Persimmon

Persimmon fruit is a golden yellow, round or oval, flavorful, smooth textured delicacy from the east asia. Its sweet, delicious flesh holds several health promoting nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants that are vital for optimum health. Botanically, persimmons belongs to the family of ebenaceae, in the genus: diospyros. This delicate oriental fruit is native to china. It spread to korean peninsula and japan very long ago, and later was introduced to california during the middle of the 19th century.

Persimmons are multi-trunked or single-stemmed deciduous trees, which may grow up to 25 ft in height. They grow best in areas that have moderate winters and relatively mild summers. Persimmon trees classified broadly into two general categories: those that bear "astringent fruit" (whilst unripe) and those that bear "non-astringent" fruits. An astringent cultivar, which is commonly cultivated in japan known as ahachiya,a is high in tannins and must be allowed to ripen fully until it attains jelly-soft consistency before fit to eat. A non-astringent persimmon, on the other hand, contains less tannin and can be eaten while it is crispy, as in apples. Astringency canabe removed by treating the fruit with carbon dioxide or alcohol.

During each season, the tree bears numerous fruits that vary by cultivar from spherical to heart to flatten or squash-like in shape. They also greatly vary in size from as little as a few ounces to more than a pound. The color of the fruit varies from light yellow-orange to dark orange-red. The entire fruit is edible except for the seed and calyx.

The fruit is moderately high in calories (provides 70 calories/100g) but very low in fats. Its smooth textured flesh is a very goodasource of dietary fiber. 100 g of fresh fruit holds 3.6 g or 9.5% of recommended daily intake of fiber.

Persimmons containahealth benefiting flavonoid poly-phenolic anti-oxidants such as catechins and gallocatechins in addition to having an important anti-tumor compound, betulinic acid. Catechins are known to have anti-infective, anti-inflammatory and anti-hemorrhagic (prevents bleeding from small blood vessels) properties.

Fresh persimmons compose other anti-oxidant compounds like vitamin-a, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zea-xanthin and cryptoxanthin. Together, these compounds functions as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ros) that play a role in aging and various disease processes.

Zea-xanthin, an important dietary carotenoid, selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes where it is thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering functions; thus, helps prevent "age-related macular related macular disease"(armd) in the elderly.

Persimmons are also a very good source of vitamin-c, another powerful antioxidant (especially native chinese and american persimmons; provide 80% of dri). Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin c helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.

The fruit is good in many valuable b-complex vitamins such as folic acid, pyridoxine (vitamin b-6), thiamin..etc. These vitamins act as co-factors for numerous metabolic enzymatic functions in the body.

Fresh persimmon fruits also contain healthy amounts of minerals like potassium, manganese (15% of dri), copper (12% of dri),aand phosphorus. Manganese is a co-factor for the enzyme, superoxide dismutase, which is a very powerful free radical scavenger. Copperais a co-factor for many vital enzymes, including cytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase (other minerals function as cofactors for this enzyme are manganese, and zinc). Copper is also required forathe production of red blood cells.a