On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 709

apples are to Americans Japanese persimmons are sweet, low-acid, mild fruits, with a few brown seeds surrounded by flesh that’s bright orange from various carotenoid pigments, including beta-carotene and lycopene They have a very mild aroma reminiscent of winter squash that probably derives from breakdown products of carotenoids Japanese persimmons come in two general kinds, astringent and nonastringent Astringent varieties, including the tapered Hachiya, have such high levels of tannins that they’re edible only when completely ripe, with translucent and almost liquid flesh Nonastringent types, including the flatbottomed Fuyu or Jiro, are not tannic, and can be eaten while underripe and crisp (they also don’t get as soft as the astringent types) Centuries ago, the Chinese figured out a way to remove the astringency from unripe persimmons before they ripen This method may be the first example of controlledatmosphere storage! They simply buried the fruit in mud for several days It turns out that when the fruits are deprived of oxygen, they shift their metabolism in a way that results in the accumulation of an alcohol derivative called acetaldehyde, and this substance binds with tannins in the cells, thus preempting them from binding to our tongues Modern cooks can accomplish the same thing by wrapping persimmons snugly in a truly airtight plastic film, polyvinylidene chloride (saran) Persimmons are commonly eaten raw, frozen whole into a natural sorbet, and made into pudding Traditional American persimmon pudding owes its distinctive black-brown color to the combination of the fruit’s glucose and fructose, flour and egg proteins, alkaline baking soda, and hours of cooking, which encourage extensive browning reactions (p 778; replace the baking soda with ... Traditional American persimmon pudding owes its distinctive black-brown color to the combination of the fruit’s glucose and fructose, flour and egg proteins, alkaline baking soda, and hours of cooking, which encourage extensive browning...may be the first example of controlledatmosphere storage! They simply buried the fruit in mud for several days It turns out that when the fruits are deprived of oxygen, they shift their metabolism in a way that results in... shift their metabolism in a way that results in the accumulation of an alcohol derivative called acetaldehyde, and this substance binds with tannins in the cells, thus preempting them from binding to our tongues Modern cooks can accomplish the same thing by