Help me identify this fruit

This fruit tree is in the garden at my college. It’s almost certainly not native to the area. From a distance, it looked like it was covered in oranges or grapefruits, but from closer they’re definitely not citrus fruit.

The fruit somewhat resembles a nectarine or apricot externally, but the skin is thicker like a mango and there was no visible seed inside it. The flesh also looks somewhat like a mango. I tasted it and although I don’t know if it was ripe, it didn’t have a particularly sweet or sour taste, and briefly gave me a strong sense of cottonmouth.

The leaves are somewhat like those of a pear tree, but a bit wider and with venation more like a catalpa leaf. There were a lot of what looked like tentacles extending straight up from larger branches, very unusual looking.

Here’s a picture of the fruit. I can upload pictures of the inside of the fruit and a leaf if need be.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/8819/qi80.jpg

Persimmon.

+1

That took no time, and I believe you’re correct. I had never seen a persimmon before but it does resemble some of the images of them as does the leaf. I’m guessing it’s one of the species considered to be inedible.

It is a Fuyu persimmon, one of the two Japanese cultivars common in the US. Fuyus are completely edible, that’s why they are grown. Unlike the other variety, Hachiya, it can be eaten while still firm. Your picture shows a rather green one – wait until it turns orange. Most people don’t eat the thin peel.

It looks a little unripe to me, and they are quite astringent until fully ripened. Try setting one in a windowsill for a couple days until it starts to soften and see if it gets sweeter. The shape looks like the fuyu variety, which are quite tasty.

ETA: or what Ulfreida said.

Thanks for the info. Yes, I was just reading on Wikipedia that they can be astringent (they dry out your mouth) until ripe although there are ways to fix that. I guess I’ll wait a few more weeks and try another one.

I hear they make great cookies.

The fact that snailboy got “cottonmouth” from tasting an unripe fruit suggests that it is not a Fuyu persimmon. It looks a bit like a Fuyu, but there are many varieties that are flattish like Fuyus yet are astringent until fully ripe. Here is a page showing many types of persimmons, both astringent and non-astringent.

I think it’s the Tamopan. It definitely has a crease going around it, even though it’s not as pronounced as the one on that page.

Fuyus can still give you cottonmouth before they are ripe, and your picture shows one not quite ripe. We had a fuyu in our backyard and I tasted many before they were ready.

It certainly could be another variety, but fuyus are by far the most common in the U.S., followed by Hachiya. Other varieties are much rarer.

Google Reverse Image Search seems to think it is this

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://jurnalul.ro/thumbs/big/2013/09/27/tas-a-dat-verdictul-in-litigiul-sanmartean-horoba-jucatorul-nu-va-mai-plati-niciun-ban-18463174.jpg&imgrefurl=http://jurnalul.ro/sport/fotbal-intern/tas-a-dat-verdictul-in-litigiul-sanmartean-horoba-jucatorul-nu-va-mai-plati-niciun-ban-652354.html&h=404&w=646&sz=31&tbnid=qYQjbhEHXZbHeM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=142&zoom=1&usg=__ugRFlZBC75uDPg71wjlt4_pUpJo=&docid=WMsaWeeqDbyphM&sa=X&ei=hfZ4UsCYO-S2sATpy4C4BQ&ved=0CDYQ9QEwBQ

No, that one looks too ripe.

Even the non-bitter varieties are best left until very soft before eating, IMO - I let them turn almost red-brown and squashy, then they can be sliced in half and eaten with a spoon.

Well the crease around it is what makes me think Tamopan. I don’t see any other varieties that have that crease at all.

Also, according to what I’ve been reading, while the non-astringent does have some tannin in it, it’s not so much as to make it inedible before it’s ripe. While I did manage to force myself to swallow the small bite, it wasn’t at all pleasant and my classmate spit it out immediately. Does this match your experience with Fuyus?

Furthermore, it’s in a horticulture garden at my school, so I wouldn’t doubt that it’s a rare variety.

Of course! I don’t know why I ever thought it was a fruit when it’s clearly a tree full of soccer players.

Hmm, tough to say. Unripe Fuyus certainly aren’t pleasant to eat. They are astringent, but I wouldn’t say extremely so. It’s hard to say based only on a description and without knowing just how unripe those are. And you’re right, a horticulture garden has much better potential for rare varieties.

As far as the crease, I haven’t seen Tamopans other than in pictures so I’m not a good judge of how closely that matches. I do know that our persimmons were usually more oddly-shaped than the pictures you see online. Nursery websites in particular tend to use the pretty, perfectly-shaped examples, but there’s a lot more variety in the actual fruits. If all the fruit on this tree have that same crease, that would be a stronger indication that it isn’t a Fuyu.

I’ll try to check out more then. Unfortunately there was only one on the ground yesterday and the ones that hadn’t fallen were much too high to grab.

Yes; yes they do! I have my great aunt’s recipe for persimmon cookies, but no persimmons. Unfortunately.

Update: I went out there again today and found another one on the ground. It was smaller but very soft inside. I previously would have thought it rotten but knowing better, I ripped the skin a little and squeezed the inside into my mouth. It was delicious, a lot sweeter than the previous one and not at all astringent. I may be going out there regularly for the next few weeks and eating them. There was a crease in this one too so I’m still leaning towards Tamopan but just knowing it’s a persimmon is satisfying. Thanks for the answers. Persimmons aren’t common here and no one in my class recognized it.

Persimmon.