Hoshigaki & the Fruit Stand

Over the past few weeks we've had a few days of rain, which has slowed hoshigaki drying a bit.  When it rains we have to leave the freshly peeled persimmons that are on the outside racks covered. When it's sunny the rack is uncovered during the day so the fruit can be exposed to the wind and sun to help with drying.  In damp air the sticks of persimmons hanging in the inside rooms are more difficult to massage without damaging them.  

We're still peeling persimmons to start new hoshigaki because the persimmons are still hard enough to peel.  Sometime we'll need to stop peeling because the persimmons will either be mostly too ripe to dry well or the weather will be too cool or damp for them to dry well.  Right now we're still taking orders for pick up at the fruit stand or mail order. If you'd like to pick up more than a pound of hoshigaki at our fruit stand, it's a good idea to call ahead.  We've started sending out hoshigaki mail orders that were ordered earlier this fall.     
 
Did you know that you could make persimmon-pumpkin pie?  One way is to take a recipe for pumpkin pie and substitute half the amount of pumpkin with persimmon pulp.  Here's a link to a photo and recipe for persimmon-pumpkin pie from an earlier post.  

Here's what we have at the fruit stand now:

• Persimmons--Fuyu, Maru (chocolate), vodka-treated hyakume, hachiya (soft or firm), hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmons)
• Pomegranate--white variety (cream to pink outside, softer, sweeter pink seeds) red variety
• Asian Pears--Shinko, Okusankichi
• Apples--Granny Smith 
• Winter Squash--Butternut, Kabocha (many varieties), Red Kuri, pie pumpkins 
• Vegetables--Winter melon (togan), green tomatoes, Swiss chard, herbs
• Decorative Gourds
• Honey--from bees at our orchard 
• Eggs--from free range chickens
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax from the orchard
• The Art of Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenney
• Perfectly Persimmon Cookbook--1004 persimmon recipes by Jean Brine
•  The California Persimmon, a persimmon cookbook published by the University of California Cooperative Extension, Placer and Nevada Counties. 
• Master Gardeners Calender--by Placer County Master Gardeners

Persimmons, Pears & Producers Co-op

Maru ("chocolate", Nagamaru, Hyakume & Nishimura Wase ("coffee cake") persimmons, (l. to r. in pairs)

This month our orchard is selling some of our persimmons and Asian pears through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative.  We are offering maru ("chocolate"), fuyu and hachiya persimmons as well as later varieties of Asian pear.

Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local grass-fed, hormone free beef, lamb, pork and chicken, as well as eggs, honey, olive oil, jams, mandarins, persimmons and other produce and cheese. This month free range turkeys are also available. Orders are made online and then you choose one of four locations to pick up your order.  Locations are Otow Orchard (in Granite Bay), Sinclair Family Farm (in Penryn), Smoky's (in Truckee) and Tahoe Wellness (in Kings Beach). The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative to our orchard will be Friday, Nov. 19th from 4:00-5:00. Orders must be sent in by 4:00 PM Friday, Nov. 9th.   

Fuyu "Five for Four" Coupon

We've been picking a lot of fuyu persimmons for the fruit stand.  Fuyu persimmons  are sweet when they're firm, there's no need to wait and eat them when they're soft.  Fuyus are sometimes called "apple persimmon" in stores because you can eat them when they're firm like an apple.  Usually fuyus are seedless, but occasionally they do have seeds.
From Oct.  30th to Nov. 11th you can use the coupon below to get a free pound of fuyu persimmons if you buy four pounds.   Just print out the coupon and bring it with you to the fruit stand. 

**********************************************

Buy 4 lbs. of Fuyu Persimmons

at Regular Price, Get the 5th lb. Free 

Coupon valid from Oct. 30 to Nov 11, 2012 at 
 OTOW ORCHARD
 6232 Eureka Rd., Granite Bay, CA

(916) 791-1656 

 Hours: Tue.– Sat. 9am to 6pm, Sun. 10am –5pm 

Closed on Mon.

This coupon is good for one free pound of fuyu of equal or lesser value when you buy 4 lbs.  Limit one coupon per shopping trip or day. Must present coupon at time of purchase. Not valid with other offers. Coupon cannot be redeemed for cash.

