Persimmon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Persimmon tree
Persimmon

Persimmon

Systematics
Nuclear eudicotyledons
Asterids
Order : Heather-like (Ericales)
Family : Ebony Family (Ebenaceae)
Genre : Ebony trees ( Diospyros )
Type : Persimmon tree
Scientific name
Diospyros kaki
Lf

The Kaki ( Jap. : , kaki ) and persimmon , is the sweet, orange, outside a large tomato resembling fruit of Kakibaums ( Diospyros kaki ). The generic name Diospyros means "fruit of the gods" or "food of the gods". The genus of the Diospyros or ebony trees , also called persimmons, which originally came from Asia , belongs to the ebony family ( Ebenaceae ). Most of the 500 varieties are mainly found in the tropics and subtropics.

Cultivated forms or varieties of persimmon are honey apple , persimmon and the seedless sharon fruit , the latter of which hardly contains tannin and can therefore be eaten as a hard fruit.

The persimmon, which has been used in China for over 2000 years, is one of the oldest cultivated plants .

description

Persimmon tree
Sliced ​​persimmon fruit
Persimmon fruit (a low-tannin variety). Left: from above (with the four sepals), from below and from the side. Next to it, above: cut open transversely (with seeds and partly brownish colored pulp). Below: cut lengthways (with core) as well as detached cores (their width and thickness can be seen).
Sharon persimmon with flat fruit (on the far left for comparison a persimmon variety with high fruit)
Kōshū -Hyakume (甲 州 百 目 ), a
cultivated form especially for the production of dried persimmons. In Japan the persimmon symbolizes the taste of autumn.
Persimmon on the tree

Vegetative characteristics

The deciduous persimmon tree reaches stature heights of up to 10-20 meters or more, with a shape similar to the apple tree. The thicker bark is brownish to grayish and coarsely scaly, furrowed to cracked or flaky. The young twigs are densely hairy. The alternately arranged, leathery leaves are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. They are short-stalked, egg-shaped, more rarely heart-shaped to elliptical, lanceolate or obovate and entire, as well as pointed to pointed or rounded. The leaves are about 10–25 cm long and dark green, glabrous and shiny on the top, light green on the underside and more or less fine-haired. The autumn color is yellow-orange to reddish.

blossom

The persimmon tree blooms from late spring to early summer. The staminate (male) and carpellate (female) flowers are spatially separated. Both monoecious and dioecious plant individuals occur. The axillary female flowers, usually appearing singly, are yellowish and four-fold. The smaller male flowers are grouped in groups of two to five.

The approximately 2 to 2.5 cm large and stalked flowers are radial symmetry and four-fold with a double flower envelope . The four green, cup-shaped overgrown and often fine-haired sepals open in June, with the female flowers with four large, petaloid lobes or lobes, with the male flowers only four smaller lobes are formed. They give a clear view of four whitish to yellow and basal tubular, jug-shaped fused, fleshy-waxy petals with four recessed, more or less fine-haired tips, these are somewhat larger in the female flowers. The corolla tube is sometimes a bit angular, ribbed on the outside. Both parthenocarp and d. H. without pollination seedless as well as pollinated fruits interspersed with seeds that are slightly larger. The male flowers contain 16 or 24 stamens in two rows and there may be a reduced pistillode. The small stamens with hairy stamens and pointed anthers sit inside the corolla tube, the female flowers have some awl-like staminodes. The multi-chambered ovary is upper constant, with a stylus or mehrästigen with free, approximate styluses, the scars are often lobed, divided.

fruit

The normally 5–8 cm large berry fruit , the spherical persimmon, oval persimmon or tomato-like, flat sharon has the four permanent sepals on the indented stem base and weighs up to 500 grams, there may also be remains of stylus. The smooth, shiny and thin skin shows shades of yellow (Sharon and persimmon immature) to red orange (persimmon, ripe persimmon). The slightly lighter, gelatinous pulp can contain up to eight seeds and, with the exception of the seedless Sharon, has an astringent effect when eaten . As it ripens , it becomes softer, comparable to a kiwi , and its skin begins to look almost transparent. It is noteworthy that the persimmon fruits only become ripe when most of the leaves have fallen off in late autumn. The brown, finely textured, somewhat glossy and hard seeds are flat and ovoid to elliptical or crescent-shaped, they are about 13-19 mm long.

The high tannin content of the not yet fully ripe persimmon gives the taste, which is reminiscent of pear and apricot or apricot, a bitter component that becomes weaker as it ripens. The furry taste caused by the tannins is lost on the one hand during the ripening process and on the other hand by frost. The very high proportion of provitamin A makes them nutritionally particularly valuable. The fruits contain 13–19% glucose and are rich in vitamins.

