Persimons, Pumpkins & Gourds

We are very busy making hoshigaki and working with it in all its stages. We're still peeling and hanging new persimmons, massaging them, and moving them from room to room, according to what environment the stage they're in requires. The weather is still good for peeling and hanging new hachiya persimmons, although it has been hotter than usual for this point in the year. We've even had to block some of the drying persimmons from the sun during the hottest parts of the day.

Some of the first persimmons that were peeled at the end of September are getting sugar and are nearly at their finished state. We expect that within two weeks we'll have the first supply of hoshigaki to sell at the fruit stand and to send out in mail orders. We welcome people to visit the orchard to see how we make hoshigaki, but we only have small amounts we can sell until more of this year's hoshigaki is finished.

There is still time to visit our pumpkin patch. You can take a wagon or cart through the orchard and bring pumpkins back to the fruit stand to check out. Kids can also play on the hay bale maze. We have small colorful gourds for fall decorations and large gourds for crafting, too.

What can you find in the Fruit Stand?

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and small quantities of Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• Apples-- Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Quince
  
• Jujube
  
• Vegetables--zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), garlic, Swiss chard and basil
• Pumpkins--in the fruit stand and in our pumpkin patch
• Gourds--lots of different kinds for decorating and crafting

Above are photos of gourds growing in one of the vegetable gardens.

What's in the Fruitstand

In the fruit stand we now have:

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and small quantities of Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• European Pear--Comice
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Plums--Casselman
• Quince
  
• Jujube
  
• Vegetables--winter squash, zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), garlic, onions, potatoes, Swiss chard and basil
• Pumpkins--in the fruit stand and in our pumpkin patch

Chris found a really easy and delicious recipe for quince candy on a blog in which she was also surprised to find Otow Orchard mentioned. She made some and has samples in the fruitstand. Here's the link: http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004155quince.php

Above is a photo of a pomegranate flower in the spring.

What is a jujube?

This weekend we learned more about jujubes when we went to Twin Peaks Orchards in Newcastle to demonstrate making hoshigaki as part of the PlacerGrown's yearly Farm and Barn Tour. We have a few jujube trees at the orchard and sell jujubes in the fruit stand, but we haven't felt like we know very much about them. Customers at the fruit stand sometimes say that they remember having jujubes dried in tea, or that they remember them from childhood and are so surprised to see them again. People often ask what they taste like, but it's hard to describe because it's something like a dry apple or pear with other flavors mixed in.

Twin Peaks Orchards grows a lot of jujube (amongst other fruit) and has a flyer out with more information about them. According to their flyer, jujubes are also called "red dates" or "Chinese dates" and are a small tree in the buckthorn family. "The immature fruit is smooth-green, and resembles the consistency and taste of an apple, but as it matures more, it darkens to red to purplish-black and becomes wrinkled, looking like a small date (hence the name Chinese Date)." Jujube contains many vitamins, including a high concentration of vitamin C, and are "one of the world's oldest fruits, used in Chinese medicine for over 4000 years."

At left is a photo of a jujube growing at our orchard.

Ordering Hoshigaki

We'll post an announcement here on the web site when this year's hoshigaki (dried persimmon) is available. If you plan to order some it is best to get your order in as soon as possible, as we are never sure how much the weather will allow us to make.

Call us if you would like to pick up an order at the fruit stand. If you would like hoshigaki or other fruit mailed to you, please print out the order form from our website and mail it to us with a check. We have samples of last year's hoshigaki in the fruit stand, but this year's hoshigaki isn't yet finished.

Persimmon Season Begins

We have started peeling and hanging hachiya persimmons to dry for hoshigaki. Come to the fruit stand if you can, and see the beginning of the process. We also have some fresh hachiya, maru (chocolate) persimmons and hyakume persimmons in the fruit stand. We treat the hyakume with a bit of vodka to remove its natural astringency. The vodka is undetectable to the taste, but the hyakume is left sweet and delicious, even when still firm.

This week, Otow Orchard will be featured on television on the PBS show, California Gold with Huell Howser. Last fall he and his show's staff came to interview us about making hoshigaki (dried persimmons). We haven't seen the show yet ourselves, but we've heard good reviews of it from people in Southern California who saw it a few weeks ago. In our area it is showing on Oct. 9th on KVIE at 8:00 PM, on Oct. 10th at 2:00 PM, and on Oct. 11th at 4:00 AM.

In the Fruitstand we now have:

• Persimmons--Hachiya, Maru, Hyakume (vodka-treated), and Hoshigaki (dried)
• Asian Pear--Okusankichi
• European Pear--Comice
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith
  
• Pomegranates--white and red varieties
• Plums--Casselman
• Peaches--only a few clings left
• Quince--a good crop this year
• Jujube--just a few left
• Vegetables--winter squash, green and yellow zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillos, chiles (both sweet and hot), Japanese eggplant, garlic, onions, potatoes, Swiss chard and basil