HoshiGaki

Step 2 Peel your hachiyas

1. Peeling: Sitting in a comfortable chair with a bucket or newspaper between your legs, prop your arms on your knees, and with a sharp paring knife, cut the shoulders off the fruit so they are even with the flat disk of the calyx, with one circular motion. Remove the loose part of the calyx, leaving the stem and a ring of calyx the size of a quarter. The rest of the peeling is best done with a peeler whose blade is set perpendicular to the handle, the clear Swiss peeler is what the pros use. Holding the fruit calyx up in one hand, draw the blade down the side to the point. Only go over the point once, as the membrane under the skin is thinnest here, and the fruit will leak out later if you take off too much. Rotate the fruit so you are holding the skin side, not the newly peeled side, and take another peel. Continue until all the peel is gone and place in a cupcake pan, calyx up. The most important step is even peeling, with the minimum of smooth consistent strokes. Ridges are inevitable, but the more pronounced they are, the more work lays ahead as the persimmons dry. Persimmons are very slippery and will turn your skin brown from the tannic acid. If you bruise the fruit or accidentally peel too deeply, small areas can be patched with a peeling of membrane lain over the spot like a band aid.