Cultivation

Persimmon trees grow in a mild climate, in a protected location. The plants need a warm summer and not too early frost in autumn. They can withstand winter temperatures as low as −15 ° C, at lower temperatures there is a risk that the wood will be damaged. Other factors, such as the age of the tree, nutritional status and rootstock, have a significant influence on winter hardiness. There are no known pests. Refined , genuine persimmon trees bear from the 2nd to 3rd year after grafting .

Persimmons are grown in eleven countries around the world, with China , Japan and Korea accounting for 90% of production . Persimmons also grow in northern California, in the southern cone of South America, and in Spain in the Valencia area . In East Asia, the main harvest time is in October and November, when the trees have already lost their leaves. The Sharon, on the other hand, is a modified form originating from Israel , which has also been cultivated in South America, Spain and Italy since 1976. Around 50,000 tons of fruit are produced in Italy and 40,000 tons in Israel.

The persimmon tree has been cultivated in China since time immemorial. Four virtues are ascribed to it: it is long-lived, provides shade, is used by birds as a nesting place and is not attacked by pests. A kaki cake decorated with a vase, a pine branch and an orange is a symbol of the wish "Great luck in 100 things". Around two million tons are produced every year.

The Sharon or Sharon is a cultivated form of the persimmon from Israel, named after the fertile Sharon plain . It contains no seeds and tastes milder even when it is not fully ripe, as it contains significantly less gallotannin . Can also be consumed in a hard state, it is more interesting for the trade than the classic persimmon, which is very soft when edible and therefore heavy and can only be stored for a few days. Cut open crosswise, the Sharon shows a star-shaped pattern of lines of darker pulp.

ingredients

The persimmon contains a number of ingredients that are said to have health-promoting properties, including tannins , carotenoids , flavanols and anthocyanidins . It has cholesterol-lowering , anti- atherosclerotic and antioxidant effects. There is evidence of antihypertensive and anti- carcinogenic properties. It also alleviates symptoms of diabetes mellitus . The antioxidant effects are stronger if the fruit is heated beforehand.

In Asia, the persimmon fruit is said to have various other healing properties. It should strengthen the stomach and help against diarrhea. Unripe fruits that ripen in containers reduce fever if they are as sweet as honey. The stem is said to relieve coughs. In order to intensify these effects, it is peeled, exposed to sunlight during the day and dew at night so that a white powder layer is formed. However, there is no scientific evidence for this.

consumption

The peel of the persimmon can be eaten with the ripe fruit, the tannins of which are almost completely decomposed, but it is often removed or spooned out of the peel like a kiwi . Sharon, which contains hardly any tannins, can be eaten in its hard state, even with the skin on; their flesh is always sweet and reminiscent of sugar melon and peach . In contrast to the more reddish persimmons , they can be recognized by their yellow- orange skin and their flat shape reminiscent of tomatoes or mandarins , whereas persimmons are more round, persimmons are oval. Any brown spots in the pulp are due to the high sugar content and are not a sign of rot .

sorts

Persimmon fruits are divided into two large groups, non-astringent (NA) and astringent (A).

literature

  • Marilena Idžojtić: Dendrology. Academic Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0-12-819644-1 , p. 244.
  • Wolfgang Franke : crop science. Usable crops of the temperate latitudes, subtropics and tropics. 6th edition. Thieme, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-13-530406-X .
  • Ingo Hetzel, Armin Jagel: Diospyros kaki - kaki, persimmon plum. In: Yearbook of the Bochumer Botanischer Verein for the year 2011, volume 3. Bochumer Botanischer Verein e. V. (Ed.) Bochum 2012, ISSN  2190-3999 , pp. 194-198 (PDF; 2.3 MB) .

Web links

Commons : Kaki ( Diospyros kaki )  - album containing pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Kaki  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Wiktionary: Sharon  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ^ W. Franke: 1997, p. 284.
  2. a b c d Helmut Pirc: Encyclopedia of wild fruit and rare fruit species. ISBN 978-3-7020-1515-2 , pp. 116-119.
  3. Masood Sadiq Butta, M. Tauseef Sultanb, Mahwish Aziza, Ambreen Nazc, Waqas Ahmeda, Naresh Kumard, Muhammad Imrane: Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) Fruit: Hidden Phytochemicals and Health Claims . In: EXCLI Journal . tape 14 , 2015, p. 542-561 , PMC 4817420 (free full text).
  4. So-Young KIM, Seok-Moon JEONG, Sun-Jung KIM, Kyung-Im JEON, Eunju PARK: Effect of Heat Treatment on the Antioxidative and Antigenotoxic Activity of Extracts from Persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) Peel . In: Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry . tape 70 , no. 4 , January 1, 2006, p. 999-1002 , doi : 10.1271 / bbb.70.999 , PMID 16636469 .
  5. Kathrin Mehner: Persimmon: The exotic fruit is so healthy. In: Gesundheit.de. December 5, 2017, accessed January 7, 2018 .