Persimmon | BBC Good Food

Skip to main content

• Subscribe
• Sustainability
• Good Food Shows
• GF x Gousto
• Download our app
• GF x Laithwaites Wine

• Recipes
  • Back to Main menu
  • New and trending
    • Back to Recipes
    • Kids eat free
    • Classic cakes
    • Traybake dinners
    • Spring chicken ideas
  • Newsletter recipes
    • Back to Recipes
    • Batch cooking
    • Easy desserts
  • Sign up today
  • WhatsApp feed
  • What to cook
    • Back to Recipes
    • Quick and easy
    • Everyday recipes
    • Family recipes
    • One-pots
    • Slow cooker recipes
    • Traybakes
    • Air fryer recipes
    • Batch cooking
    • All inspiration
  • Occasion recipes
    • Back to Recipes
    • Ramadan and Iftar
    • Easter
  • Meal type
    • Back to Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Browse all meal types
  • Diet type
    • Back to Recipes
    • Vegan
    • Vegetarian
    • Browse all diet types
  • Explore
    • Back to Recipes
    • Ingredients
    • Cuisines
    • Chef recipes
    • Explore more
• Health
  • Back to Main menu
  • Welcome to Good Health by Good Food
  • Subscribe
    • Back to Health
    • Nutracheck
    • Healthy eating plan
    • Free health newsletter
  • Fitness
    • Back to Health
    • Protein 101
    • Marathon meal plans
  • Your health
    • Back to Health
    • Women's health
    • Improve digestion
  • Healthy eating
    • Back to Health
    • Vitamins and minerals
    • What to eat
  • Wellbeing
    • Back to Health
    • Sleep better
    • Eat for energy
• What to buy
  • Back to Main menu
  • Trending
    • Back to What to buy
    • Best food processors
    • Best frying pans
    • Best chopping boards
    • Best coffee machines
  • How we test
  • Wine Club
  • More reviews
    • Back to What to buy
    • Best pan sets
    • Best knife sets
    • Best veg box
    • Best collagen supplement
    • Best coffee beans
    • Coffee pod machines
  • Taste tests
  • Drinks reviews
  • Gift guides
  • Browse all reviews
• Budget
  • Back to Main menu
  • Batch cooking
    • Back to Budget
    • Budget batch cooking
    • Healthy batch cooking
    • Veggie batch cooking
  • Leftovers ideas
    • Back to Budget
    • Leftover chicken recipes
    • Leftover rice recipes
    • Leftover potato recipes
  • Zero-waste
    • Back to Budget
    • Fridge raid recipes
    • 5 waste-free meals
    • Planet-friendly cooking
  • Budget meal plans
    • Back to Budget
    • Student meal plan
    • Quick family meal plan
    • 5-ingredient meal plan
  • Freezable feasts
    • Back to Budget
    • Freezable family dinners
    • Freezer-friendly pasta
    • Healthy freezable meals
  • Cheap eats
    • Back to Budget
    • Quick budget dinners
    • Thrifty family feasts
    • Cheap and healthy
• Easter
• Subscribe
• Subscribe
• Sustainability
• Good Food Shows
• GF x Gousto
• Download our app
• GF x Laithwaites Wine

Search

• Home
• Glossary
• Persimmon

1. A
2. B
3. C
4. D
5. E
6. F
7. G
8. H
9. I
10. J
11. K
12. L
13. M
14. N
15. O
16. P
17. Q
18. R
19. S
20. T
21. U
22. V
23. W
24. X
25. Y
26. Z

Persimmon|pur-simm-un|

• Good Food team

Sometimes sold as kaki or Sharon fruit, persimmons are a golden, aromatic fruit. Find out how to buy the best fruit and how to store and cook them.

Ad

This thin-skinned, golden fruit requires thought and time to enjoy at its best. When ripe and firm the flesh of traditional varieties is very astringent and unpleasant. However, once fully ripened, when it softens to a satiny jelly, the flesh is wonderfully textured and both taste and scent are delightfully rich and aromatic without being overpowering.

Persimmons seen most often in the UK are also known as 'kaki' and are East Asian in origin. Increasingly available and popular, in some recent years they have out-sold mangoes in the UK market.

A newer variety, usually sold as Sharon-fruit, can be enjoyed when firm and a little crisp – but it’s not the same experience as offered by the traditional fruit.

There is also an American persimmon native to the Eastern States, which is often baked into a spiced cake rather like pumpkin pie, and the black sapote of Mexico is also a variety of the fruit.

Availability

Usually seen as fresh fruit in the UK over winter but sometimes the season can extend from early autumn into spring.

Choose the best

Take home only those that are universally firm and have no skin blemishes. Traditional varieties are typically somewhat heart-shaped while the newer firm-eating variety are more like squat tomatoes.

Store it

If stored chilled persimmons keep well. When you want to ripen the fruit, put them on a plate on a warm window ledge. You can speed up the ripening process by putting them into a brown paper bag with a few bananas or apples.

Cook it

Persimmons are rarely cooked. They can be added to a dish like an apple pie for interest, but the flavour tends to diminish with heating.

Persimmons are best enjoyed lightly chilled and eaten from the hand or with a spoon if they have developed their full jelly potential. The skin is edible but not usually eaten. Add to yoghurt, fruit salad, or serve with ice cream for a welcome change of colour, texture and flavour.

Firmer types of persimmon make a wonderful and colourful addition sliced or cubed into salads and make an inventive sliced topping for cakes or pushed into muffins before baking - rose or orange-flower water and such spices as cinnamon or cardamon are great flavour enhancers.

AdAdAdAd

Explore our recipe app

Subscribe now and get access to exclusive recipes, meal plans, podcasts and more.

Try today

Eating well made easy

Make healthy cooking easy and enjoy a year of Good Food All Access for just £44.99, plus receive a free stylish sauté pan (worth £59.99)

Subscribe today

Podcast

Our food team shares tips, techniques and their all-time favourite recipes in our lively weekly podcast.

More