I just remove the little cap, wash, and put them whole into my hand-cranked food mill, which pushes the pulp through and makes a fine puree, leaving the seeds behind. Most of the skin sort of just dissolves into the pulp, and you can't tell it's there.

If you want to seed them first and then puree, that shouldn't be a problem. No need to remove the skin, it's completely edible and soft.

For a special treat, pick them while they are still firm and astringent. Slice 1/8" thick and dehydrate them in a dryer. They turn sweet and chewy, almost like candy.

Applenut

Applenut, are you saying that the astringency goes away with dehydration?

I've had commercially dried persimmon before, it's pretty good, but haven't tried it at home.

What they REALLY need to breed is a non-astringent, large fruited American persimmon that is hardy for those of us in the North.

Thanks for the ideas!

Denninmi, are you sure you can't grow Jiro? It is all you are asking for. I am just half zone warmer (6B) and Jiro has zero winter damage here for me.
Olga

I tried one called 'Great Wall' in the past, and it didn't make it. I also tried two Asian-American hybrids, 'Nikita's Gift' and 'Rossenka' (well, something like that on the second name) and they didn't make it, either. All of them went belly up the first winters.

Someday I might try again, but I'm hoping for a big breakthrough in breeding. I know that there are varieites out there that are grown in Manchuria and parts of Korea where it's every bit as cold in the winter as Michigan, but they just aren't available in the US yet, I guess.

Denninmi,

Rosseyenka is usually rated for zone 5....are you sure you are zone 6? Otherwise, I would guess there is some problem beyond the cold.

Does the cold weather come on very suddenly there?

Alex
.

Denninmi,

I am curious what brand of hand cranked mill you have as the one we have is relatively dysfunctional for persimmons.

I raise persimmons, pawpaws, and about 12 different nut trees and we would love to be able to easily preserve the pulp. I have 16 fruiting American Persimmons and another 40 seedlings moving along:)

as always,

/* Phil */

I like the flavor of persimmon skin in with the pulp, but it comes with a minor medical risk, persimmon bezoars. Minor in the sense of not too common, but not minor if you get one. It is especially important to be careful if you have had any gastric surgery, but afflicts many others of normal internal condition. The risk factor (tannin) is higher in the skin it is reported. Google "persimmon bezoar."

Last year i discovered the joys of native persimmons, we had two growing on our property but hadn't fruied until this year, already we're drowning in fruit so i looked online for simple persimmon pudding recipes and all called for persimmon pulp! However i encountered the same problem of being unable to find any methods of making it, thankfully at last one recipe had the answer it suggested just mashing the rinsed off persimmons through a colander, i have to say it works great (and you get to leave the skins on)! Thanks for reading and as always garden greener

I don't have a food mill, I just dump the persimmons in a colander and mash, mash, mash with a potato masher, squishing the pulp out through the holes until all that's left is the seeds and the fibrous capsule material surrounding them.

My friend Lee B. has peeled and sliced Rosseyanka fruits, while still firm - yet well-colored - and dehydrated them; very tasty, and the astringency disappears in the drying process.

gonebananas:

Checked out the bezoars thing... bizarre, but not all that concerning. Wikipedia says it's mostly from UNRIPE persimmons, or very large quantities of ripe ones (mentioned case of individual who ate over 2 pounds of pulp every day for 40 years).

Oh, and it mentioned that dissolving the bezoar with Coca Cola is now standard practice... I would be much more concerned about the level of consumption of this beverage in the US than the incidence of bezoars!

Wow, the bezoar thing is fascinating. Now I really want a persimmon tree (to consume in moderation, of course).

Oddly enough I have found quite a few trees bearing fruit this year even though we had that severe drought. I was pretty low on my carry over supply because last year was a barren year.

I use the laundry bag method in extracting the pulp. The drawback is it does leave undeveloped seeds but they don't effect the finished product other than aesthetics.