Aaron von Frank

Hi Kim! The best flavor complexity in Asian persimmons is going to come from astringent varieties, rather than non-astringent varieties. Fuyu is non-astringent; Hachiya is astringent. Hachiyas really need to be aged to softness and ideally experience some cold for their full flavor complexity to develop. Even then, they’re going to be quite different than our native American persimmons.

The closest proximation to an American persimmon that we’ve ever had from an Asian persimmon is from making hoshigaki, which you can read about here: https://www.tyrantfarms.com/hoshigaki-persimmon-guide/. Finished hoshigaki is a dried fruit so it could be re-saturated in a liquid and made into pudding. Or you could cut the hoshigaki drying process way short and use the partially dried hoshigaki Asian persimmons to make a pudding.

If all of that sounds like way too much work, then I’d instead just recommend adding spices and flavors to your Asian persimmon pudding. Vanilla, bourbon, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom… And to curb any disappointment, maybe instead of trying to make your finished pudding an exact replica of American persimmon pudding, recognize that these are different fruit species and no matter what you do, your Asian persimmon pudding is just going to taste different. So just try to come up with an ingredient combination that gets you something delicious, even if not the persimmon pudding you fell in love with in Indiana. Good luck!

FYI: My mom grew up in Evansville, Indiana, and I spent my childhood eating wild American persimmons all over the eastern United States. Today, our family still loves foraging wild native persimmons but we grow Asian persimmons in our gardens. In my opinion, a perfectly ripened American persimmon is more delicious than any Asian persimmon I’ve ever had.

Aaron von Frank

Hi Theresa! If it’s a giant persimmon tree growing up in Indiana, it’s almost certainly an American persimmon, not an Asian persimmon. Asian persimmon trees don’t grow beyond Zone 6 and even that’s pushing it a bit.

If your persimmon tree is bearing fruit and the fruit contains seeds, it’s almost certainly a female tree, although persimmon trees can be a bit unpredictable (there have been cases where trees change sex from year to year). Most likely, you’ve got a female persimmon tree and there’s at least one male American persimmon tree within pollinator flying distance (one mile or so, but less distance is better), otherwise you wouldn’t have fruit. That’s all good news for you from the standpoint of fruit production and future planting, unless a developer comes along and turns the forest/male persimmon tree habitat into a housing subdivision. If you’re buying trees, you could just get all females or self-fertile/parthenocarpic varieties since you’ve got the male tree/pollen covered (at least for now).

If growing American persimmons from seed, you won’t know the sex of your trees until they start bearing flowers in 7 years or so. That approach requires both time and patience. Male flowers are smaller and grow in clusters. Female flowers are larger and grow individually.

American persimmons are fairly easy to grow from seed. We take a lazy approach on cold-stratification:
1. Plant the seeds about 1.5″ below soil surface of quality organic potting soil in deep 8″+ nursery pots to accommodate their taproots.
2. Leave the pots outdoors over winter so the seeds cold-stratify.
3. Seeds will germinate in spring. Plants will need regular water and occasional fertilizer their first year. (They tolerate part shade when they’re young.)
4. Pot them up into larger pots when they go dormant in the fall.
5. Keep them watered, fed, and alive during year 2 (in pots).
6. Transplant into final in-ground location in beginning of year 3 before they break dormancy.

There may be more detailed info on the web for growing American persimmons from seed, but that’s the basics. Hope this helps and best of luck!

Aaron von Frank

Great question, Sharon! We cook quite a bit of persimmon recipes with both American and Japanese persimmons. Generally, Japanese persimmons have a higher water content than American persimmons. This difference isn’t really noticeable for certain recipes where extra liquid is added (like ice cream) but for things like cakes and breads, you’ll notice a difference and may want to add in a bit of water or other liquid to compensate. Hope this helps and happy cooking with your persimmons!