gotsumbeers
Well-Known Member
Anyone out there ferment any beverages using persimmons? I have access to a lot and don't know a thing about them except they can be made in to pie.
Ideas for Persimmons
- Thread starter gotsumbeers
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They would work well in a good Autumn Ale with warm spices like Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cardamom, Vanilla, and Clove. You have to get the Fuyu variety though... not Hachiya. The Hachiya's are too astringent/starchy unless they are really, really, really ripe.
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gotsumbeers
Well-Known Member
These are the straight up American Persimmon sitting out in the woods. I know they need to be very ripe in order to use them.
You probably can't go wrong with a saison.
MrOH
Well-Known Member
From The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis:
"Making Wine and Persimmon Beer
Wine-making was part of canning and preserving and we would always set aside blackberries and elderberries for that purpose. In the spring we would make a dandelion wine, whereas in the fall there was an abundance of persimmons, which we valued for a kind of beer we would make with them. We would gather the persimmons only after a heavy frost because that was said to sweeten them. We would pick over all that we'd gathered, trim off their caps, and then stir them into a medium-soft batter made from the bran of white cornmeal mixed with spring water. After it was all well mixed, we would spoon the batter into a large bread pan and bake it in the oven. After it had baked and cooled, the cake was placed in a stone crock or a wooden keg with twice as much spring water, then covered and left to ferment until Grandfather decided it was ready for drinking- usually in late winter."
Basically, a loaf beer, similar to kvass, using wild fermentation. More than likely very low in alcohol and tart from bacteria. No hops, as the astringency and sourness would clash with the bitterness (just like how lambics are made using aged hops so the have very little in the way of AA.) These would have been wild persimmons that they used. Seems like it would be a fun experiment.
"Making Wine and Persimmon Beer
Wine-making was part of canning and preserving and we would always set aside blackberries and elderberries for that purpose. In the spring we would make a dandelion wine, whereas in the fall there was an abundance of persimmons, which we valued for a kind of beer we would make with them. We would gather the persimmons only after a heavy frost because that was said to sweeten them. We would pick over all that we'd gathered, trim off their caps, and then stir them into a medium-soft batter made from the bran of white cornmeal mixed with spring water. After it was all well mixed, we would spoon the batter into a large bread pan and bake it in the oven. After it had baked and cooled, the cake was placed in a stone crock or a wooden keg with twice as much spring water, then covered and left to ferment until Grandfather decided it was ready for drinking- usually in late winter."
Basically, a loaf beer, similar to kvass, using wild fermentation. More than likely very low in alcohol and tart from bacteria. No hops, as the astringency and sourness would clash with the bitterness (just like how lambics are made using aged hops so the have very little in the way of AA.) These would have been wild persimmons that they used. Seems like it would be a fun experiment.
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gotsumbeers
Well-Known Member
I like the idea of a persimmon saison. I have the yeast already, and I'm too impatient for wines and meads.
Saison it is!
Saison it is!
