The Ideal Time to Harvest Persimmons: 5 Expert Tips
Do you have a persimmon tree in your yard but aren’t quite sure when to harvest those bright orange fruits? These hardy trees are extremely productive and provide an abundance of tasty fruits for your snacking pleasure. Join gardening enthusiast Liessa Bowen on a persimmon-picking expedition and learn some tips on how and when to harvest these delicious fruits.
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I’m fortunate to live in a climate where I can grow an Asian persimmon tree. My persimmon tree has been remarkably productive over the years and I’ve had the opportunity to harvest, eat, store, and preserve persimmons during various phases of their ripening process. When my tree produces hundreds of fruits each year, it opens many opportunities for experimentation!
The first thing to note is that Asian persimmons and native American persimmons are very different from each other. In this article, I will address both types of persimmon so you’ll know how to tell when each is ripe and ready to harvest.
Persimmon trees add a lot to your yard, especially if you’re trying to grow an edible landscape. These trees are beautiful and have spectacular fall colors. The leaves peak in brilliant hues of orange and scarlet red. They’re also remarkably easy to grow and shouldn’t require any chemicals to ward off pests and diseases. These ornamental fruit trees are an excellent addition to your wildlife-friendly garden as well.
As the year progresses and the weather gets cooler, your persimmons will start to glow with their radiant orange hues. Read on for some helpful tips to de-mystify persimmons, especially when it comes to harvest time.
Know Your Variety
Before you can really know when to harvest your persimmons, you’ll need to know which type of persimmon tree you have.
Asian Persimmons
Asian persimmons (Diospyros kaki) are commonly sold in nurseries and garden centers. Popular cultivars include ‘Fuyu,’ ‘Chocolate,’ and ‘Jiro,’ among many others. These fruit trees are native to Asia and are hardy in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7 through 10.
The Asian persimmon tree grows to about 30 feet tall with a spreading crown and somewhat pendulous branches. They are very showy landscaping trees with spectacularly colorful fall foliage. Their long-lasting beautiful orange fruits are three or four inches across and are either a somewhat flattened globe or more oval-shaped, depending on the cultivar.
American Persimmons
American persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) are native to hardwood forests of central and eastern North America. They are hardy in Zones 4 through 9, so if you live in a cooler climate, you’ll most likely have one of these attractive native trees. If you scout around at native plant growers, you’ll find some interesting cultivars and regional varieties of these trees.
The American persimmon is one of the most prolific native fruit trees. These trees can reach 80 feet tall and produce hundreds of rounded, golf-ball-sized fruits. They attract birds and other wildlife, and the leaves feed luna moth caterpillars. In the fall, American persimmon trees display gold, orange, and red foliage.
Know Your Fruit Type
Not only should you know which species of persimmon you have, but you’ll also need to know which type of fruit it produces. Persimmons have two different types of fruits, astringent and non-astringent, and knowing which is which will help you know when you should start harvesting.
If you aren’t sure which type of Asian persimmon you have, you can do a simple test to determine whether the fruits are astringent or not. You can’t tell the difference between astringent and non-astringent ones just by looking at them. Pick a ripe-looking fruit that’s fully orange but slightly firm and cut it in half.
Touch the tip of your tongue to the inner fruit and wait a few seconds. If you feel an unpleasant dryness sensation in the tip of your tongue, they are astringent. Don’t worry, the unpleasant effects last only a few minutes. Non-astringent types won’t give you an unpleasant dry mouth sensation.
Astringent
All native American persimmons have astringent fruits, but only a few cultivars of the Asian persimmon bear astringent ones. So if you have a native species, expect them to have this quality. If you are looking for an Asian persimmon variety to purchase, and you like eating fresh fruit, I would recommend getting a non-astringent variety.
So, what does it mean when the fruits are astringent? Basically, it means that if you harvest them before they’re fully ripe, you will have a very unpleasant fruit-eating experience. Unripe fruits contain tannins, which will make your mouth feel extremely dry and cottony. If you eat an astringent fruit, even if it initially tastes sweet, you will still have this unpleasant sensation that lasts for several unpleasant minutes.
So if they are astringent, then how do you eat them? This is the trick—you have to know when they are fully ripe. At complete ripeness, they lose their astringency and become sweet and creamy and very delicious with no unpleasant puckering.
Non-Astringent
Most of the popular Asian cultivars, but not all, have non-astringent fruits. The non-stringent varieties of persimmon do not cause any sensation of a dry, cottony mouth and tongue. They ripen from green to yellow to light orange, eventually becoming fully ripe when they are dark orange.
Unlike the astringent varieties, you can eat non-astringent persimmons even when they are firm. You’ll still want to wait until they are orange, but if you pick a nice firm orange fruit and slice it like an apple, it’s perfectly crunchy, sweet, and delicious. If you wait a while longer until they become deep reddish orange, they will become softer and even sweeter but lose their crunch.
Be Patient
If you’re growing persimmons, it doesn’t matter which type you have, you’ll still need to be patient. These fruits hang on the tree for a very long time before becoming fully ripe.
Persimmons bloom in the spring. The flowers are greenish yellow and surrounded by large green bracts. As the flowers fade and fall off, you’ll see tiny green orbs in the center of the bracts where the flowers were. These tiny globes slowly grow throughout the summer until they’ve reached their full size, and then you need to wait even longer for them to ripen.
American Persimmon
American persimmons start to turn orange sometime in early fall. Don’t harvest them yet. You will want to wait and wait, and wait some more, until they are entirely ripe before they’re good to eat.
They will be best if you keep waiting until the weather cools down dramatically, and usually are best after the first frost, which will vary depending on your location and climate.
