Persimon Persimmons
Persimon persimmons from the Ribera del Xúquer
Persimmons picked to order in the Ribera del Xúquer, the district where most of the persimmon eaten in Spain is grown. Here the persimmon isn’t an exotic fruit: it’s a local one, picked less than twenty kilometres from where we pack your box.
The shortest season in the shop
October, November and December. Three months and it’s over. It’s the shortest season of everything we sell, and once it ends there’s no way of getting hold of them until the following autumn: persimmons aren’t kept in cold storage the way citrus is. If you like them, don’t leave it until the last minute.
Cut firm, and that’s how they arrive
Persimon persimmons are picked hard, so they survive the journey and arrive intact. That’s how they’re eaten, firm and crisp, like an apple: peeled and cut into wedges. It’s the most convenient way and the one most people prefer at home.
If you like them soft and creamy, leave them at room temperature for a few days and you’ll see them give. The riper they get, the sweeter and more honeyed the flesh; at that point you eat them with a spoon.
How to keep them
Out of the fridge while they’re still hard, somewhere cool and not stacked, because the weight marks them. Once they start to soften, the fridge slows things down and buys you a few more days. It helps to separate any that ripen ahead of the rest: they speed up the ones next to them.
What to expect from the box
A 15 kg box, with different sizes inside. The skin may have marks or uneven patches and carries no treatment after picking. None of that affects the flavour; it’s field fruit, not shop-window fruit.
How to eat them
While firm, the most practical thing is to peel them with a paring knife and cut them into wedges, like an apple. They hold up well in a salad with mature cheese or rocket, and on a board with cured ham they work just like melon. Ripe, you halve them and eat them with a spoon.
If a piece arrives already soft — it happens, especially at the end of the season — don’t throw it away: that’s the one that’s best for smoothies, for spreading or for a dessert with yoghurt. What a soft persimmon won’t take is days of going back and forth to the fridge.
What goes with them
They overlap with the first mandarins and the Navelina oranges, so in autumn you can order them together in one delivery. It’s the time of year with the most variety in the shop.
Formats and delivery
Fruit comes in 15 kg boxes, except mandarins, which come in a 5 kg box. Everything is picked the day we prepare your order and leaves our warehouse in Albalat de la Ribera straight for your door, with no warehouses or distribution centres in between. Delivery takes 24-48 hours in mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands; for now we don’t reach the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla.
If you want several things in one delivery, order them together and tell us in the order notes how much of each you’d like. And if anything arrives in poor condition, write to us and we’ll sort it out: we work with fresh produce and the journey sometimes takes its toll.