persimmon - Fruit, Culinary use, Wood

Any of several species of ebony, widely cultivated for their fleshy berries, which are edible but very astringent until fully ripe; also called date plums. The best known are the Chinese or Japanese persimmon, or kakee (Diospyros kaki), fruit 7·5 cm/3 in, globose, yellow to orange, native to E Asia; the American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), fruit c.3·5 cm/1½ in diameter, orange, native to North America; and the common date plum (Diospyros lotus), fruit 1·5 cm/0·6 in, yellow or blue-black, native to Asia. (Family: Ebonaceae.)

iPersimmon
American Persimmon flower Hemingway, South Carolina
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Ericales Family: Ebenaceae Genus: Diospyros
Species
D. virginiana (American persimmon)

Persimmon most commonly refers to the edible fruit borne by some species of the genus Diospyros.

Fruit

Persimmons tend to be light yellow-orange to dark red-orange in colour, varying from 2-8 cm in diameter, and may be spherical, acorn, or pumpkin-shaped, depending on the species.

Commercial forms include:

Astringent: Korean Hachiya Nonastringent: Fuyu Jiro Hanagosho

Species

Kaki Persimmon / Kaki Fruit (柿, kaki) (D.

ENERGY	293 kJ (70 kcal)
PROTEIN	0.58 g
FAT - Total	0.19 g
Saturated	0.02 g
CARBOHYDRATE	18.59 g
Sugars	12.53 g (fructose 5.56 g, glucose 5.44 g, sucrose 1.54 g)
DIETARY FIBER	3.6 g
Sodium	1 mg
Calcium	8 mg
Iron	0.15 mg
Copper	0.11 mg
Manganese	0.36 mg
Vitamin C	7.5 mg
Folate	8 µg

source: USDA Nutrient Database

Culinary use

Persimmons are eaten both fresh and dried. In Korea the tea is called gham eep cha.

Persimmon pudding is a traditional American dessert using fresh persimmons. An annual Persimmon Festival, which features a persimmon pudding contest, is held every September in Mitchell, Indiana.

Wood

Though persimmon trees belong to the same genus as ebony trees, persimmon tree wood has a limited use in the manufacture of objects requiring hard wood.

Like other plants of the genus Diospyros, older persimmon heartwood is black or dark brown in color, in stark contrast to the sapwood and younger heartwood, which is pale in color.