Persimmon Show on CA Gold Oct. 13th

Helen and her grandson, Toshio at the start of hoshigaki season in a previous year.   Helen is peeling and Toshio is stringing the fruits so they can hang on a stick to dry.

The show Huell Howser did about persimmons and making hoshigaki at Otow orchard for the PBS TV show California Gold will air this Thursday, Oct. 13th on PBS stations around California.  A few years ago, he and the show's crew came and spent part of a day interviewing and filming Helen, Chris and Tosh about drying persimmons.  Since then the show has aired a few times a year. Here are the stations and times:

• KVIE/ Sacramento, Thurs., 10/13 @8:30 PM
• KCET/ Los Angeles, Thurs., 10/13 @ 7:30 PM
• KVPT / Fresno, Thurs., 10/13 @ 8:30 PM
• KVCR / San Bernadino, Thurs., 10/13 @ 8:30 PM, Sun., 10/16 @ 8:30 PM

We have maru, the earliest variety of persimmon, picked and at the fruit stand now.   Maru is a pollination-variant type of persimmon that is sweet when firm if it's pollinated, but puckery if it's un-pollinated.  It's also called chocolate persimmon, because the pollinated fruits are brown inside.

We haven't yet started peeling the first hachiya persimmons for drying, because they're still a bit too green on the trees.  The outside and inside drying racks have been put up, kaki sticks and fans are cleaned and ready to be used, and we're waiting for the fruit to become orange enough to peel.  Once a persimmon is peeled, it takes around six weeks to finish drying and become hoshigaki.  We sell hoshigaki (dried persimmon) by mail order, or if you're in the area you can stop by the fruit stand and pick up an order.  To order to pick up at the fruit stand, please call or email us.