Persimmon wine ? for anyone who has made it

[Sammyk]

We have a huge persimmon tree on our property. What the neighbors don't get (they always ask first) the deer do. One of the neighbors made persimmon pudding. Yuck! We did not like it.

Anyway I was wondering what kind of wine does persimmon make?

 

[Neviawen]

I had a friend who made this last year. If I remember correctly, it ended up tasting alot like persimmons (I think they backsweetened a little) and it had a cherry flavor at the end. Very interesting.

 

[Sammyk]

We have tried a couple of times off the tree and they were kind of bitter.

 

[Stressbaby]

If you eat them too soon (and if you ate them off of the tree, you ate them too soon) they will make your mouth pucker for hours. Allowed to ripen fully, they are very sweet. I wait until they fall from the tree. Most years, this is around the time of first frost, but this year they started dropping a month early. Wen ripe, the native persimmon is very soft, with wrinkled skin, and flesh that is mushy, the consistency of purée.

Persimmons can make good wine. Scroll down a few threads for "Persimmon wine variations." In that thread you will see that Terroir is "thrilled" with his persimmon wine. You will also see that mine (I have done four batches totaling 9 gallons) get what to me is a funky smell around day three in the primary. Just today I racked my first batch again, and I'm happy to report that is is coming along very nicely! It makes what I would call an earthy wine which I imagine to pair with mushrooms, root vegetables, roasted foods, etc. So far, the versions of persimmon wine I like best are the batches I've balanced with some orange.

 

[Stressbaby]

I will add that they make a fantastic bread, especially with some hickory or walnuts thrown in.

 

[Sammyk]

Thank you! I did find the thread. I have time though to think more about if I want to try it or not.

 

[Gowers Choice]

Persimmon is one of my favorites. Kinda tricky to work with since they're the consistency of baby food by the time they ripen and fall of the tree. But they have one of the more memorable flavors of all the varieties I make.

 

[terroirdejeroir]

I would second this emotion

Persimmon is one of my favorites. Kinda tricky to work with since they're the consistency of baby food by the time they ripen and fall of the tree. But they have one of the more memorable flavors of all the varieties I make.

I have only one bottle left from my initial experimental batch, but it is my favorite of all the fruit wines I have made. Very citrus-y and an extremely long and luxurious finish. FWIW, I backsweetened my to to 1.000. Many of the recipes I see advocate a sweeter wine, but that doesn't appeal to me.

Three more gallons bulk aging (the net yield of a five gallon batch) that I will probably bottle soon.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Unless you have a large tree, how do you accumulate enough for a 5 or 6 gallon batch? Do you pick them up and freeze them until you have enough?

 

[Sammyk]

I am guessing that is what you would do. We do that with our blueberries and our muscadines We pick them as they ripen and freeze them until they are done producing and then make the wine when we have the time by thawing all the fruit.

 

[Stressbaby]

Unless you have a large tree, how do you accumulate enough for a 5 or 6 gallon batch? Do you pick them up and freeze them until you have enough?

That's what I do. I got 90# from my tree this year, it is a large tree. I probably left over half for the deer.

I found that 3# of fruit listed in the 1 gallon Keller recipes yields about 1/2 gallon of wine once you get past the pulp, FWIW. That ends up being 6#/gallon of final product.

 

[Sammyk]

Thank you for the replies and I will refer back here in the fall if I decide to give it a whirl. Our tree is about 25' tall and very wide. It was here when we moved in 13 years ago and the previous owners let the neighbors take what they wanted. I would not even dare to guess how much the neighbors and the deer take.

 

[terroirdejeroir]

Gathering persimmons

Unless you have a large tree, how do you accumulate enough for a 5 or 6 gallon batch? Do you pick them up and freeze them until you have enough?

We had a pretty substantial drought in our area this past summer and I started picking up persimmons in September and continued gathering them every few days through November and putting them in the freezer. I couldn't really tell any difference between the early ripening fruit and the late ripening ones - got the exact same initial gravity for both the early batch and the late batch.

If you decide to do it, resist the temptation to pick the fruit or shake the tree. They will fall when they are ready.

 

[oldwhiskers]

If you decide to do it, resist the temptation to pick the fruit or shake the tree. They will fall when they are ready.

Definitly, I am well aware of the taste of one that is not fully ripe yet. I will give you one heck of a pucker.

 

[saramc]

Definitly, I am well aware of the taste of one that is not fully ripe yet. I will give you one heck of a pucker.

For anyone harvesting unripe astringent persimmons, you can actually freeze them and the sugars convert. Have done many times, works like a charm.

 

[oldwhiskers]

For anyone harvesting unripe astringent persimmons, you can actually freeze them and the sugars convert. Have done many times, works like a charm.

That's great, never heard this before and that removes the fear of getting one that's not quite fully ripe.

 

[jswordy]

I had a persimmon tree in the back pasture that I had to push over this year because it was storm damaged. It was hard for me to do it, since the damaged tree put out a HUGE load of persimmons. But it was a widowmaker.

 

[oldwhiskers]

I now have access to a couple of trees but I may not be able to check them every day.