Hoshigaki | Dried Hachiya Persimmons

All of us here at the farm are big fans of Japanese persimmons, aka "हलुवाबेद". To enjoy them, we wait until they are extremely ripe and soft, almost fragile. Otherwise, they are quite dry and astringent, and are very unpleasant to consume.

We had a few unripe persimmons at hand, so we tried to dry them for a few weeks and see what we'd get. We were pleasantly surprised when they started shrinking and forming a new "skin" within the first week (they had been washed and peeled beforehand). They were massaged gently a few times a week to coax out the sugars to the surface, and in about four weeks, we could clearly see the sugars crystallize on the skin.

The texture is like that of dates - very sticky and gummy. And the flavour! It is like biting into an insanely sweet, concentrated, caramelized version of a persimmon! We can't wait to make more of these this year!