Tawei Liao

Sun Dried Persimmons

Persimmons are in season.  We have a big persimmon tree, a “hachiya” variety tree.  The fruit ripens completely soft.  You have to wait until it is completely soft otherwise it will taste very astringent.  They are very sweet!

This year we will try something different.   We are in the process of sun drying about 25 persimmons.  This is a very old traditional preserving process in Japan.  I found some information about it here on slowfoodusa.org

Sun Dried Persimmons

From the slow food web site  you can find a link to the Otow Orchard in Granite Bay, CA.  They specialize in these “Hoshigaki”  sun dried persimmons.

Sun drying fruits is a lot easier during the summer than during winter.  Persimmons ripen during October, November, December.  We will have to do our best with the winter sunshine.  At night we bring the hanging fruits into the house and keep them next to the heating vents.  That way the drying process continues even during the night.

If this experiment is successful, we will sun dry a bigger batch next year.

Jason Bradford over at The Oil Drum has written a few articles on food preservation.  This article is one of them.  Sun drying is less labor intensive than canning.  And it also uses less water and energy.  There is no need to boil water and the energy comes directly from the sun.

Persimmon Sun Dry

Picture of our persimmons hanging on a cloth rack enjoying the sun.