How to Prepare Hoshigaki - Dried Persimmon

I mentioned kaki fruit a while back, those wonderful orange sweet round fruits that ripened at the end of October. Now, the variety in season is the Hachiya persimmon, slightly oval shaped with a pointed bottom. They are also beautifully orange in color but the firm ones are too astringent to eat. These, we peel, dip in hot water (to counteract the tannin), string up and hang to dry. By the New Year, they will have a thick coat of sugary residue on them and a leathery texture. Bits can be eaten as a treat. So today, I prepared hoshigaki or dried persimmons. For string, we used the fronds from a palm type plant growing in the garden - most palm-like trees have very strong leaves that are a great substitute for string. The challenge now is to keep the hanging fruit from molding and already it has started to rain. The kaki that are too soft to peel are almost jelly-like. I scoop out the fruit and use this is cakes or bars. When Hachiya are this ripe, they are sweet. Some of the general recipes I use are similar to those found at http://www.epersimmons.com/recipes.htm

Dreary Day

We didn't finish hanging the cupboard. Oh, surprise surprise. Never try to do a simple project with an engineer. My husband is drawing blueprints as if we were going to build a bridge. We had to take down one of the kitchen cupboards because the new refrigerator was too tall. We installed all of those cupboards in the first place so I figured we could uninstall and reinstall without much problem. My kitchen is full of tools and hardware now and the cupboard is on the floor.

It's been raining and overall very gloomy - no complaints - we need this and we've had weeks of

glorious weather. I sanded down the front door and realized the wood is just ruined. It really needs to be painted every year but again, being gone for 4 years left it in dire need of upkeep and I don't know if it can be saved, but I'll try.

This is the wonderful seedless persimmon from my husband's aunt's garden - the hanafuyu variety. It's less grainy than the usual ones we eat and so sweet and smooth. I don't relish kaki but if I could eat these, I'd be a fan. It makes me feel like autumn!

I tried to get more sticky tape off the windows but Goo-Be-Gone just isn't powerful enough. Taping windows for a hurricane is a myth - all you accomplish is getting sticky stuff on your windows. If the window breaks and wind and water get in the house, broken glass is not your big concern, your roof blowing off is your concern. The hardware stores encourage everyone to tape up their windows but my husband never did it until I was gone. Then he let the tape sit there and bake in the summer sun and now, the windows are stained forever.

Beautiful day - planning for harvest

Great day just to walk around the village and see all the hustle bustle as folks prepare for the harvest. A few farmers are already getting started. We are slated for Oct. 14th.

We are all required to belong to the JA in this area. I guess some people are independent of the government agency but it's more risky: JA guarantees that you will get some money and they provide crop loss insurance (but they also require us to purchase and apply certain pesticides and herbicides). Some JA groups are more helpful than others. A lot of farmers complain about our group just collecting dues and not doing anything to educate farmers or improve yields.

We each draw up a contract before the season as to how much we will sell to the government, then officials come around and estimate the yield. They put a bamboo stick in front of the field with a little paper note attached which you need to read before it rains or gets blown away. The officials make sure we give the proper amount - if we fall short, we must pay a penalty. My husband agreed to sell 1/3 of our crop this year; the rest we give away or eat. What a business - so glad he isn't running a company. We give away most of the rice to various extended family members who are consistently too busy to help, too poor to pay but never too busy to pick up their share. The problem this year was that the local rep used last year's contract (which was for half the crop) so JA is expecting more rice from us.

The rice that we keep needs to be milled privately and that has to be arranged in advance. My husband also forgot to order the bags from the private mill (you can't use old bags) and didn't inform them of the change of harvest date until yesterday and they aren't sure they can handle our load on that day. Sigh. It will all get sorted out. I'm no help - I just wish dear husband would write down the dates of things so we don't need to scramble at the last minute or pay penalties.

The kaki or persimmon are turning orange and some have already been harvested. They taste like autumn. Mikan (tangerines) are just coming into season as well and they are a welcome addition to the fruit bowl. Our mikan are grown locally on the hillsides overlooking the sea. They don't do well down here in the inland valley but thrive on the steep terrain of terraced hills where they have ample drainage and cool breezes. The rainfall gave a quick jolt to the veggie garden and everything is growing rapidly, enjoying the warm sunny days and cool evenings.