Triumph persimmons. Note the ripe one, it's much darker.
One of the less common fruits that you’ll find at the Redland Organics tent is the Triumph persimmon, the variety that grows well here. It’s a bit smaller than the Fuyu variety you’ll find at the grocery, the kind that’s shaped like a flattened ball.
The unripe persimmon is a light shade of orange, but its color darkens to a deep orange as it ripens. Patience is required with this fruit. Unripe, it has a very astringent taste. And, it takes several days to a week for it to ripen.
A couple weeks ago I got two persimmons to try out. One ripened in four days, the other took over a week. The orange color grew deeper, and the flesh became quite soft. “Just let it sit on the counter until it turns translucent and looks like orange jello,” Farmer Margie advised. Translucent? Lets light through? Never heard of fruit doing such a thing. Split open a super ripe one, then held it up to the light. Sure enough, light shone through its jelly-like flesh. When ripe, the skin slides right off. Little sacs contain a small seed, which is a bit more translucent and chewy. The persimmon was very sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. Wish I had gotten more!
Persimmons are a great snack, and would make a great pudding or mousse, maybe even a pie, along the lines of lemon pie. Bill, over at Tinkering with Dinner, made a persimmon honey ice cream that’s worth trying out.
Persimmon season is very short in this area, and is almost over. If you want to experience this interesting fruit, hurry down to the Pinecrest market this Sunday before they’re all gone.
Those look like the same sort of persimmons I got at the UM market. I found that a few weeks in the refrigerator instead of a few days on the counter worked just as well for ripening.
Great article! I got to try a triumph persimmon at the 2010 ramble in fairchild, its tastes sort of like strawberry-grape jelly. It seems it is actually the only variety that does well in South Florida. If you are planning on planting one of these trees in South Florida, make sure it is grafted onto the native florida wild persimmon rootstock. See more information on an article by Richard J. Campbell:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/13/1673533/the-persnickety-persimmon-requires.html
Also, Pine Island Nursery has the Triumph Persimmon variety for sale:
http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/
Adiel
Great resources! Thanks for sharing, Adiel.
I contacted them. They only sell the Fuyu tree. They don’t have the Triumph, unfortunately.
Imus, they are sold out of the Triumph variety for this year. Make sure to talk to Erik Tietig from Pine Island Nursery to put you on next years waiting list for the Triumph variety. It is well worth the wait as the Fuyu variety does not do too good in South Florida.
Adiel
Thanks Adiel, I’ll do that.
Your welcome Imus, if you are in Broward, Pepe’s Plants also carries them. Unfortunately, they are also out of the Triumph variety until March:
http://www.pepesplants.com/persimmon-trees.html
Finally, if you are interested in learning more about tropical fruits, there is a montly meeting at the Museum of Science hosted by the Rare Fruit Council:
http://tropicalfruitnews.org/
Adiel