Monday, October 18, 2010

Persimmon and Acorn Season


Persimmon and Acorn Season
Originally uploaded by linfrye
Daily Practice
Journal Size

It's my favorite time of the year - harvesting, brilliant colors on the trees, and fruits and nuts are abundant! One of my favorite fruits - the persimmon - is now in season - and I'm afraid I'm eating too many of them!! LOL

The persimmons I painted are fuyu persimmons - an Asian variety that is larger than the wild American native we have in NC (Diospyros virginiana). There are basically two different 'classes' of persimmons - those that are astringent and need full ripening to become sweet (like the wild varities of persimmon folks ALWAYS remember tasting when unripe and having their tongues feel like they were coated with dust! These unripened fruits were also the culprits that caused their mouths to pucker!

There are also the Asian varieties such as Fuyu, Kaki, Sharon and others that are sweet when they turn orange and can be eaten while firm much like an apple.

I LOVE to dry persimmons and have them available throughout the year. I also render the fruit into preserves, breads, muffins,and pudding. Some folks make persimmon beer and a friend of ours is trying his hand at persimmon wine. My favorite way of eating them, though, is out of hand - cold and sweet.

We've planted several fuyus that are too young to bear fruit, but the wild natives on my property are bearing and fully ripe - so a walk around the neighborhood typically finds me munching on as many as those luscious orbs I can reach -- and those that the raccoons and possum haven't gotten to yet!

Tis the season for persimmons -- horray! Hope your week is terrific!

3 comments:

Teri said...

They looks so beautiful Lin. Great colors and shadowing.

Joan said...

Wonderful washy look to this!!! Great colors too. I must admit I have never tasted a persimmon.

Have a great, fun day!

Lorraine said...

Wow; botanical looking yet still arty looking -- great painting Lin!

Interesting about the varieties of Persimmon. And I thought it was an Indiana fruit only!! The Buckeyes will no doubt be surprised by all the varieties.
Hugs,
Lorraine