Persimmon Wild Edible Fruit

American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) aka Eastern Persimmon is a native of the Eastern US. It ranges from southern Connecticut South to Florida and West to Texas, up to Iowa.

The persimmon fruits are bitter before they ripen. As they mature they get rougher looking and the rougher the better they taste, until they start to rot. The Persimmon trees are either male or female but never both.

The fruit is round or oval and usually orange-yellow, sometimes bluish, and from 1 to 2.5 inches in diameter.

The Persimmon tree is a small tree usually around 25 to 35 feet tall but if the tree is old enough it can get as tall as 70 or 80 feet tall. The leaves are oval, entire margins, about 5 inches long arranged in an alternate manner. Deer and raccoons love the fruit and persimmons NEVER last long once they have fallen from the tree.

The fruit ripens sometime around September depending on your local. The ripe fruit may be eaten raw, cooked or dried. Molasses can be made from the fruit pulp and pies can be made with the fruit.