Another official custom-made family holiday Mona will grow up with is Kaki Week – the week (actually longer) that we pick, peel, and hang persimmons to dry. We have spent three nights this week working on about four-hundred, and tomorrow I will brave the fresh snow to pick more.
The pressure is on, however, as we planned to use our stove to dry them in the living room, but this year we will be heading to the US at the end of the month, so there will be no one here to keep the fire going. We gotta get the persimmons reasonably dried before then so we don’t return to one-thousand moldy little orange blobs.
The year is especially important as the persimmon are now a cash crop for us. Anyone who has seen the perfectly dried persimmons in the stores will know that we can’t sell our ugly, seed-full monsters simply as dried persimmon, but Tomoe makes some mean cookies and breads using the persimmon to sweeten instead of sugar, and they have a much lower footprint than imported rasins – and they are one of the few fruits available in such quantity (and for free) that are not grown with pesticides.
Any persimmons that we don’t have time to peel and dry will be thrown into a bucket to make persimmon vinegar, which also sells for a good price considering the little very effort that goes into its production.
With all the unpicked persimmon trees within a one hour radius of our house (we know where each and every one is along the main road) we could theoretically make enough money with this to live the entire year.
The photos are all after the first night. There are three times this after tonight.
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Looks like lots of work, but worthwhile. After being surrounded so many, can you actually bring yourself to still eat them?
Its a lot of work in that it takes time, but its nice break from having Tomoe focused on work one computer, me on another, and mona begging to let her use the computer to watch sesame street. Peeling the persimmon is an easy task that can be done while we just sit and talk with no other distractions or listening to NPR or BBC or something together. This is the only time we listen to it together and have such a long time to discuss it as we listen. Mona can also help by wiping the persimmon (she loves that) or picking up sticks etc.
As for do I still eat them, I love them. I am eating 20+ a day. I am just taking a break from picking more now, and I have already eaten at least ten and it is only noon.
Toby has been into drawing fruits & veggies from a book he has, and he recently discovered the persimmon in the book. (He calls it the “persimmonin.”) I told him about how Uncle Kevin & Aunt Tomoe pick them, so I’ll make sure he sees this post. You’ll have to tell him about it January. Or even bring some for him to try?…
They sure make a beautiful decoration. I just saw persimmons in the grocery store yesterday. I don’t ever remember noticing them before. I didn’t realize that you peeled them before hanging them up. That would be a good job for me to do. Better crank the heat up so they get dry before you leave. See you soon.
I’m obsessed with dried persimmons. They’re not too sweet, uniquely meaty and delicious. I made a sweet bread with them last year that was a big hit with the Japanese mother-in-law. Living in the city, I haven’t been able to get good homemade dried sweet potatoes or persimmons, darn it.
Yum! Nothing says fall like Kaki. You are too lucky : )
In San Diego now and had a nice dinner at a Hawaiian fushion place last night. They served blackened shrimp on a bed of kaki pickle. It was yum.
You could freeze them too for future use..I would think. Just dig them in the snow : ) . Just a thought.