Determining when you should harvest these tasty fruits depends not on which specific variety you’re growing, but on whether or not it’s astringent. An astringent persimmon contains mouth-puckering tannins when it’s unripe, making it just about inedible – or at least that’s the case until it’s so ripe that it’s about to fall off the tree.
In the D. kaki species, two varieties are grown widely in the United States:
‘Fuyu,’ which is non-astringent
‘Hachiya,’ an astringent fruit
The single most important thing to note when you’re preparing to harvest your fruit is whether or not it’s astringent or non-astringent. The last thing you want to do is think you’re growing (or assume you’ve picked) a non-astringent variety, take a huge bite, and dash the overbearingly acrid astringent fruit to the ground in surprise.
As you might have guessed, there are two main harvest times for these fruits, and determining when yours is likely to be depends on which type you’re growing.
Non-Astringent Fruits: Since they don’t have to ripen to a stage of utter softness on the tree, non-astringent persimmons can be harvested as soon as they turn from green to orange-pink or red.
Astringent persimmons often aren’t ready until somewhere between October and January. As with non-astringent types, you can harvest them before they are fully ripe, and ripen them off the tree.
Lay the harvested fruit in a shallow tray in a single layer. Allow the fruit to ripen at room temperature or store in the refrigerator for up to a month or frozen for up to eight months. If you wish to hasten the ripening process, store the persimmons in a bag with a ripe apple or banana.

Determining when you should harvest these tasty fruits depends not on which specific variety you’re growing, but on whether or not it’s astringent. An astringent persimmon contains mouth-puckering tannins when it’s unripe, making it just about inedible – or at least that’s the case until it’s so ripe that it’s about to fall off the tree.
In the D. kaki species, two varieties are grown widely in the United States:
‘Fuyu,’ which is non-astringent
‘Hachiya,’ an astringent fruit
The single most important thing to note when you’re preparing to harvest your fruit is whether or not it’s astringent or non-astringent. The last thing you want to do is think you’re growing (or assume you’ve picked) a non-astringent variety, take a huge bite, and dash the overbearingly acrid astringent fruit to the ground in surprise.
As you might have guessed, there are two main harvest times for these fruits, and determining when yours is likely to be depends on which type you’re growing.
Non-Astringent Fruits: Since they don’t have to ripen to a stage of utter softness on the tree, non-astringent persimmons can be harvested as soon as they turn from green to orange-pink or red.
Astringent persimmons often aren’t ready until somewhere between October and January. As with non-astringent types, you can harvest them before they are fully ripe, and ripen them off the tree.
Lay the harvested fruit in a shallow tray in a single layer. Allow the fruit to ripen at room temperature or store in the refrigerator for up to a month or frozen for up to eight months. If you wish to hasten the ripening process, store the persimmons in a bag with a ripe apple or banana.

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