Hoshigaki update

Toshio demonstrating hoshigaki at the Open House

Hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) is now for sale at the fruit stand.  We expect that by the weekend we should have both grade A and grade B hoshigaki available.  We grade the hoshigaki as premium, grade A or B, depending on how soft it is.  Ripeness of the persimmons, how fast they dry,  temperature, humidity and how much a persimmon gets massaged are all factors that affect the softness of the finished hoshigaki.  If you'd like to pick up more than a pound of hoshigaki, it's a good idea to call ahead and have us set some aside for you.   

We haven't yet started sending out the hoshigaki through mail order.  Only premium grade hoshigaki is sent out by mail order and we don't yet have enough to start mailing it out.  We expect to begin sending out mail orders around Thanksgiving time. If you'd like to order hoshigaki through mail order, please get your order in as soon as possible.  Orders are filled in the order they're received, and we fill orders as soon as we can, but since the process is weather dependent, some of it is beyond our control.   

Hoshigaki-making is in full swing at the orchard.  We are spending lots of time peeling fresh persimmons and stringing them up in pairs.  The pairs of persimmons are then strung together in pairs and hung on sticks to dry.  The drying racks are almost completely full of these drying pairs of persimmons.   The sticks of drying persimmons first hang outside in the sun for a number of days until they develop a second more leathery skin on the outside and become soft enough to massage.  We massage each persimmon to break up the pulp inside and help it dry more evenly. Lately we've spend hours a day massaging the hoshigaki, with Chis and Tosh even spending hours massaging at night.

After the first massage, the persimmons usually go to the "hot house", which is a small warm out-building with windows and doors that can open, with good air circulation.  After spending a few days in the hot house, the persimmons are massaged again and brought to the big drying room, where they'll get massaged and checked every few days.  The persimmons have become finished hoshigaki after they develop a powdery sugar on the surface.  This drying process takes around 6 weeks on average, depending on the weather.  In cooler or more damp weather the process can take 10 weeks.

This year, the persimmons ripened a few weeks earlier than usual, so we were able to start peeling earlier.  We have had mostly warm weather up until this week with only a few days of rain so far this fall, so the drying process has been going along quickly so far.  When the weather gets colder, the persimmons start softening on the trees.  Eventually the persimmons become too soft to peel, so we'll have to stop.  After that we won't be able to start any new persimmons to become hoshigaki and make up this season's supply. 

In the photo above you can see Toshio talking about hoshigaki to visitors at our recent open house.  At this open house we had a raffle and the first prize winner was unreachable by the phone number on the ticket.  If you have a stub for ticket 880049, bring it to the fruit stand after Nov. 30th and you can get the prize, (a pound of premium hoshigaki).

 

Fruit Stand and Producers Cooperative

This year for the first time we have fresh chestnuts.  We also now have pippen and mutsu (also called crispin) apples. Other new items at the fruit stand are white pomegranate, winter squash, pumpkins and gourds.  Our pumpkin patch is now open for picking your own pumpkin, too. 

We've been peeling lots of persimmons for hoshigaki, but we don't yet have any finished from this season.  The drying process takes around six weeks at this time of year.  To order hoshigaki (dried persimmon) through mail order, please print out our order form and send in your order with a check.  We don't yet have hoshigaki in the fruit stand for sale.

Here's what we have in the fruit stand now:

• Persimmons--Maru (chocolate), soft hachiya
  
• Apples--Fuji, Mutsu, Golden Delicious
• Pomegranate--white variety (cream to pink outside, softer, sweeter pink seeds)
  
• Plums--Casselman
• Asian Pear--20th Century, New Century, Yoi, Shinko
• European Pear--Comic, D'Anjou
• Chestnuts
• Jujube
• Grapes--Muscat
• Vegetables--Tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant (Japanese and Italian), sweet peppers, hot chiles (jalapeno and fish), Swiss chard
• Winter Squash--Butternut, Kabocha, Acorn
• Herbs--Basil, oregano, mint (cut if you ask)
• Pumpkins--at the fruit stand or pick your own
• Decorative Gourds
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax from the orchard
• The Art of Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenney
• Perfectly Persimmon Cookbook--1004 persimmon recipes by Jean Brine
• Master Gardeners Calender--by Placer County Master Gardeners

Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local, naturally grown and raised meats, eggs, cheese, honey, olive oil, produce and products such sauces and marmalades. October orders must be made by Friday, Oct. 12th at 4:00 PM.  You can pick up your order in one of five locations including Otow Orchard at scheduled times during the week of Oct. 15th.  The next delivery at our orchard will be from 4:00 - 5:00 PM on Friday, Oct.  21st.

