December 17, 2012

What Has Become of My Dried Persimmons (Hoshi Gaki)/私の干し柿はどうなったか

On November 18, I started to hang astringent persimmons (shibu gaki) in the garage to dry. Although I made sure that the window and the door of the garage were slightly open all the time, I have not yet succeeded in drying them to a satisfactory level as of December 15.
11月18日に、車庫で渋柿を干し始めました。常に車庫の窓とドアを少し開けていましたが、12月15日現在、まだ十分なレベルまで干せてません。
(Sorry for the bad photo.)
(ヘタな写真ですみません。)

Anyway, I thought I should taste some, and brought two of them into the kitchen.
ともかく、試食すべきだと思い、二つだけ台所に持って来ました。
I expected that they would taste great because they were a bit like anpo gaki (semi-dried persimmons, made by first fumigating with sulfur and then drying), but
あんぽ柿(硫黄で燻蒸(くんじょう)してから干した、半生の干し柿)にちょっと似ているので、すごく美味しいと思ったのですが、
anpo gaki/あんぽ柿のイメージ
after three bites, I learned that the persimmon had not have its astringency removed!
三口食べてから、渋が抜けていないことに気付きました!
Needless to say, I brushed my teeth soon after I took the photo above!
言うまでもなく、この写真を撮ってからすぐ、歯を磨きました!

2 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

My persimmons went bad. I made a big mistake by not taking them in and hanging them in the attic. They looked good until 1 1/2 week ago, but after the heavy snow falls and humid warm weather afterwards, the air got very humid too and they got wet and spots with green mold developed at the outer sides. I am very vexed.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Sorry to hear that. I think we both need eaves projecting long enough to properly dry persimmons (and other foods like daikon), like the ones found with traditional Japanese houses.