The South Coast Research and Extension Center opened it gates to invited guests, the California Rare Fruit Growers sociation and the UCCE Master Gardeners on Thursday, November 9, 2017. Attendees were treated to the annual persimmon taste testing held at the South Coast REC in Irvine. Of the approximately (69) guests, 52 participated in a blind tasting and evaluation of the persimmon fruits grown at the Center. Evaluators were asked to rate the 10 varieties using a basic one to five scale based on attractiveness, astringency, sugar, flavor and overall performance.

The persimmon collection at the Center contains various cultivars that are not widely available and are sought after by avid fans of this fruit.

 

Persimmon cultivars are classified in relation to fruit astringency at harvest: Pollination Constant Non Astringent (PCNA), Pollination Variant Non Astringent (PVNA), Pollination Variant Astringent (PVA) and Pollination Constant Astringent (PCA). The varieties that were evaluated during the tasting included California Fuyu (PCNA), Gosho (PCNA), OC Fuyu (PCNA), Imoto (PCNA), Matsumoto Wase (PCNA), True Fuyu (PCNA), Trible (PVNA), Jiro (PCNA), Kurakuma (PCNA), and Fuyu F8(PCNA).

The persimmon enthusiast toured the orchard and participated in a U-pick activity filling up bags with Fuyu and Hachiya varieties. Following the harvest, attendees joined Master Food Preservers in the conference room to learn about safe food handling and learn how to incorporate the fruit into recipes such as jams and side dishes. All who participated thoroughly enjoyed the dehydrated persimmons, persimmon jam and the brown rice and persimmon salad – a must on many Thanksgiving menus this year.

 Participants, young and old alike, expressed their excitement for the opportunity to sample the various varieties not commonly available in the marketplace in addition to (7) early Cherimoya varieties: Fino de Jete, Bays, Sabor, Lisa, Thomson, Orton and Knight.

Listed below are the tasting results for those who are curious to see where their favorite ranked this year: 

Many thanks to the staff; UCCE Master Food Preservers and Master Gardener volunteers who helped with the slicing, setup, facilitating, and clean up. Very special acknowledgment to the team of volunteers led by Isabel Barkman assist with our orchards year-round and for their hard work harvesting, labeling, and preparing the persimmons and cherimoyas for this event.