HoshiGaki

Intro: HoshiGaki

To be eaten fresh, the Hachiya persimmon must be completely soft, otherwise it is unbearably astringent. For drying, however, the fruits are perfect when the shoulders just lose their green, but are still firm like apples, generally from the end of September to the middle of October. The riper they are, the more delicately they must be handled. Making HoshiGaki requires patience, careful monitoring, and a fair amount of dexterity. However, if you follow the method closely, you will achieve a rewarding product that is succulent, very handsome, and makes wonderful Holiday gifts.

STEP 1: Finding Hachiya Persimmons

Start with a 20 lb box of medium sized Hachiya Persimmons with the stems intact, and store them calyx down. (If you pick your own fruit, pull upward against the branch to retain the stem.) Handle the fruit very gently, as any bruise will create a soft spot that will make peeling difficult and may create a leak during the drying process. Larger persimmons can be dried too and yield a superior product, but require more massaging, so medium fruit is best for beginners. Call your county Agricultural Commissioner or local Farm Bureau to find farmers in your area.

To help prevent mold, wash your fruit thoroughly. Wash all your tools and use clean strings. Wash your poles. Keep your work surfaces clean. Wash your hands.

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 nickle/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 clean cupcake pan, next to a similar sized buddy, calyx up. Average number of peeling strokes is 17. 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.

STEP 3:

2. Hanging: The traditional method of hanging the fruit places several on a string. It is easier to hang two fruit of about the same weight on one string over a pole. If you vary the lengths of the string, you can fit more pairs per length of pole by offsetting the heights. Closet pole works well for smaller fruit. If the fruit touches its neighbor or the string while drying, it will stick, and can create a weak point and break open in the next step.A pole with diameter equal to or greater than the average diameter of the fruit is best. Fatter poles will also create more friction, aiding in the massaging that follows. A warm, dry environment, like a sunny window, is best. Allowing the temperature to drop and the humidity to rise at night will slow the process and make the fruit more pliable for the next step. However, any free moisture on the surface can lead to mold. Placing the fruit in direct sun may speed the process, but you will have to massage it more often. The fruit must be protected from the dew, or it will get moldy. If the stem is gone, drive a stainless screw into the calyx and attach the string to it. The first day is critical. You need the fruit to start forming a dry skin as soon as possible. So pick a dry day, with low humidity, and no rain forecast. Once the initial skin has formed, keeping the temperature above the dew point will prevent free moisture formation on the surface helping to prevent mold. If you go to the NOAA site, pull up your local forecast and scroll down the right side, you will find a graphic of the two day temperature, humidity and dew point spreads. The fruit will only dry when at a temperature above the dew point.

STEP 4:

3. Massaging: After hanging for 7to 10 days the persimmons will have softened inside, and you will be able to begin massaging them to break up the inner pulp. Give one persimmon a squeeze just below the shoulder. If there is a little give, you can begin massaging. It is best to break up the inner pulp just a little each day. If you massage the fruit into a water balloon, it releases a lot of moisture which can lead to mold or the dreaded blooping. As you work a little each day, try to  leave the fruit as evenly thick as possible so it will dry evenly. As time progresses, work the pulp up from the tip so the entire surface area of the fruit can evaporate the moisture. Repeat the process with each fruit every day. A small massage each day is the best recipe for success. Remember to wash your hands. Larger fruit must be handled in very small careful increments to avoid wet creases that can tear, and release of excess moisture that can create mold. If you encounter mold, you can spray ethanol, vodka works, very carefully on the spot with an atomizer. Alcohol softens the fruit and will change the treated spot into a tender sticky mess, but it can stop the mold. Dipping the fruit in alcohol will cause it to soften and bloop. Quarantine your moldy fruit to prevent the contagion from spreading. Remember to try to leave each fruit evenly thick all over after each handling. Keep massaging the fruit gently every day.
As your fruit nears the end of the process, three to five weeks, sugar will come to the surface as you massage them, leaving a white bloom. The hoshigaki are fully done when the pulp sets and you can no longer massage them. Protect the fruit from moths during the entire process. Store the fruit in zip loc bags in an airtight container. Zip loc bags alone are not air tight. Freeze the fruit for long term storage and to destroy moth contamination.

