Hoshigaki (Dried Persimmons)
Published Feb. 1, 2022
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus 1 month to dry
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 24or more firm, unripe Hachiya persimmons, preferably with long stems to make hanging easy
- Kitchen string, or other thin string
Preparation
- Step 1
Wash the fruit well. Remove the leaves, then use a knife or vegetable peeler to remove the peel from the crown of the fruit around the stem. Continue to peel the entire fruit, leaving the stems intact and cutting out any brown spots. Set up a rack or bar, such as a clean laundry rack, near a window with a large piece of parchment underneath. You should be able to suspend the fruit so they don’t touch one another or any other surfaces.
- Step 2
Tie and sterilize the fruit: Cut a 20-inch piece of thin string for every 2 persimmons and tie the string to the stems of the persimmons using no-slip knots on both ends of each piece. Trim excess string if needed. If the stems aren’t long enough to tie, fix binder clips to the stems and tie those. If the stems aren’t long enough for that, run short bamboo skewers through the tops of the persimmons and tie the skewers. Bring a pot of water to a boil and, holding each piece of string at the center, dunk the fruit for a few seconds, then lift out.
- Step 3
Hang each string over the prepared rack, so the fruit is dangling on either side of the bars, but not touching anything. Ideally, keep the rack in a sunny, dry, well-ventilated spot, either indoors or outdoors.
- Step 4
After a week of drying, you can start to lightly knead the fruit every day, rolling each one gently in clean hands to help it dry evenly. Watch for any mold, which you can remove with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol, and for firm spots, which you can focus on when you knead the fruit.
- Step 5
Over the course of about 3 weeks, the persimmons will shrivel and shrink, and its sugars will come up to the surface and crystallize, forming a white layer. Once the sugar is visible, you can eat the fruit or continue to dry them, and you can stop kneading them. When the fruit is firm and dark and more powdery sugar covers the surface, it’s ready to remove from the drying rack and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month or in the freezer for up to 6 months. It tastes best immediately after drying, when you can slice and eat it as is.
Private Notes
Comments
You can certainly dehydrate persimmons. I've done this with Fuyu variety, cutting them into thick disks and then drying overnight. They're delicious. But they are nothing like hoshigaki, which I have also made from both Fuyu and Hachiya varieties. Dehydrated persimmon have a completely different texture and flavor from slow-dried. I am pretty sure that a dehydrator would not yield proper hoshigaki, even if you periodically massaged them. I dry my hoshigaki indoors, in front of a tower fan.
When I have made hoshigaki, I left out the dunking in boiling water to sterilize the fruit. And my persimmons dried beautifully indoors with a fan swirling the air around them, drying them evenly. A spray bottle of vodka does miracles in stopping mold from spreading. Nothing tastes as delicious as a home-dried hoshigaki!
Luckily and conveniently, it is not difficult to buy dried persimmons in NYC in either HK Supermarket or H Mart. J'adore NYC
A VERY diluted solution of vinegar and water is often used in food prep to help keep bacteria levels down. (I’m sure a diluted solution of lemon juice and water would work as well) After normal washing I dunk the fruit in the solution and begin peeling. During peeling I dunk my peeler into the solution as well. After peeling each fruit I do a final dunk then hang. Have not lost any hoshigaki over 2 seasons. No vinegar taste. Booze is for drinking ;)
I was really disappointed in the dried persimmons I recently purchased from H-Mart in NYC. They were almost completely flavorless, and now I feel I must find or make the real thing.
Last year we didn't dip in boiling water or vodka and no mold. Tried our first batch this year with same method and entire batch got mold. Started over again (so much work) and dipped in vodka and no mold. Hung indoors with fan in windows with sunlight. Delicious. We highly recommend consuming with a great green tea. The green tea elevates the experience to an even higher level. Synergistic!