Playing with Persimmons

  I was going to do a Three Things Thursday in place of my weekly Thursday weigh-in, but the Persimmon portion of my three things just took over :)
  
  While grocery shopping on Sunday, I came across a Persimmon, it was a lovely bright orange color.  It was located right next to the pomegranates and in an effort to increase my produce consumption mixed with my pomegranate love, I figured, why not?   I wasn't even sure if it was a fruit or a vegetable because it looks kinda like an orange pepper, but it said sweet persimmon so I guessed fruit.

I got the Hachiya version on the Left.  The other kind, Fuyu, looks like a tomato

     Tuesday I decided to try it out.  I didn't look up any info about how to eat it, I just figured I'd bite right in and hope for the best. . .

      Wow, WOW,  BIG mistake.  Although the first few seconds seemed promising, my mouth suddenly felt coated in a chalky substance .  It was completely bizarre, I can't even describe the sensation.  I immediately went online to figure out how on earth anyone eats these things,  this is what I found:

"If you eat the Hachiya type of persimmon before it's completely ripe, you will find it bitter and chalky, and have the strongest mouth puckering experience of your life. It will numb your lips and tongue for a short moment. However, you can avoid this by soaking the persimmon in salt water for a minute before you eat it. The salt will remove most of the bitter taste in your mouth. Alternately, simply wait until the Hachiya persimmon is soft and ripe. Or freeze the persimmon, and the chalky, tangy, bitter taste will be gone. The fruit can be defrosted in the microwave and then eaten in all its warm gooey splendor. Be careful of the seeds."      From WikiHow  

  Supposedly the Hachiya Persimmon is not ripe until it is very mushy and seems rotten.
   
      Being the nut that I am, I actually had to try it two more times to experience that unpleasant but intriguing sensation again. I tried to talk Matt into trying it (after I had already described how awful it was :D) but he was having none of it.    Then I left it on the counter, planning to soak it in salt water and re-try it, but after it sat there for a day I just threw it out.  I may get one again though and try freezing it because they are supposed to be amazing when eaten the right way.

    During my web search on the Persimmon I also came across, this post from the site  not so serious.  I LOVE how she describes the unripe experience,

"It’s a very strange feeling and worth a try, if you want to experience what can only be described as your delicate cheek tissue rapidly sloughing off and going down your throat."

Awesome. 

 You're all totally going to go out and try an unripe persimmon now, aren't you ;) 


Have you ever eaten a persimmon either ripe or unripe?   
What did you think of it?
If you haven't, how curious are you to try it now? :D


I think it would make a perfect April Fools prank :)