This is one fruit that used to make me very angry but yet always go back to wanting to eat again and again.
The reason I was angry with this is because just when you think it is ready or soft enough to eat, the base part (close to the stem) starts making your mouth feel dry and curdled (if that's even a word, LOL) 
SO, I was introduced to this idea of "How to make the Persimmons ripen to perfection fast".
 1-You wash them and throw them in the freezer.
 2-When you need few for consumption, bring them out of the freezer and let them how overnight (personally, I wait one more day before eating)when thawed, and back to room temperature, you can eat them and they taste just like perfectly ripe, as they should be for consumption.

Enjoy ;)

 
I'll post more pics of the thawed and ready to eat ones...

Haha I know exactly what you mean. Unripe hachiya persimmons are extremely unpleasnt...but when they're fully ripe, they're so delicious and unique in flavor. I guess when they're unripe, they're "unique" in flavor too lol

I had no idea about the freezer method. Thanks for sharing Aaron.

Yeap, the freezer works fine but it changes the texture of the persimmons slightly, they become more like a jam.

To ripen in a different way, try in a paper bag with some apples.
Put 2 large apples with 5-6 Hachiya fruit in a paper bag, roll the top to seal and leave for a few days.
They will ripen very nicely, the apples help a lot.

I like to eat them with a few Meyer lemon drops on each slice (or a spoon full) , the result is perfectly sweet-and-sour!

They are veeeery sweet when ripe and mushey.

besides the freezer which can somewhat alter the flavor, the easiest way i get them to ripen is in bag with an apple. I just put about 10 persimmons to a couple apples. 
This year I attempted this Japanese method of drying them. I peeled the skin, and hung them on a string. 2-3 weeks later I got a delicious sun dried persimmon. They're even sweeter than fresh ones. 
These are the Russyanka persimmon that I dried. 




 

That's a great tip on freezing them Aaron. Like you and me, birds will not eat astringent persimmons. They will eat unripe Fuyu (non-astringent), but they leave Hachiya (astringent) alone until they are ripe. So, if you know how to remove the astringency, you can pick them before the birds get to them.

Rather than freezing the whole persimmon, my wife likes to peel them, mush them up, measure into 2 cup portions, and then freeze them in a zip lock bag. That's just the right amount for one batch of persimmon bread.

The astringency can also be removed by baking or dehydrating them. So, if you plan to do either, you don't need to freeze them unless you plan to eat them raw. My wife dehydrates at least a few bushels of Hachiya persimmons every year. They are like candy!

By the way, I love offering my unknowing friends a nice juicy slice of unripe persimmon. The look on their faces is priceless.

I had a few not quite ripe enough to eat raw hachiyas. I was going to peel them before drying, but my wife sliced them with the peel still on and put them in the dehydrator over night. Not a hint of astringency in the dried peel or fruit, even though it wasn't completely dried, mostly soft and chewy.

I've been buying flats of fuyu at the Farmers market.

All the trees I bought as described in the other recent persimmon topic are astringent. I didn't want to spray and/or compete with critters like I do with other non-astringent fruit.

Tried freezing and drying native Virginiana unripe fruit but it was still very astringent. They will be getting cut for asian grafts requested from UCD.

I bought two Nesco Gardenmaster dehydrators last year, one for myself and the other for mom. The FD-1018A ia a great deal at $118 shipped and a very quiet and efficient design:

http://www.everythingkitchens.com/americanharvest.html?gclid=CNrx4NubosICFe_m7AodtFUAHg

I bought a case of TR2 expansion trays this year for about $100 or $8.33 per 15" tray. The dehydrator is 1000 watts and rated for up to 30 trays. 

Excellent info. Every year I give away hundreds of Fuyu. This is the 1st year where we slice them
them and dehydrate. Man, they taste great. We eat them as snacks, yum yum. By the way do
you guys think the persimmons sold at large stores are ripen with the help of gases ? A friend told
me a large super market chain here have a ripening room for fruits, more so for bananas so that
they are ripen at the same time for sale.

Instead of starting another OT Persimmon thread in a fig forum :), I thought I'd just post my question here. It's my understanding that some persimmons have seeds, while others do not. Typically the ones in supermarkets do not, however on a rare occasion I will find a seed or two. Has anyone tried starting persimmons from seed? What is the likelihood of getting a male tree this way? How long would it take to produce fruit? I'd be interested in hearing anyone's tips on growing persimmons. Thanks! :)

No idea about large grocery stores having ripening storage rooms.

I've found one large seed in a hachiya purchased from Publix in Peachtree City, GA.
It's in the fridge currently, in damp paper towel in a zip lock.

The way I understand it is:

The Asian types are tropical. To handle as cold as zone 7, they are grafted to native persimmon, usually Virginiana. If I get a seedling, I'll attempt to develop cuttings for grafting and keep it potted to move inside for winter; definitely the hard way since native seedlings are dirt cheap and cuttings are basically free plus shipping from UCD. UCD also has a few native types that produce larger fruit than the typical wild Virginiana.

Maybe somebody who has had Persimmon trees for a few years will chime in.

 

Lots of persimmons here in the SF Bay Area.  I have a bunch of them from my neighbor's tree sitting on my kitchen counter right now, ripening one at a time.  Thanks for a good way to get them all ripe at one time!

Stopped to make a delivery last week and inspected the large native persimmon tree that makes fairly large fruits for a native, I have been watching all year.  The first fruit was totally seedless. Almost got excited until the next one, but it only had two.  They both were still just a tad puckery.  Very uncommon in my experience for locals to not have many if any seeds.  Fact, I can't remember ever finding them with no seeds.

The few seeds in this year's Fuyu crop were not formed.  Just some flat shells of seeds but none were fully ripe either.  

The persimmons need to be pollinated by male flowers to produce seeds.
One way is to plant a Chocolate variety. The tree makes male and female flowers. The downside of having the male flowers neat your female persimmon trees is all the ripe fruits will have the seeds. Some even too many.

Not everyone likes this, although the pollinated fruit tastes better.

The seeds will sprout and they are good for grafting.
You need to start them in deep pots because the tap root is quite long.

Free seeds of ichi ke jiro
Send an S.A.S.E
5 seeds per request
Pm for my address

Does a Persimmon tree require cold winter?

We live in the San Jose, California, area (Zone 9b), and we have a Giant Fuyu persimmon tree in our backyard.  I am not sure if the tree requires cold winter, but every other year we get a large crop (around 100 fuyus) from that tree.

I'd love to try that LARGE variety...
Where to find though ;/

Paul, 
how big is your property exactly?
20 persimmon trees, plus you have figs and other fruit i am assuming...;)
you must have a great setup for eatable backyard.

Igor,
we have plenty of Coyotes in Glendale, but how do I feed the persimmons to them, I might need your help. lol

Aaron,

That was ONE of the ways used by the Nature :)
Just Google for the Persimmon seeds germination. You will find how to stratify the seeds in a fridge for a few months and germinate in the Spring.
The seedlings is best to graft with the known varieties afterwords.

The Persimmon scions can be obtained from the UCD, same place you order the figs from!
Just search for "Diospyros Kaki".

OK, here they are, ready to eat, tasted awesome.