Persimmon
Category:
Vii Wild Food On The Trail
In the Southern, Western, and Middle States, some say as far north as
New York, grows the _persimmon_. Deliciously sweet and spicy when frost
has ripened it, very astringent until ripe. It is plentiful in Kentucky
and one of my earliest memories is of going to market with my mother in
the fall to buy persimmons. There I learned to avoid the fair, perfect
fruit, though to all appearances it was quite ripe, and to choose that
which looked bruised and broken.
The persimmon is about the size of a plum, but is flattened at the
poles. It grows close to the branch and its calyx is large. The color is
yellow generally flushed with red. Some writers describe it as juicy,
but I would not call it that; the flesh is more like custard or soft
jelly.
The tree usually varies in height from thirty to fifty feet, but in some
places is said to reach one hundred or more feet. The trunk is short and
the branches spreading. In the south it often forms a thicket in
uncultivated fields and along roadsides. The bark is dark brown or dark
gray, the surface is scaly and divided into plates. The leaves are
usually a narrow oval with smooth edges; when matured they are dark
green and glossy on the upper side, underneath pale and often downy. The
flower is a creamy-white or greenish-yellow.
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