A New Use!

Last month, the little wild persimmon tree had tons of the bright orange fruits dangling from its branches.  With every walk to the marsh edge, I would grab a handful of them to munch on my hike.  I picked bowls full of the tiny, quarter sized fruit and carried them into the kitchen so I could eat them at my will.  I love the things!  These are not the large, cultivated things that are almost overly sweet but rather the semi-tart wild cousins that grow freely in the woods around the Little Bayou House. I grew up with both types readily available and always preferred the wild ones.  The only drawback to these is the fact that they are loaded with penny sized seeds.  AND these seeds are not mushy, soft ones like those in the cultivated persimmons.  These are hard!  For the whole month, I ate my share of the fruit.  The 'possums, coons, squirrels and birds took far more than I did!  Last week, only a few hung on the upper branches of the tree.

Now, I find evidence that the seeds must have been too large and hard for a lot of the critters as well.  The ground under the tree is littered with dropped persimmon seeds.  Next spring will see hundreds of the tiny saplings pushing through the sandy soil.  Some of these wee trees will be allowed to grow to maturity so that the cycle can continue.  The persimmon tree provides not only the delicious and healthy fruits, I also use the leaves.  I replenished my stock of the dried leaves to be used in making tisanes.  Back to those seeds, though!  I now find that I should have been roasting them and using them as a coffee extender!  Woohoo! The Wonder Tree just got better!  Now, don't fret!  I am NOT going to pick up the seeds are on the ground and "recycle" them.  (Although, I have read where there is some ridiculously expensive coffee that is made from seeds that have passed through the Civet.  NOPE, not going there at all!)  Next season, I will save the seeds from every persimmon that I eat!  Those will be dried and ground to add to my coffee grounds.  Hey, I am willing to try anything..almost..well, maybe not the Civet Coffee!