Misunderstood, underrated, and sometimes downright despised – the humble persimmon is a fruit that’s flourished in New Zealand gardens, and as Lucas de Jong discovers, the “fruit of the Gods” has a lot to offer.
There’s something festive about a ripe persimmon orchard — the autumnal reds of the dying leaves mixed with the abundant bright orange of the ripening fruit. The scene looks like someone delicately decorated each branch with a mass of glowing lanterns.
In a way, one family has.
The Wells siblings have spent their lives carefully tending to their 21 hectares outside Whangārei. Pruning, feeding and thinning fruit on the trees their father, Lindsey, planted more than 40 years ago.
“Everyone was putting in kiwifruit, and dad wanted to try something a little bit different,” said Bronwyn Walters, one-half of the sibling duo that is NTL Horticulture.
The fruit they’re growing here is far from the bland orange orbs you once reluctantly plucked from grandma’s tree.
“That's not what we're exporting or what the commercial growers are growing in New Zealand. The different variety, the Fuyu variety that we grow now, is beautiful and sweet and juicy and crisp.”
But so many of us have a mixed relationship with persimmons. For many, they’re a juicy mouthful of nostalgia, while others sheepishly have to ask, “How do you eat them?”
The simple answer: You should eat a persimmon like an apple. But it’s a little more complex than that.
Depending on when you pick them, the persimmon changes in flavour dramatically.
If you pluck a lightly green fruit, it’ll give you a fibrous texture with little flavour. If it’s firm and lightly orange, it’s a pear-melon hybrid with a touch of citrus. If you let the fruit age further, you'll be rewarded with something akin to a ball of sugar-filled jam.
Sweetness
Sweetness is the one flavour that sticks with it throughout.
At Milk and Honey Cafe in Kamo, Whangārei, they’ve been making the most of the persimmon's short six-week season. The delicate sweetness of the fruit can easily be lost in any baking, and it takes a gentle hand to get the balance just right.
“It's just extremely versatile as you cook it because it's quite delicate in flavour, but it will adapt the flavour of what you're cooking it with,” said Milk and Honey's Christi Karklins.
She’s seen the stereotypical cardigan-clad grandmother gush over a persimmon cake.
“Not all cafes use persimmons. We're a seasonal cafe, so we love using seasonal produce, and this is just a chance to show off how incredible the persimmon is.”
It’s bizarre that it's not a more common fruit. It’s been here for generations and grows relatively easily — so why don’t people rush to the fruit when it’s ripe?
Duane Wells, the other half of the NTL Horticulture duo, has a clue.
“The persimmon is a super fruit without the marketing budget," he said.
“It's high in vitamin C, it's high in potassium, it's high in vitamin A. It's got a whole lot of antioxidants, all the way through it with the beta carotene.
"So, it is an amazing little pocket rocket of a fruit.”
'Fruit of the Gods'
Duane’s in charge of the company’s pack house and export operation. He knows there’s a lot of love for this fruit in the right markets.
“Persimmons are very ingrained into the Asian culture. They're right through Asia. There, they know what a persimmon does, what it looks like, and what it tastes like.
“We will look to probably export around about 60% of our crop, maybe a little bit more if we're lucky.”
They’re called the kaki or the “fruit of the Gods” in Japan. In China, it’s believed that the cultivation of persimmon started more than 2000 years ago. Loved and cherished by a continent – and here in New Zealand, its popularity is growing.
“It's been around for such a long time in a non-commercial sense. But it is still very young in terms of a commercial product in New Zealand," said Duane.
If there was ever a time to try it, it’s now. The long, dry summer has resulted in an outstanding crop that the Wells family is immensely proud of.
As their boxes head out to stores here and overseas, they’re confident the New Zealand population will embrace the persimmon.
“I believe once people get to know it and to find out the health benefits themselves. They will come.
"They will come to love it just as much as everybody else in the world does.”
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