Try a taste of Japan

Press, 8 July 1986, Page 16

Try a taste of Japan

Food & Fable

by ,

David Burton

The exquisite, glossy orange-red persimmon is a small taste of Japan which, as a spin-off from our booming export trade, is becoming increasingly abundant on the local market here. In 1984 there were 40,000 persimmon trees in this country. Last year that figure leapt to 100,000, the reason being that a limited but lucrative market has been found for the fruit in Japan during their offseason.

In high class shopping areas, of the large Cities, such as the Ginza district in Tokyo, there are specialty fruit stores which at this time of the year sell our most perfectly formed persimmons for $5 or more each.

Japanese legend tells of the mighty dwarf Yoshitsane, no bigger than a boot but braver than a tiger, who felled the giant Benkei with such a thud that the earth cracked open. Out of the crack sprang Japan’s first persimmon tree, whose fruits the two thirsty fighters shared and became friends forever after. The more mundane truth is that the persimmon came to Japan from China in AD 710. Orchards were established over 1000 years ago, although up until the middle of last century in

Japan only citrus fruits, grapes and Japanese pears had been developed in conventional orchards as a local industry. In 1912 the Japanese made a survey which showed that no less than 1030 different named cultivars were recorded. Despite the recent upsurge in interest, the tree is by no means new to New Zealand. They were first introduced here from Japan in 1873, and around the turn of .the century nurserymen were predicting a big future for the fruit in New Zealand.

Why then, did the fruit never take off before? Partly it has been that propagation by grafting has been more difficult than with most other fruits, but the main reason appears to be simply that up until now we have simply been growing the wrong variety.

Until recently, persimmons suffered from a very bad press in this country. Being of the astringent rather than the non-astringent variety, they had to be left until

they almost looked as they were going off, and only eaten when quite squashy. Anybody who, like me, ate an unripe fruit was in for a rude and nasty shock: I remember that particular persimmon tasted fine on entry, but in no time the astringency began puckering not only my mouth, but my throat too. I began to wonder if my oesophagus was about to permanently close, and only with half a dozen or more concerted swallows was I able to squeeze the wretched blotting paperlike stuff down.

This probably explains why the persimmon was relegated to the status of an ornamental tree in this country. The gnarled and twisted tree is to be found in many temple courtyards in Japan, and during the autumn the drooping leaves turn all hues of gold through to scarlet, hiding the ripening fruit, which will remain on the tree long after all the leaves have dropped, even until the first snows. Very Zen.

In 1977 the D.5.1.R.,

having appointed a Dr Paul Glucina to study persimmons full-time, sent several trays of different persimmons for a Japanese expert to evaluate. The answer came back that the non-astringent, sweet varieties were where it was at, and in particular the Fuyu, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the area planted in sweet types in Japan. Ironically, a variety almost identical to Fuyu had been grown in New Zealand since the early part of this century, under the name of Twentieth Century. It was raised by Hayward Wright, the horticulturalist who also gave us the famous Hayward variety of kiwifruit. Fuyu is now the main export variety grown here.

The first commercial planting of persimmons was made in 1977 at the farm of Malcolm Clow, near Tauranga, and from it the first trial exports were made in 1982.

At first it was thought that the strong gift-giving and autumn connotations the persimmon has for the Japanese might cause market reslstence, but the $lB a kilo these fruits fetched, wholesale soon quelled these fears, and the future seems rosy pro-, vided the market is not’ flooded and quality control is maintained.

A major worry for farmers has been an ugly splitting of the fruit where it meets the stem, which renders the fruit useless for export. In the 1984 season, generally 80 per

cent of the fruit were affected by this disorder.

Persimmons have a sweet, juicy flavour which has variously been compared to the apple, the mango and the guava, but especially to the apricot. It is a very subtle flavour and for this reason some claim it should be peeled and eaten raw without any further embellishment Certainly you have to avoid mixing persimmons with pungent ingredients, for the flavour is easily drowned.

Here is a dish I created to mark Japan Week, using the national fruits of our two countries.

For persimmons filled with grapes, kiwifrait, and orange creamto serve six, you need six large, well formed persimmons.. Cut a hole around the leaves at the stem end and scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon, getting as close as you can to the skin without actually reaching it. Perform this operation over a sieve, with a saucepan underneath to catch the juice. Pick out any seeds and put all the larger chunks on a chopping board and slice where necessary, but leave them in fairly large pieces. Leave out y 2 cup persimmon pulp in the sieve and press this through into the saucepan.

Squeeze the juice from four oranges and strain into the saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil and leave gently boiling, stirring from time to time, until the mixture has reduced to a thick sauce. Add 1 tablespoon

orange flavoured liqueur (Curacao, Grand Marnier, Cointreau, etc.) and 2-3 tablespoons of the double cream which has recently come on to the market in pottle form.

Peel 4 small kiwifruit and slice into small wedges. Wash a medium sized bunch of grapes (about 36 grapes), slice each down through the middle and remove the pips. Combine the persim-. mon pieces, kiwifruit, grapes. and orange , sauce, mix well, and , then , fill each of. the persimmon cases.

Cover the hole at the top of each persimmon with halved kiwifruit slices, arranged in a fan shape.