(Originally published Fall, 2010) While sitting at the breakfast table as a young girl, I could look out the window this time of year and watch the squirrels scamper like mad up and down the trees just across the fence line along our garden. They were scrambling to see who could harvest and store the highest number of Oklahoma native persimmons, the bright orange to dark amber fruits tempting them to work extra hard. Even by squirrel standards. Occasionally, I would wander outside, cross the fence and collect a few of the fruits I knew for sure were ripe, but at that age it was a guessing game for me.
Sometimes I would choose them at a stage too firm and orange (green) and suffer the consequences of a horrible experience – something like all the moisture being sucked out of my mouth, with no way to quench the thirst! But the ripe persimmons…ah, those were nice. And still are.
My father brought some to our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and luckily not all of them got eaten. I have them now and I thought I would share a few basic pieces of information in case you are outside and see them in a tree somewhere. They are worth your harvesting time.