STEP 5:

4. Storing: When finished, break off the stems to disconnect the strings. Store the fruit in ziplock bags. You can store the finished product long term in the freezer. For the short term, refrigerate. Protect from external moisture.

Comments

[RussInMM]

I've been making hoshigaki (mostly with Fuyu persimmons, because that's what the local u-pick orchard has) for 3 years, and have never encountered mold. I'm currently doing a set of good size Hachiya persimmons, and likewise, no problem.

Some possible reasons why I don't have a mold problem:
1. I'm in San Diego, several miles from the coast, so high humidity days are rare;
2. After peeling and stringing my persimmons, I give them a dip in boiling water for 20-30 seconds, including the strings. This sterilizes everything, and perhaps it helps form a good skin.
3. I set up my strings of persimmons on frames we got from Ikea (I don't remember the name of the product, but it's a 4-foot high white powder-coated frame set up to be used as a wardrobe hanger -- similar to their Jonaxel) and set up one or two tower fans to blow on them continuously. This tends to accelerate drying.

[sari_elmolh]

Thanks for that! Where I am I also have access to Fuyus and am trying it with Fuyus while doubting myself haha. My only problem is that the stems of the ones I found were too short, so I had to wrap the string somehow just under the calyx, and I feel like this is not perfect. I did see some tiny signs of mold and have removed and sprayed with alcohol. I've hung them in a greenhouse-like space and now I might try to put a fan and see if that helps.

[farmerjeff]

Try running a stainless screw into the top to attach the string. Much faster.

[RussInMM]

Two things:
1) If you can't find persimmons with sufficient stem to hold a string (I sometimes make a slit in the stem to catch the string), try using a STAINLESS STEEL screw -- you can buy them quite inexpensively at Home Depot. I find that a half inch screw works nicely. Don't buy zinc-coated screws! I'm pretty sure zinc will react with the fruit, and you might not really want to consume the result. Be sure to sterilize the screws (and your string) before use. And then you can reuse both the string and the screw next time you make a batch. I did this with Hachiyas I found at the local farmer's market. Works fine. (Trying to support a persimmon using a lasso around the calyx -- I tried it, and it wasn't reliable. The persimmons hung this way often fell off the string during the drying/massaging process.)

2) I don't really think you want to use alcohol to remove minor bits of mold. I blanche my persimmons in boiling water for 30 seconds or so, after stringing them up. That ought to take care of any undesirable biological contaminants.

[farmerjeff]

I don't really have time to blanch 3800 pieces of fruit, and I am skeptical about the efficacy of doing so. The mold spores are pretty much endemic, so controlling the humidity and having a quick easy bandaid fix if you run into a problem is helpful. Of course you already know that ethanol vapor will remove the astringency without softening all astringent persimmons. As far as the screws, stainless is probably a good idea. I use goldies. [e-mail].

[BridgeBev]

Hi, so these two have a kind of blackish hue. I'm not sure why. This might have been the pair I left out while it was raining (under an eave, but still quite damp). Is this bad, or just a normal variation in coloring? This whole batch is unhappy with the damp weather. It might not work at all, but I'm sticking to it with the dehumidifier going these last few days. No mold, but not a super dry skin. They are all pretty soft, but not drying very much. Any tips on any and all of this much appreciated!

[farmerjeff]

Pretty difficult to tell from the range of the pictures. However, the dark color by itself is nothing to worry about, especially in late season fruit, that may soften before drying. However, isolate any that you suspect. The rain can really create havoc at any time during drying as the surface starts to "sweat". Crank the heat to raise the relative humidity, run the de humidifier and use fans to try to increase surface evaporation.

[BridgeBev]

Thanks, super helpful. I seem to have made it through the rainy week. One more question: now it's getting cold at night (I'm in the SF Bay area, so it usually doesn't get that cold here). This morning there was frost on my car's windshield. Is it okay to leave them outside through that while they're still drying? I've been taking them in the last few nights. Thanks for your expert advice!

