmon from University of Florida Extension
Growing Persimmons
from the Backyard Gardener
& Arizona Cooperative Extension
Search for Persimmons at the UC Fruit & Nut Research Information Center
from somewhere in Oregon, Ben Sharvey has put together a Plant Index
where you can find Persimmons on the Edible Landscaping & Gardening section of his life.
Here's a Sample:
Persimmon, American (Diospyros virginiana)
Harvest & Use — Mushy when ripe (and astringent when not ripe, due to tannin). Good to eat frozen; reportedly soothes digestion. Native Americans used the seeds in bread. For storage, "pick" the fruit by cutting the stem and leaving it intact; store just above freezing. The mallard, turkey, bobwhite, pileated woodpecker, yellow-bellied sapsucker, mockingbird, gray catbird, American robin, eastern bluebird, cedar waxwing, yellow-rumped warbler eat the fruit. read the article...
Here's another Sample...
- American persimmon is native as far west as Kansas, and from New England to Georgia. Thomas Hariot, a scientist in the second (1585) Roanoke expedition to the New World, described the persimmon: "as red as cherries and very sweet: but whereas the cherie is sharpe and sweet, they are lushious sweet."
- In 1607 Capt. John Smith of the Jamestown colony wrote: "The fruit is like a medlar; it is first green then yellow and red when it is ripe: if it is not ripe it will drive a man's mouth awrie with much torment, but when it is ripe it is as delicious as the apricock."
- The Algonquins dried the fruit for winter use; the name "persimmon" is of Algonquin origin. Persimmons belong to the ebony family, and have the hard but brittle wood of that family.
Persimmon, fruit that feigns tomato
— from The Hindu, India's National Newspaper —
North American Fruit Explorer J.W. Lehman has this article up at the NAFEX site:
Persimmons are of the genus Diospyros, taken from the Greek meaning fruit of the gods. Throughout the world there are several hundred species with most being indigenous to the tropical areas. The earth's most winter hardy species is native to the US only, D. virginiana. D. kaki, the Asian persimmon, is the most popularly cultivated species. It ranges naturally in China as far North as Beijing and is commonly known as the Japanese persimmon....read the article....