Placer Farm & Barn Open House

Our orchard is part of this year's Placer Farm and Barn Open House.  We are one of 14 sites that will be open on Sunday, Oct. 14th with tours and activities to celebrate the county's agricultural heritage.  At our orchard from 10-5 we'll have fruit tasting and demonstrations on how to make hoshigaki and vodka persimmons.  Visitors will be able to see our horse and chickens as well as a mini-donkey named Alice and a mini-mule named Coco.  There will be a straw bale maze for kids to play on and a pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkin.  The fruit stand will be open and people can go on tours of the orchard. 

We're also having a raffle to raise money for donations to the Placer Food Bank.  Funds raised will help us buy surplus fruit from local farmers that will be donated to the Food Bank.  Prizes include a pound of hoshigaki, 10 lbs. of mandarins and a gift certificate to our fruit stand. 

Twin Peaks Orchard will have jam for sale from their orchard in Newcastle.  Placer County Master Gardeners, the Placer Food Bank, 4-H, Wayne's Herbs, and the Granite Bay Girl Scouts will also be at the orchard with information tables. In the afternoon, Anatoli will be working with his bees in the apiary and visitors can go and watch. 

Presentations:

Hoshigaki:  The Ancient Art of Drying Persimmons:  10:30, 1:00, 4:00
Watch as Tosh and Toshio peel, hang, massage and explain the steps to making hoshigaki.
 

Orchard Diversity Above and Below Ground: 11:30, 2:30

Learn about Otow Orchard's sustainable practices to encourage biological diversity while growing fresh produce without synthetic chemicals, presented by Julie Steele. Julie's projects include worm composting, soil drenching, and compost tea.

Making Vodka Persimmons: 12:30, 3:00

Learn how we treat our hyakume persimmons with vodka to sweeten them. 

Orchard Tours:  11:00, 3:30

2012 Hoshigaki Mail Order Form

Hoshigaki in Gift Boxes

Hoshigaki and unpeeled hachiya persimmons

The new 2012 Hoshigaki Mail Order Form is now posted here on the website, under the "Hoshigaki/Persimmons" tab.  If you'd like to mail order hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon) this year, please print out the order form and mail it back to us.

The continuing warm weather seems to be ripening the persimmons earlier than usual. We started peeling the first hachiya persimmons over the weekend.  Peeling is the first step in the hoshigaki process.  The persimmons need to be fully orange, but still firm enough to peel.  The peeled fruits are hung by their stems in pairs and massaged every few days to help them to dry evenly.  After peeling, each fruit takes around six weeks to dry, depending on the weather.  By the end of the drying process, each persimmon has developed a dusting of natural powdered sugar on its surface, and is soft and sweet.

Please keep in mind that because of these natural processes and weather variables, orders may take 8 to 12 weeks to ship.  It's important to get your order in as soon as possible, because supplies are limited to what we can produce while the weather permits.

Jujube and Early Persimmons

Jujube

We have jujube now at the fruit stand.  A jujube is a a fruit that looks kind of like a small apple but has a drier texture with more complex flavors.  It can be eaten when it's crunchy or more mature and wrinkly.  It's nutritious and used sometimes for medicinal purposes.  "Chinese date" and natsume are other names for jujube.    

The persimmons on the trees are getting color earlier than usual, maybe because of the late warm weather.  We've even picked some soft hachiya persimmons and the first maru (or chocolate) persimmons already.  These early hachiya and maru are smaller and not as sweet as they should be later in the season.  

Many people have been asking about this year's mail order form for hoshigaki (Japanese hand-dried persimmon).  We plan to post it next week on this website.  Although all the persimmons seem to ripening early this year, the hachiya and gyombo varieties we use for are still not quite orange enough yet to start peeling them for drying into hoshigaki.

Grapes

Lots of delicious grapes are at the fruit stand now.  We have small seedless red flame grapes and larger Ribier red grapes with seeds.  We also have a small amount of Kyoho grapes.  New also are golden delicious apples.  

We still have many ripe tomatoes of different types. If you'd like tomatoes for canning or freezing, please call and talk to us.  We can reserve tomatoes, (incuding seconds) for you.