[farmerjeff]

The temperature will affect how pliable the fruit is. The most important metric is the relative humidity. As the temperature drops, it goes up, and dew, or frost forms. This could conceivably create ice on the fruit, which would then create free moisture when it warms back up. I NEVER expose my fruit to an uncontrolled environment. I do everything inside. If your fruit has been outside then I guarantee it has been exposed to moths. When it is finished you will have to freeze it in plastic bags for a couple of days to kill the eggs or you can expect moths when you open your final containers of HoshiGaki. You should be watchfull for rodents too, they love dried fruit.

[BridgeBev]

Can anyone post photos of mold on hoshigaki? Mine are turning brown/black and I'm not sure if they're just drying or if they're going bad. I can't find anything about this online...

[farmerjeff]

Mold will appear as a softening ring, slightly fuzzy, that is not mold. It is abrasion from the string. Increase the diameter of the pole so the string does not touch the side of the fruit.

[BridgeBev]

Great, thanks for the quick response!

[chanjying]

Thank you for the great instructions! I have given it a go and I'm about 2.5 weeks in. I'm seeing a bit of white at the top of my hoshigaki, where the peeled flesh meets the unpeeled skin near the calyx/stem. Is this mold or the beginning of sugar bloom? It doesn't look fuzzy or anything. I also sterilized the persimmon and string, so I hope it's not mold...!

[farmerjeff]

Nothing to worry about there, your fruit is too far along for mold, which is black, or kind of clear. You should give this one a good back and forth massage and try and flatten out the ribs so it dries evenly.

[chanjying]

Phew, thank you! Will give it a nice massage today. 🙏🏽

[CarolynM43]

What do you mean by blooping? I have done Hoshigaki for 7 years now and this is the first year I have had a problem with mold. I previously hung my fruit indoors but they dried too fast and became more corrugated. Have been hanging them outside for two years and the end product is great but this year second batch from a different orchard has the mold. They are larger fruit and I did not give them a blanch bath after peeling them. Ideas?

[farmerjeff]

Dear Carolyn, sounds like whatever you changed lead to a mold outbreak. You will need to stop the mold or remove the affected fruit to stop the contagion. The issue is largely that the mold can be hydrophobic, so a water based disinfectant won't penetrate. Using a small very controlled spray bottle, like a perfume spritzer of ethanol will kill the mold, as alcohol is both hydrophobic and hydrophilic like a detergent, but it will soften the treated spot allowing the inside to bloop out if you are not super careful. I had a similar outbreak this season which has already claimed 12% of my peeled fruit. Of the ones I saved, with a large soft spot on one side, I will probably only be able to finish half at most. It dawned on me to try commercial food grade disinfectant. I thought to try mixing this in a jar and dipping each moldy fruit in it while still hanging, but I have the mold under control now. If you try it, I would appreciate a report on whether or not it works. I am betting that without something to break the surface tension, the solution will not penetrate the mold, and of course, you cannot use detergent, unless you can find a potable one. I do not hang outdoors because the fruit will invariably be contaminated by moths. Of course, if you freeze the finished product, it kills the moth eggs, but when you thaw it, any surface sugar will probably melt. Please let me know specifics if you survive.

[TlynnT5]

Fantastic instructable. Thank you. I have known about Hoshigaki for a decade and wanted to try them after tasting the delicacy once. I read recently that you can use Fuyu as well but it was the first reference I had seen that said so. Can you? Have you?

[RussInMM]

This is my second year of preparing hoshigaki, and I primarily use Fuyu, since that's what the local u-pick orchard has the most of. They work just fine, and are easier to work with than Hachiya. I accelerate drying a little by using a tower fan, on low setting.

[farmerjeff]

The pollination constant non astringent (PVNA) varieties can be conventionally dried, but will not behave the same as the PCA varieties. Just like drying pears, apples, peaches etc.

To the readership at large: if you touch the peeled Hachiya with alcohol, you will melt it. You must be extremely judicious treating mold in this manner. It is best to discard moldy pieces sooner than later to prevent epidemic contamination.