Talk:Persimmon

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[edit] Review and Major Revision Seem Needed

According to Morton, Diospyros kaki is "[p]erhaps best known in America as the Japanese, or Oriental, persimmon." This seems inconsistent with the opening sentences here, and certainly inconsistent with relegating "Japanese Persimmon" to one "commercial form" (Fuyu). Ref: Japanese Persimmon, pps. 411-416. In: Fruits of warm climates, by Julia F. Morton, 1987-- http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/japanese_persimmon.html. Similarly, from the California Rare Fruit Growers' page on Persimmon: "Common Names [are] Persimmon, Oriental Persimmon, Japanese Persimmon, Kaki."--http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html

Further, the latter source lists the following as "Related species: Black Sapote (Diospyros digyna), Mabolo, Velvet Apple (D. discolor), Date Plum (D. lotus), Texas Persimmon (D. texana), American Persimmon (D. virginiana)." This is inconsistent with the 2nd sentence, which equates all of these species ("also known as"). Also, in her chapter on Mabolo, Morton states that "the mabolo has appeared in literature for many years under the ilegitimate binomial Diospyros discolor Willd....D. blancoi A. DC....is now regarded as the corrent botanical designation for this species." (ibid., 1987, pps. 418-419--http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mabolo.html

I suggest that this article be reviewed and revised by experts in this field. Donald R. Davis 23:57, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Additional comments: Donald R. Davis 00:46, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

  • I would say persimmons are low in protein, not "high," as the stated 0.58 g per 100 g is only about 3% of calories.
  • In the nutrient content section I added additional values from USDA and substituted the USDA's common name for D. kaki ("Persimmon, japanese," consistent with my point above)

[edit] Questions

would like to have information on the vitamin content of this fruit. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 211.130.253.108 (talk • contribs) 09:16, 4 November 2004 (UTC).

The cited USDA source lists values for all 13 known vitamins. However, the number of data points exceeds zero for only two--vitamin C and folate. The others are inferred or estimated and thus are currently poorly known. Donald R. Davis 22:54, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

When are persimmons in season? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.74.149.241 (talk • contribs) 06:29, 13 December 2004 (UTC).

[edit] Merge with Diospyros?

I disagree that they should be merged; Diospyros and persimmon are not synonyms, in the sense that all persimmons are in genus Diospyros, but not all species of genus Diospyros are persimmons; similarly, several, but not all, members of the genus produce wood known as ebony, but not all of the species produce ebony. Diospyros deals with the whole genus, while persimmon deals with the few species that produce persimmon fruit. Tom Radulovich 05:40, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I agree with him. — FoeNyx 14:42, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I agree with him. — --Ricardo Carneiro Pires 19:11, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
I agree with him and add that the Persimmon page should be edited to reflect the comments made above. — ForteTwo 00:31, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Persimmon

Persimmons grow wild in south central Indiana, US where a fondness has grown around them. The specialty is for Persimmon Pudding.

Mitchell, Indiana has an annual Persimmon festival (every September) that features a Persimmon Pudding contest. Persimmon Pudding is a baked pudding that has the consistency of pumpkin pie but resembles a brownie and is almost always served with a topping of whipped cream.

This link details the festival event. http://www.mitchell-indiana.org/persimmon.htm

This link lists the recent winning recipes. http://www.mitchell-indiana.org/pers_fes/2004/fest_ppud.htm

Home-brewed persimmon beer is a fairly common beverage in my neck of the woods.
-Firestorm

[edit] Fruit of the Gods?

"It was known to the ancient Greeks as "the fruit of the Gods", i.e. Dios pyros, hence the scientific name of the genus."

Pyros = fire in Ancient Greek. Where did you get this etymology from? Can you verify it? And was the fruit really known as Dios pyros in ancient times, or was this name given at the time it was classified?

I would like to know the Greek spelling of "Dios pyros."--Nipisiquit 14:11, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Keeler's Our Native Trees says only "Diospyros, of Greek derivation, means the fruit of Jove. Persimmon is the Indian name.". That at least confirms the "fruit of" terminology if not the era of the reference beyond Keeler's 1900 publication date. Wandering to OR: I don't know Greek well enough to know if someone made a pun between fire and fruit, but I note the astringency of the fruit. Does the Greek plant also have astringent fruit? (SEWilco 04:40, 1 May 2007 (UTC))
EB 1st edition only has brief description and that there are two species, neither native to the British Isles; no mention of etymology. EB 1911 gives no etymology for Diospyros. Oxford English Dictionary has persimmon but not Diospyros (well, that's not English). (SEWilco 05:16, 1 May 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Sharon Fruit

Since 'Sharon Fruit' is a trade name, not all persimmons are Sharon Fruit. I have adjusted the first sentence accordingly. RomanSpa 23:02, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

'sharon fruit' is a trade name, but not for fruit grown in israel. 'sharon fruit' is chemically ripened. ...further 'adjustments' were made. --emerson7 | Talk 19:12, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Are you sure about that? It's not just chemically, from what I've read, but can also be through exposure to direct sunlight. I've also been led to believe that there are varieties of persimmon that have been bred to lack astringency. In the UK, I've only heard of sharon fruits, never having heard of persimmons, so I did assume that they all were sharon fruit. The current citation doesn't really make it explicit that sharon fruits are only those chemically ripened, and from what I've read from just looking around the Internet, they are of Israel. --86.20.219.123 00:23, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Was it named after Ariel Sharon?

I read somewhere that the Sharon fruit was a variety of persimmon that was developed in Israel. Was it named after Ariel Sharon?

+ Sharon is a common name in Israel! 82.113.133.7 08:52, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fruit of the Gods?

A citation of some kind would be nice on the whole "Fruit of Gods"/ Odyssey reference... i'm not sure but it sounds like this is describing the mythical drug "Soma" which according to my research is widely believed to be the red toadstool amanita Muscaria. Check the wikipedia articles on Amanita Muscaria and Soma, or Amanitas on http://www.erowid.org for supporting evidence. I'm not a registered wikipedia member, nor do i know the procedures and policy, but I thought someone shouuld call attention to this.

[edit] What do they taste like?

Do astringent persimmons taste different from non-astringent ones? What about Sharon fruits (in Sweden, we seem to call all kinds of persimmons 'sharon fruit')? Do those taste different from "regular" persimmons? I think it should be mentioned in the article whether they taste alike or not.

Yes, astringent is a kind of taste. If you'd like to find what an astringent taste is like, lick a persimmon skin. To your other questions, it depends on what variety you're referring to. bibliomaniac15 19:24, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Origin not clear or unique

The origin of the plant is not clear or unique. At least four versions of the same article, namely the English, the Italian, the Spanish and the Portuguese versions of this article, state different origins for the plant.

  • English: original from China
  • Italian: original from Japan and original from China (restated)
  • Spanish: original from Japan and China
  • Portuguese: original from China and popular in Japan (irrelevant)

This is something that needs to be clarified.

ICE77 -- 84.223.229.174 17:02, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Peeled or not?

It is pretty obscure whether you should peel the skin (thus removing lycopene; which in flesh is found (if found) in miniscule quantities) because of the fertilizers or should you consume it with its skin on? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.250.13.1 (talk) 19:21, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] the figure of Vitamin C is worng

Vitamin C 7.5 mg 13% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C Persimmon 60 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neoper (talk • contribs) 11:48, 22 January 2008 (UTC)