Asian Persimmon
Asian persimmons mature very slowly. All through the summer, they will stay green and gradually get larger. You won’t need to wait until the first frost, although you can safely leave the fruits on the tree through the first light frost and harvest them afterward. You really just need to wait until they reach peak color. Expect your Asian persimmons to be fully ripe sometime in October or November.
Watch for Color
Color is a big clue when it comes to harvesting your persimmons, especially Asian persimmons. You’ll never want to try to pick or eat a green or even a yellow persimmon. Wait until they turn orange. But which shade of orange should you wait for? That depends on the type of persimmon you have.
American Varieties
These native varieties turn a deep reddish-orange when fully ripe. The skin will probably have some brown speckles and spots on it and this is totally normal. Don’t expect a tree full of perfectly smooth, uniformly colored, blemish-free fruits.
The skin may even look a little puckered or wrinkly. This is usually a sign that they are very soft and a very good sign that they’ll be fully sweet and ready to eat.
Asian Varieties
The popular non-astringent Asian varieties can be eaten anytime after they turn orange. The outer skin color will help you determine both how sweet and how crunchy they will be. A uniformly pale orange color will yield fruits with a firm texture and sweet taste. Slice them up like an apple and enjoy them as a snack or a colorful topping for your salad.
Wait a few more weeks and your persimmons will turn into a glowing deep reddish-orange color. By this time, the flesh becomes softer and sweeter and also deeper orange inside. The texture will be soft but still slightly firm.
If you wait even longer, the skin turns darker red-orange and the sweetness intensifies. You can decide which stage of ripeness is your favorite and try to pick your persimmons when they reach your ideal combination of firmness and flavor. You’ll learn which colors indicate the best flavor for your needs.
Like the American persimmon, the astringent varieties of Asian persimmon need to be picked later. Their skins should turn fully deep red-orange before harvesting. If you pick them before they reach this point, there’s a good chance they’ll still be unpalatable.
Feel the Firmness
Persimmon trees usually produce plenty of fruits low enough that you can reach up and feel them. Once you’ve picked enough persimmons, you’ll be able to compare the color and the firmness and know, just by looking at them, how firm they’re likely to be. Until then, you can observe by both sight and touch.
American Varieties
These varieties will stay astringent until they become soft, and I mean really soft. Be careful when picking, sorting, and storing these fruits. They will be soft to the point of mushiness. If you squeeze them or stack them on top of each other, they will easily get crushed. Unfortunately, there’s no way around this. For American persimmons, soft fruits mean ripe fruits. If they are still firm, you won’t want to eat them.
If you were to try to pick an American persimmon off the tree and it gives a firm resistance, it’s probably not ripe. If you shake the branch gently and the fruits fall right off, they’re probably good to eat. These freshly fallen fruits will be very soft but shouldn’t be brown, black, or moldy looking. Fully ripe fruits will also smell sweet.
Asian Varieties
Non-astringent varieties of Asian persimmon can be harvested when they’re quite firm. Grasp the fruit like an apple and twist it until it releases from the branch. Don’t try to pull the fruits off, or you’ll risk breaking the branch. Any time after the skins become uniformly orange, they will still be firm but delicious.
Astringent varieties need more time to become soft. Don’t harvest astringent Asian persimmons while they’re still firm. You’ll need to wait until the skins and flesh feel soft and have a distinct give when you gently squeeze them. Harvest them carefully so you don’t accidentally bruise their soft skins.
Post-Harvest
There are plenty of ways to enjoy persimmons.
- Eat fresh persimmons as a tasty snack, mixed with fruit salad, or as a sweet, healthy topping for your green salad.
- Slice and freeze fully ripe persimmons and blend them into fruit smoothies.
- Refrigerate ripe persimmons for several weeks to a month (depending on how ripe and soft they are) and enjoy them whenever you want.
- If you’re waiting for them to ripen a bit more, store them in a single layer at room temperature. They’ll continue to ripen until you refrigerate them.
- Do you have more than you can use? Get creative in your kitchen with persimmon bread, persimmon chutney, persimmon salsa, or persimmon jam.
- Slice them and dry them in a food dehydrator for long-term preservation.
- If you have more than you can possibly use, give them away to your friends and neighbors!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn’t my new persimmon tree have any fruits to harvest?
A persimmon tree doesn’t reach fruiting maturity until it’s between four and seven years old. If you have a new tree, it may simply be too young. Wait another year or two and your tree should start producing fruits. The first couple of years, you’ll probably just get a few fruits but then your tree will start producing a full crop to harvest.
I accidentally picked astringent fruits before they were ready, is there any way I can make them ready to eat?
It would be impossible to taste every fruit before picking it. Fortunately, you can reduce the astringency in your persimmons in a couple of ways.
- Store at room temperature until the skin darkens and the fruits soften. You may lose some fruits from rot, while others will fully ripen.
- Freeze any picked too soon to help break down the tannins that cause astringency.
- Slice and dry slightly astringent persimmons. After drying, they will become less astringent or even fully sweet.
- Use them to make jam or jelly. The cooking, processing, and added sugars will create a much sweeter and more palatable taste.
Will I need to harvest all my persimmons at the same time?
Fortunately, when your persimmon tree is loaded with fruits, you’ll find that they ripen at slightly different times. If you don’t want to pick them all at once – most people probably don’t – harvest the ripest fruits first.
As the fruits continue to ripen, just keep picking the ripest ones first, as you need them. After the first frost or two, you’ll probably want to harvest all the rest. Any that you leave on the tree will be a treat for your resident birds and squirrels.