What's at the fruit stand now:  

• Grapes--Red Flame, Ribier
• Apples--Northern Spy, Golden Delicious
• Plums--Casselman, Kelsey, Elephant Heart, El Dorado
• Asian Pear--Hosui, 20th Century, New Century, Yoi, Shinko
• European Pear--Bartlett, Comice
• Figs--Black Mission and Brown Turkey
• Tomatoes & Tomatillos--various sizes of red tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes
• Vegetables--eggplant (Japanese and Italian), sweet peppers, hot chiles (jalapeno and fish), Chinese long beans, summer squash and zucchini, cucumber, Swiss chard
• Herbs--Basil, oregano, mint (cut if you ask)
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax from the orchard
• The Art of Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenney

Asian vs. European Pears, Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative

Hosui and Bartlett pears

What's the difference between Asian pears and European pears? 

Asian pears are firmer and more like an apple in texture.  They're ripe and meant to be eaten when they're crisp like this.  If you wait for an Asian pear to become soft, then it will be overripe, mushy and bland tasting.  When we pick Asian pears from the trees, they're crisp, juicy and ready to eat right then.  There are many varieties of Asian pears that grow well in our area and ripen from August to November.  Most are roundish with skin ranging from yellow-green to brown.   Okusankichi, the largest variety of Asian pear we grow, is also the latest to ripen in November.

European pears are smoother textured and soft when ripe.  Bartlett, Comice, and D'Anjou are varieties of European pears that we grow at the orchard.  All these varieties of European pears must be picked from the trees when they're hard, green and unripe, then stored until they ripen.  If left to ripen on the trees, European pears are likely to be rotten in the core by the time they become yellow and soft on the outside.   We pick Bartlett, Comice, and D'Anjou when they're green, then ripen them slowly in the fruit stand or refrigerator until they're sweet, yellow and soft. Another way to ripen European pears is pick them green and wrap them in newspaper in a cool dark place (like in a box under the bed). 

Right now in the fruit stand we have many varieties of Asian pear (Hosui, Shinko, Yoi, New Century, 20th Century, Niitaka) and Bartlett and Comice European pear.  We're also selling Asian pear through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative for the month of September.  

Through the Sierra Foothills Producers Cooperative you can order local, naturally grown and raised meats, eggs, cheese, honey, olive oil, produce and products such sauces and marmalades. September orders must be made by Friday, Sept 14th at 4:00 PM.  You can pick up your order in one of five locations including Otow Orchard at scheduled times during the week of Sept. 17th.  The next delivery at our orchard will be from 4:00 - 5:00 PM on Friday, Sept. 21st.

Figs & Apples

We picked some of the first apples in the orchard and have some for sale at the fruit stand now. It seems that the recent week of hundred degree weather has ripened some apples earlier than usual.  The second crop of figs is now coming in, too. 

If you'd like to order Kelsey plums or Asian pears for dehydrating, please call ahead and let us know.  Kelsey plums and Asian pears make great fruits for dehydrating, because they dry sweet but not sticky and are healthy snacks. 

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Apples--Northern Spy, Gala
• Peaches--O'Henry, Alberta, Faye Alberta, '49er (all yellow varieties)
• Plums--Casselman, Kelsey, Elephant Heart, El Dorado, Late Duarte
• Pluots--Dapple Dandy
• Asian Pear--Hosui, 20th Century, New Century
• European Pear--Bartlett
• Figs--Black Mission and Brown Turkey
• Tomatoes--various sizes of red tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes
• Vegetables--Summer squash and zucchini, cucumber, eggplant, Chinese long beans, Swiss chard, large red & white onions
• Herbs--Basil, oregano, mint (cut if you ask)
• Honey--from bees at our orchard
• Beeswax candles--handmade 100% beeswax from the orchard
• The Art of Real Food Cookbook--by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenney

Fay, Nashi, & Kelsey

"Peaches are ripe, use a box"--choosing peaches at the Fruit Stand. Kelsey plums are in the front.

Some of the first two early varieties of Asian pear (nashi)  were picked this week and are now at the fruit stand.    Both are small, round and juicy though one is yellow and the other is brown.  Asian pears are sometimes called "apple pears" because they're crisp like an apple rather than soft like European pears. The orchard has many varieties of Asian pears that ripen from now through December. 

Fay Elberta peaches have been picked, too.  Fay Elbertas are juicy, sweet and flavorful yellow peaches that feel smooth and melty in your mouth.  They're good for eating fresh or for canning or jam. 

Another new addition to the fruit stand is Kelsey Plums.  Kelseys are large green plums that are firm, sweet and tart.  They become softer and sweeter as they change from green to yellow to pinkish, although you can eat them at any of their stages of color.