You may have heard this name only now or you may have heard about it many times in the past but did not bother to find out what it is. Persimmon is a fruit of Chinese origin that looks a lot like tomato and is a popular autumn and winter fruit.
Originally, it was cultivated in Japan and China for centuries. It is called shizi in Chinese and kaki in Japan. Its botanical name is diospyros kaki and considered one of the oldest plants in cultivation.
From China, its cultivation later spread to East Asia (Japan in particular) then much later to California in the U.S., southern Europe in the 19th century and then to Brazil in the 1890s. Today, it is also grown in Italy, in the Mediterranean regions as well as in the U.S. and the Middle East. [Read more…]