Pinepig's Virtual Garden

One of the things I look forward to in autumn is persimmons. These are nature's candy! They are a beautiful fruit, yellowish orange going to red-orange when they are ripe.

I remember tasting my first persimmon. There was a tree at the park I worked at (it used to be a ranch/orchard). One of the visitors said they were delicious and edible, so I tried it. Unfortunately, it wasn't very ripe. It was an astringent type of persimmon, which meant it was high in tannins because it wasn't ripe. Ich! Pucker mouth!!!!

I can't remember how I learned that you need to let them ripen, but I am glad I did. I really like them.

And apparently, so do the silver eyes! I put some skin out the other day with a few bits of flesh still on it and they went after it. They've only recently started coming through the garden again and love their banana. They've also started taking to the suet & fruit treat we got at a local petstore. But the persimmon draws them with the bright colour and they scarf it down. I put a partly unripe one out today (is it a helping hand into heaven if you share your favourite fruit with native birds????) & they went after that with lots of chattering and chasing.

I've learned today that the persimmon variety we get in the stores is a non-astrigent variety, so I can eat them partly unripe. I don't know if I want to chance it, besides I like it when they are really soft and messy and sweet. I cut them in quarters from the bottom and devour them. Yummmm!

And they are good for me. They've got the below vitamins and minerals (based on US daily recommendations) but also are supposed to be good for your heart, regular consumption may help "educe the risk of atherosclerosis heart attacks". Granted, if I ate too many unripe ones I could develop a phytobezoar so all things in moderation!

Persimmons Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 293 kJ (70 kcal)
Carbohydrates 18.59 g
- Sugars 12.53 g
- Dietary fiber 3.6 g
Fat .19 g
- saturated .02 g
Protein .58 g
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 2.5 mg (167%)
Folate (Vit. B9) 8 μg (2%)
Vitamin C 7.5 mg (13%)
Calcium 8 mg (1%)
Iron .15 mg (1%)
Sodium 1 mg (0%)

And while my favourite way to eat these is raw straight out of the skin, I've also made these cookies and they are delicious, particularly at this time of year. Those of you in the Northern Hemisphere going into summer, book mark this for autumn. You can freeze the persimmon pulp for the cookie recipe, then make them for Christmas gifts.

Another great recipe from AllRecipes

Moist Persimmon Cookie
By: ANGELZ
"This is a soft moist spicy cookie. The persimmon fruit lends its sweetness and color to this simple cookie. Any type if nuts may be used for this and you may prefer to leave out the raisins."

Prep Time:
10 Min
Cook Time:
12 Min
Ready In:
30 Min

Servings 36

Ingredients
1-2 persimmons (approx 1 cup pulp)
1/2 cup shortening butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ to ½ cup sliced almonds (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

Peel and de-stem the persimmons and process them in a food processor or blender. You will want enough pulp to equal 1 cup. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening. Beat in the egg and persimmon pulp. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, stir into the persimmon mixture. Finally, stir in the chopped nuts and raisins. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Something I want to figure out is how to feed the tuis. They are in the neighborhood, both at the front and back of the house. Tuis are nectar eaters but too big for traditional hummingbird feeders. They also perch so can't hover and eat. We have a flax plant out front but I usually see mynas, not tuis there. While I think the citrus and peach/apple/nectarine might draw tuis they don't seem to go for them so perhaps a feeder would be better for them.

I've come across some interesting links and I want to put them here so I can think about what to do. I have an ice cream container out in the recycle bin, I might consider playing with that, some sticks and some wire. Or I'll spring for one of the tui feeders :) I really like the look of the wooden one.

Here's an important site about the importance of cleanliness of sugar water feeders

A good general article about tui feeders

Here's a pdf about how to maintain sugar water feeders

I really like the look, and price, of this feeder, the small would be perfect for our yard

And here's a feeder from Tiritiri Matangi, the conservation island

And here's a Youtube showing a tui feeding chicks.



ETA: Here's Woofwoof, the talking tui. C and I saw him in person too, and I can say he's real. The embedding has been turned off
so follow the link