Fuyu persimmons are such a pretty color and shape
This Delightful Fruit Will Make You Glad That It’s Fall
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love Fuyu persimmons, and those who have never tried this amazing treat. I was category two for most of my life. But when I adopted a whole foods, plant-based diet, I became more adventurous and had to try this new food that seemed so exotic. The first bite left me wondering at the attraction of this novel fruit, but I quickly advanced to category one, so happy to have discovered an autumn treasure to cushion the end of summer.
Persimmons are an orange fruit that stars in the fall, when you are primed to love orange as the color of the season. The taste of Fuyus is quite mild and somewhat sweet, yet also strangely addictive. Or maybe it is the satisfying crunch, cute squat shape, and bright skin that keep you coming back for more.
If you and your family have never tried Fuyus, have an open mind. You may need to sample several over the course of a few weeks to give your taste buds a chance to develop appreciation. You can slice Fuyus or eat them out-of-hand, like an apple. Try Fuyus in fruit salad, as a bright and sweet addition to green or grain salads, and even in salsa, chutney, and dessert recipes.
Children are most likely to try a new food if you involve them in the whole process. Take them to the store or farmers market to help select the fruit. Let them wash the persimmon and help slice it up if they are old enough. Leave the skin on the Fuyu and cut it into thin slices. Let the kids arrange the slices into a shape they like, maybe mixed with apple slices, raisins, or orange pieces. Then everyone can have fun devouring the art project.
Fuyus can be eaten when they are firm or slightly softened. This kind of persimmon is not astringent, as the Hachiya persimmon is. Unlike Fuyus, Hachiyas must be eaten when thoroughly ripe and soft or the taste will be a real turnoff. Distinguishing the two persimmons is easy.
The bright orange of these unusual fruits embodies the spirit of autumn
Fuyus are shaped like slightly flattened tomatoes. Hachiyas are rounder and pointed on the bottom.
When you appreciate Fuyus, you have a new source for healthy, delicious, fresh fruit during a season when the nutritional density of summer has long since dwindled. Each kind of whole plant food has a unique nutritional profile in terms of vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals – beneficial substances found only in plants.
Colorful plant foods indicate dense phytochemicals. Fuyus, which are orange all the way through, are brimming with these nutrients in every bite. In fact, a 2011 study found 31 different kinds of carotenoids, powerful phytochemicals which your body converts to vitamin A and uses to zap destructive free radicals, in persimmons.
You want to enjoy as many kinds of whole plant foods as possible to build a superstar nutritional team. Fuyus are a great autumn addition to the choices for you and your family.
I would love the experience of walking through a persimmon orchard when the fruit is everywhere
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Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. The book describes an easy-to-follow diet built on a plant-based eating plan that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease. Janice can eat several persimmons a day.
Tags: carotenoids, Fuyu persimmon, phytochemicals, Plant-based nutrition, whole foods plant-based diet
I thoroughly enjoyed every single word in this article about the Fuyu persimmon. I love every bite when I am eating one of them. We have one tree but plan to get more this year. I bought some persimmons at the grocery store and found out they are very similiar to the Fuyu, they are delicious also. I would like to know if I can order those trees also. Keep these articles coming, I really do enjoy them and would like to know more about them.