For us, such is the case for the fruit of the Diospyros virginiana.
The American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is a tree that grows in the southern half of the United States from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas eastward. Here in the Ozarks, you can find a lot in the wild and many planted in people's yards too. The tricky part is eating ripe fruit from these trees.
Near the end of summer and the beginning of fall, the fruit will begin to ripen. At this point the fruits turn from a green or yellow color to orange. However, just because the fruit is orange does not mean that it is ripe!
Unripe American Persimmon fruit can be very astringent. It almost reminds me of the flavor of alcohol-based acne medication... don't ask. If you try to eat an unripe one, your mouth will immediately let you know and it'll take a while to get that unpleasant taste out of your mouth.
Since I love eating free food, especially wild, healthy free food, we enjoy the fruit of the American Persimmon tree. There are many nearby our land and some already growing on our land as well. Plus, I picked up 100 seedlings too. Yes, one hundred seedlings may seem like a lot, but I will be sharing some with others and also planting a food forest on our homestead. To the untrained eye, it will look like any other forest. But, upon closer inspection, one would notice that every tree, shrub, vine, flower, and bush is some sort of food-bearing or useful plant. It'll take some work, but that is part of our goal!
When it comes to trying to eat the fruit, I've got a few tips. With the American Persimmon fruit, I've found two different methods that are quite effective in making sure that the fruit is ripe and no longer astringent. This year, we have only be able to use one method so far.
The first method is the one I included in the title to this post, letting it fall to the ground. This works well for a few reasons, but also has its drawbacks. First of all, it brings the ripe fruit down to where we can get it. A few unripe ones may also drop, but we find that the vast majority of persimmon fruit that drop from these trees are ready to eat. The ones that aren't ripe often have a color or firmness difference, so they are easy to distinguish from the ripe ones.
Since the ripe fruit is somewhat squishy and no longer firm, falling on the ground can cause them to burst. Also, many wild animals enjoy them too, so you have to get to them before they do.
We did pretty good collecting some ripe ones off of the ground yesterday. It blessed us with a healthy, tasty snack after we had done some hard work down on the land.
The other method is to wait until after a frost. Once the temperature drops below freezing, it seems that it helps the remaining fruit to ripen. I am way more likely to be found snacking up in an American Persimmon tree after a frost than before. Before the frost, I'll be eating off of the ground.
I think that it wise to familiarize yourself with whatever wild edibles grow naturally in your area. Local experts are always the best resources, and in many areas people even organize educational walks in the woods to share such knowledge with others. Since food is crucial to existence, it's not a bad idea to at least know what you can eat outdoors.
For 
The ripe American Persimmon fruit reminds me of orange flavored freezer pops when it comes to flavor. They are somewhat mushy, but very tasty. Inside, they usually have about two to six seeds, which can always be used to start new trees!
We were so happy to see the fruit dropping, and enjoy the nutrition that these wonderful trees can provide. If you see us eating food after it falls to the ground, just remember, we have our reasons!
As always, I'm and here's the proof:
proof-of-ripe-persimmons-that-fell-on-the-ground
Until next time…
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