From today’s LA Times article, I was wondering if there’s any intel on these Maru and “chocolate” persimmon varieties on this board. I make a persimmon pudding every Thanksgiving, and I’d love to change it up a little this year by trying a new varietal, but I’ve only ever seen the standard Fuyus and Hachiyas in the markets.
Anybody spotted these other varieties out in the wild? Are they more/less expensive than my standby Hachiyas? Are they more like Fuyus or Hachiyas in terms of size/texture?
I actually saw some of the “chocolate” persimmons at the Sunday Mar Vista Farmer’s Market last Sunday. I can’t recall the exact vendor (on the west side, towards the south end) or price, though.
The chocolate persimmons are pretty spectacular. In my experience, they resemble more of a fuyu. However, they eat to me as a real 'tweener. You don’t want to get them to that gooey stage you might want for a hachiya, but you lose the whole point if you eat them apple-crisp. I like them when they reach a softness something like a ripe pear. The flavor is . . . layered.
I think you could pull off the classic persimmon pudding with the chocolate cultivar, if that’s your aim. Flavor will be special, but the texture will be different.
Finding them should be straight forward: any of the larger farmers markets will have them this season. I’ll check my local for you tomorrow to confirm.
Thank you so much! I did some googling and had a feeling they would end up being “in-between.” I’ll have to buy some to try, and maybe make a test batch in advance of the holiday.
No dice at the SMFM late this morning. However, a few growers have indicated the chocolate persimmons should be coming in greater abundance in about 3 weeks.
i have this rogue hachiya persimmon that’s been sitting in my fruit bowl for at least two weeks now that refuses to ripen. it started getting soft about a week ago but was like j/k and got rock hard again.
will it ever get soft or is it doomed forever? any persimmon whispers out there?
I have a couple of “cinnamon / hiyakume” persimmons from Arnett Farms. Boss lady warned they would take a while to ripen, but they seemed interesting so I took ‘em. Although, I am learning that a hard outside doesn’t mean it’s still fresh inside like @J_L posted. We’ll see…
Not good. They never got soft and the flesh inside was dry w/black spots). I wasn’t surprised for some reason though. I’ll do more about Arnett Farms and my day at Culver City Farmers Market on the FM thread later. How’d your freezer experience workout @PorkyBelly?
To clarify… the surprise wasn’t because I didn’t think the freezer thing would work. It’s that, imo, Arnett puts their persimmons out way too soon. Team Tenerelli. They release each peach variety as they’re ready.
