The Lowly Persimmon

Image by Martin LaBar via Flickr

Ahhhh! The Persimmon. A plant species that abounds in the South. As you drive through South Carolina, you will note pastures with luxurious growths of miniature trees with glossy leaves that scatter in clumps across the landscape. These most likely are Persimmon trees of the family Ebenaceae or Ebony. The wood is quite dense and the fibers are interwoven to make this one of the toughest in the world. In the days of wooden golf clubs, most Woods were made of Persimmon.

What is not so obvious when you see the clumps of bushes is that each time you see a thicket of them - maybe a quarter acre - they are all the same plant interconnected by tough roots. They spread quickly in pastures and are unconcerned with cutting and poisoning. If you cut one it comes back from the root. If you poison one, the leaves may fall off but you really haven't accomplished anything - it lives on. Some say that if cut during "Ember Days" in very late summer they will die. Since nobody seems to be able to pinpoint the Ember period anymore, nobody really knows if this will kill trees.

In addition to tough, dense wood, the Persimmon has one other redeeming quality - the fruit. The soft, sweet potato orange, pudding-like fruit is quite beautiful in August and in September it appears ripe and ready for eating. Almost every Southern boy keeps his eyes on the lowly persimmon during this time and when the time is right invites one of his dear friends from town to partake in the Persimmon Harvest Festival. Much time and effort is put into discussing the effacacies of the lowly fruit. The newbie must learn to identify the best persimmon, to pluck and peel back the skin just so and to avoid the hard seeds therein. His mouth begins to water for this delicacy and his heart to yearn. There are so many of them! Finally he is allowed to taste one. He bites into it gently and begins to chew and "Holy Moly - WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!!!!" Unfortunately for him he has "bitten into" one of the oldest jokes in American Agriculture. Persimmon fruit is noxious and astringent. Plainly put, the fruit will "pucker you up" to the point that you think your mouth is going to close up forever. The taste and effect last for what seems like hours and finally wears off so that you can talk and question the parentage, sexual pursuits, intelligence and charity of the farm boy. However, once tasted, you become a trusted member of the club and are empowered to initiate other victims - uh, "uninlightened."

Later on - say in October - the fruit becomes almost bearable and is a good source of fiber, protein, carbohydrates and tannin. At that point persimmons are eaten by some and collected by others to make "persimmon beer" - a sweet, orange "near beer". During times of economic depression, the fruit becomes a friend to the hungry. There's a story about my Uncle Jake - that he broke his arm eating breakfast one morning. He fell out of a persimmon tree!