How to Make Wild Persimmon Raisins or Fruit Leather

Being prepared for every emergency is a challenge, especially in these days when everyone’s budget is tight. Gathering free, wild persimmons to make dehydrated persimmon leather is easy on the wallet and great for your preparedness! Persimmon leather may be used as a substitute for raisins or as part of the fruit or candied fruit in cookies, cakes or puddings.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• sheets
• sack
• colander
• potato ricer
• spoon
• parchment paper
• pan
• oven or dehydrator (optional)
• plastic wrap
• scissors

1. 

   Find a suitable wild persimmon tree. These grow from southern Connecticut and Long Island to southern Florida; westward through central Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, and central Illinois to southeast Iowa; and south through eastern Kansas and Oklahoma to the Valley of the Colorado River in Texas. But don’t look for them in the main range of the Appalachian Mountains, nor in much of the oak-hickory forest type on the Allegheny Plateau as they don’t grow there. Its grows best in the rich bottom lands of the Mississippi River and its tributaries and in coastal river valleys. They will be found in abandoned and denuded cropland as well as by country roadsides and fences. It is often the first tree species to start growth on abandoned open land. The persimmons from these wild trees are the soft-ripe varieties, not like the ones you get in the grocery store.
   Once you’ve found a tree on private property, you should get permission from the owner to harvest the persimmons.

2. 

   Wait until the fruit is completely ripe which will be after it starts freezing at night. If the persimmons are a bright orange and firm, they are NOT ripe. Immature fruit is very astringent and will ruin anything you use them in. Not only that, they are dangerous to eat and can cause intestinal blockage. Wait until the persimmons start to shrivel somewhat and their skins are thin but full of thick jelly inside. They will actually look overly ripe and are quite delicate at this stage.

3. Harvest the persimmons. The easiest way to do this is to spread some clean sheets on the ground under the tree and gently shake the branches. The ripe persimmons will fall from the tree onto the sheets. Persimmons have to be gathered daily or every other day during the ripening period.
   
   Clean your fruit. Sort through the persimmons removing all extraneous material such as twigs, rocks, etc. Each individual persimmon must be inspected to ensure its ripeness. Just one astringent fruit in a half bushel can spoil an entire batch of pulp. Bruised or torn fruit should not be used. Submerge your persimmons in a bowl of soapy water and stir gently to clean. Drain them in a colander. Submerge them in a bowl of clean water to rinse. Drain again.

4. 

   Drop your soft, ripe persimmons into a potato ricer. Squeeze gently and scrape the sweet orange-colored pulp from the sides and reserve. Remove and throw away the leftover seeds and skins from the ricer. Repeat! By processing persimmons in this way, you can easily reduce a peck of persimmons to two quarts of pulp in about an hour.

5. 

   Spread a thin layer of ripe pulp on pan lined with parchment paper. Dry in a dehydrator, the oven or in the sun. As most people do not have a dehydrator nor will want to tend it outside, these directions will deal only with drying in an oven. It will take anywhere from 4-8 hours or more depending upon the condition of the persimmons. You might want to leave the door ajar - temperature should be around 150 or so. To test for doneness, try pulling up on the leather. It should pull up from the pan in one sheet.

6. 

   If you want to make fruit leather, roll it up and wrap in plastic wrap. Yum!
   
   If you want to make persimmon raisins, once your first layer dries, add another thin layer of pulp and dry. Repeat until leather is about ¼ inch thick. This will make nice sized cubes when cut up. Place in plastic ziploc bags.

7. Store both types inside a paper bag sealed with tape. Place ina cool, dry place for up to two months or place in the freezer for up to one year.
   
   Children relish these little candy-cubes! They can also be used like raisins in trail mix, hot cereals, cakes and other baked goods. Yummy and FREE!

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on 10/12/2008 5 stars!!!