[eskielover]

Ok, this is a bit different topic....but I'm just wondering if anyone else has gone out collecting wild persimmons to process & then cook with.

This is my first year of doing this....first time I have caught them when they were just falling off the tree & there were enough good ones to pick up & hopefully I figure out how to process & use what I have gathered.....I will go out & get more as several friends have farms with persimmon trees & they I will plant the seeds & hopefully start seedlings of my own.

I was out trail riding today & the farm I was riding on had several trees full of persimmons....but you can only pick the ones that have fallen to the ground as those are the only one's ripe enough to process & eat....all the other one's have a pucker power that can actually destroy your whole batch of pulp.

I'm on a learning curve with these persimmons. I remember as a kid my mother bought one huge one at the store in California.....but the wild ones are way too fragile to even make it into the store. I read that if they are ripe enough to eat & be sweet, they have to have fallen off the tree but then they are so ripe they splot on the ground when they drop & pretty much end up useless for processing.

Looks like you have to gather a lot just to get a little.....but it's something I've been dying to try for years.

Really wondering about anyone else's experiences with wild persimmons & how to really successfully gather. Thought if you shake the tree it would shake some of the not to ripe one's down also...but picking up from the ground is not the best solution either....& the trees that I was getting the fruit off of....are so tall that you can't even reach the branches.

So this is one of my fall projects now that my tad poles have all left the pond......I so love living in the country.

[SeekerOfLife]

Eskie, I have never done this. But would like to.

[eskielover]

LOL.....I just spent hours making the pulp out of the persimmons I gathered yesterday.....& only got a small container's worth of pulp.....maybe 3 cups max. I didn't have any of the tools that the internet suggested so I used a strainer......put the little fruit into it & squished them with the pestal I use for my spices.....& then I squished more with a spoon & then gave it a second go around & got a few teaspoons more......LOL....a lot of work for a little food, but it's an experience & it's really the experience for me that's the fun/challenge or whatever you want to call it (foolish endever, waste of time I need to be spending on other things that have higher priority.....but they spoil so quickly, if I hadn't done it today I would have wasted the time I spent yesterday picking them up off the ground & fighting the yellow jackets for the good ones even though they were more interested in the ones that had splotted all over the ground when they fell.

I'm guessing that the trees don't sprout that easy from the seeds otherwise the wild animals would have them growing all over Eagles Nest, my friends farm where with 30 miles of horse trails.....in the fall we see animal poo with the persimmon seeds all around the farm but there are still only the few trees that were always there.

My next challenge......finding a recipe I really want to try......

Then my real challenge is planting the seeds & seeing if I can't grow my own persimmon trees......not like I'll ever see the fruits of my labor but it would be cool to have a few of those trees around my farm too

Seekersinking.....the persimmons here in KY are very different from the ones that grow in California. These are little round balls about 1 1/2 inches circumfrance.....where the California persimmons I remembered that my mother had bought one time that I remember were about the size of my hand (still small but a lot larger then the tiny round balls that the trees grow here in KY)......a different kind of persimmon even though they do taste similar.

After I make it through this weekend, I may head back out to collect more as I froze the pulp I made today. Want to make sure I find the right recipe to make with it....but it would be nice to gather more. I have another friend who has several trees along her fence row & might get over there & see what might be dropping off the tree also.

Persimmons are strange.....if they aren't at the really over ripe state they are bitter as all get out.....& if you even get one that isn't ripe enough into the mix, it ruins the whole batch......quite a challenge to fine the ones on the ground that aren't so ripe that they have splotted & can't be collected & finding the whole ones that are still in tact.

Ah, the joys of country living......it's the life I always dreamed of even with it's challenges

[Can't Stop Crying]

i love you sharing about the new things you are trying out and experiencing....so cool!

[eskielover]

Fall isn't a good time of the year for me.....so every year & try to make sure I do things to focus on to keep the PTSD memories away & fight off what just the feeling of the fall weather brings.......

There are so many wonderful things to enjoy in this world.......& from the life I came from for so long.....each of these 7 years I have been able to grow farther & farther away from it & grow into the person who had been cocooned away for way too long even I didn't even realize it until I became free & have really grown to love the life I hated & wanted to end.

I am really loving life even with it's challenges like my lawn tractor that refuses to work even with the stuff I put in the gas to clean out all the gunk in the system. I had a long chat with the guy at the auto parts store Wednesday after trail riding. I described what my lawn tractor was doing.....strange darn thing.....I turned it on & just let it run to get the additive run through the motor & it would like almost die then it would come back to life.....it would continue to do that many times until it finally decided to die....then I would start it up & it would do the same thing all over again. The guy at the auto store offered his thoughts that it is my carburetor that doesn't just need cleaned but needs replaced......so that is my next task when I get some time. I will probably pull it first & see if there is some dirt in there that was impossible for the additive to clean out....but otherwise, I will get onto YouTube & learn how to change my carburetor & then get up to my elbows in grease & see if I can't get this lawn tractor running again. I bought it new in 2007 when I moved here & really haven't put that many hours on it but it's the dirt that it kicks up while mowing & the fact that many times I mow in grass that is taller than I am.....lol.....I should mow a maze in the field like they do in the corn fields.

Ah, there is always something which is why I enjoy the time I spend doing mindless things like mashing persimmons & making pulp for some good recipes. I have looked at some.....don't like the persimmon pudding recipes as they all seem to call for liquor & some of the flavors that gives I don't like that much....but there are some other cookies & things that really look yummy.....& it looks like I will have enough to make several different recipes even with what I have collected so far.

Wonderful thing is that it keeps in the freezer for up to a year so I don't have to worry about making anything immediately while I'm overloaded with everything else that I have going on right now.

It would be nice if I had one week where I didn't HAVE to do anything & where every day didn't have something scheduled much of which required my time to prepare for it which only adds to my stress even though it's things I really WANT to do.

[hvert]

Wow, you sound like me, except I am foraging for wild nuts and apples. I wish we had persimmons up here, but it's too cold, I guess. Do you ever look for mushrooms?

I spent over half a day collecting apples, cooking them down, and then canning them. It really does take a lot of time to process the food. I enjoy doing it, though!

[eskielover]

I have a black walnut tree in the front of my farm & the streets are lined with black walnuts out in the country part of our county......they are HUGE this year......they say that when the black walnuts are the size they are this year it's going to be a cold winter......then when you cut open a persimmon seed, if you see the shape of a spoon it's going to be a horribly snowy winter, if it looks like a fork, it's going to be light snow & if it looks like a knife, it's going to be icy......they claim it works.......we will see because every seed opened looks like a spooy .....we don't have deep snows here in KY. Not in years....will be interesting to see if all the persimons are correct this year