Sugar plums, AKA American Persimmons are ready, right now, if you live in the south. Now is the time to go out and harvest them. I'm in North Carolina and have been harvesting for the last week. 

I love the taste but hate the texture of fresh persimmons, so I have figured out a few different ways to eat them to avoid that snotty texture. 

How to Harvest

I head over to a Persimmon tree armed with a large pot with a bail handle for easy carrying, a tarp and an arborists throw ball (get the 12 oz ball)

The ripe persimmons are SUPER squishy. If they're firm at all, they aren't ripe yet. You can split one open and put it to your tongue if you aren't sure. Less-than-ripe persimmons make your mouth pucker and get super dry. Trust me, it's REALLY obvious if it isn't ripe. 

First, I hunt around on the ground, stepping VERY carefully to find all the perfectly ripe persimmons that have just fallen that day. Once I'm satisfied I've gotten the good ones, I spread a tarp out and get out my throw ball. 

How to get more persimmons with an arborists throw ball:

Processing the Sugar Plums

If you have zero time for processing and want to eat them, but also hate the texture, just smash them onto your fruit trays in your dehydrator. I love THIS dehydrator because it has a timer- no more getting up in the middle of the night to turn off the machine. Smash them so that each persimmon is an even thickness. I just throw the dried whole fruits in a bag and eat around the seeds. 

You'll need a food mill or a blender with plastic dough blades to separate the pulp from the seeds. I use THIS food mill which is turned by hand. 

I do one of two things with the pulp-  I either freeze it to bake with later or I spread it on fruit trays in my dehydrator and make fruit leather. 

Here is a video tutorial:

Happy Harvesting!!