American Persimmon – Fruit Of The Gods

Differing from the persimmons found in grocery stores, American persimmons, which ripen after the first frost, are native to the south-eastern United States, and yield a wrinkly fruit that’s approximately 1-inch in diameter, and pleasantly packed with nutrition. But choose your fruit carefully, because an unripe American persimmon will leave you with puckered lips you’ll not soon forget.

American Persimmon Fruit

I recall a moment from my youth, when I was a little boy, and my Dad was working on his motorcycle. It was a chilly Fall morning, and there was a hedgerow nearby. I was tossing rocks into the hedgerow and my father came over to talk to me. Before us stood a tree with wrinkly orange fruit hanging from the branches. My Dad picked one off and took a bite, exclaiming at how good it tasted. A blast from his childhood, he picked another, firmer fruit, and proffered it to me. Innocently, I accepted it and took a bite.

Almost instantly, my mouth puckered up , and I swear I could feel the water being drawn from my lips and tongue. I spit ferociously, trying in vain to get the thing out of my mouth.

Ha, ha. My Dad, the trickster. Such is the relationship between fathers and children. To be fair, he then gave me a nice wrinkly, ripe one that was quite tasty.

American persimmons, also known as Diospyros Virginana, can be found throughout the states of Kentucky, Southern Indiana, Georgia, the Carolinas, and northern Florida. A tree that grows to a height of up to 80-feet, it yields a fruit different from the classic persimmon, which is native to China, and the national fruit of Japan.

Persimmons  are one of the few fruits that ripen in the Fall, and are rumored to only be edible after the first frost. Before ripening, the persimmon fruit is rich in soluble tannins and tannic acids, which is the reason for the “puckering” effect that comes along with eating persimmon fruits before they are fully ripe.  Unfortunately, these soluble tannins can polymerize in the stomach, creating a persimmon bezoar.  It’s rumored that persimmons are responsible for the majority of bezoars in regions where they grow.

Once fully ripened, as evidenced by the fruit growing soft and sweet, and the skin turns wrinkled and splotchy.  At this point, much of the tannins will have condensed, forming a variety of other flavanoids, such as ellagitannins, which are renowned for their health benefits.  Following the advice of eating as many colored foods as possible, the reddish orange persimmon fruit is a rich source of the anti-oxidants vitamin A, beta-carotene, and lycopene.  Persimmons also contain betulinic acid and  zeaxanthin, which are thought to be powerful anti-tumor and anti-oxidant compounds.

All persimmon fruit are rich sources of minerals, including copper, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.  You can expect a fresh serving of persimmon fruit to provide about 3.5-grams of fiber, and although both the Japanese and American cultivars are nutrient rich, there are differences in their nutrient levels.  This can be highlighted by looking at vitamin C, where a 100-gram serving of the American persimmon delivers up to 80% of the RDA of vitamin C, 27-mg of calcium, and 310-mg of potassium, while the Japanese varieties tend to be much lower.  Persimmons offer the added advantage of being richer in absorbable calcium than leafy greens, by virtue of complexing with pectin, rather than being delivered in the form of calcium oxalate.

Persimmons, in general, are an oft-overlooked fruit.  The fruit of the American persimmon tree is, in my mind, nutritionally superior to what you may expect to find in stores, and it provides a little blast from the past of my childhood.  If you ever happen to be traipsing about in the Fall, keep your eyes peeled for this unique fruit.  Just be sure its ripe before taking the plunge.