Dried Persimmons — hoshi gaki
December 12th, 2006
Persimmons are mystery for some people. Growing up eating the Hachiya variety (only to learn that’s what it is called in English, last year) I discovered the Fuyu variety rather late. This variety can be eaten before it has to get very soft, ripe, so it makes it easy to store. If you have access to astringent hachiyas, try putting them in a brown bag with an apple, and will get ripe in no time. The same trick can be used to ripen kiwis — which we successfuly applied this summer after picking the kiwis at my parents’ house.
The dried persimmons are a new addition to my “persimmon discoveries” as well. It started with a colleague of mine to tell me about a family owning an orchard just a few miles away from where I live. Once I was there, to buy some in season produce, I saw some orange mini-globes hanging from string on a nice wooden structure. Chatting with the owner, he told me that they are drying persimmons. Interesting idea. Well, this was 2 or 3 years ago. Finally, last time I was there, to buy the fresh persimmons, I bought a small pack of dried ones to try out. The result: heavenly. Kind of resembles dates.
Btw, I also learned that hoshi gaki is the proper name for these jewels in Japanese.
Check out the drying process and how much it is involved. What is amazing is that they start with unripe persimmon — which is very astringent (you should not even try eating!) and end up with such a sweet product. At the end of the article, they list growers who’s ship far away, if you decide it is something you should taste at least once. I suggest you do.
December 14th, 2006 at 1:49 am
Hi Fethiye,
Did you find those at Otow Orchard? When I was there getting quince I picked up some of the hoshi gaki as well. Very yummy. I loved seeing the drying racks. Wonder how they are doing with all this rain!
December 16th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
Hi Elise, my best friend ;)
Yes, I got them from Otow. I feel bad that I have not tried them before, all those years I have been going there! Isn’t it great?
I have a feeling that they love the rain as that means their water meter will not run as fast. All the persimmons should be dried by now, no?
December 26th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
I have a hachiya persimmon in my backyard in Oregon. We planted it when my son was born 22 years ago. These Japanese dried whole persimmons sound delicious, but I discovered you can slice ripe hachiyas into rounds (no need to peel) and dry them in a food dryer. They are delicious and pretty and taste sort of like dates. I plan to cut them up and put in oatmeal cookies or the like.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:57 am
hi fethiye :):)
I like your site v v much
I would like 2 ask u ..
how could i preserve apricot ??
i mean how could i have sundried apricot ??
please I`m waiting 4 your answer
thank u :)
June 30th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Hi Mim, I have never dried apricots (nonetheless it is my favorite) but when drying peaches all I did was to cut in half, remove the pit and put under the sun - cut side up. As with the rest of the fruits drying under the sun, make sure to cover with cheese cloth or similar so the bugs do not get it. Make sure to choose days where it will be dry and quite hot to reduce the days of drying.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:59 am
thanks a lot :)
I will dry some apricot and tell you :)