Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 23 – The persimmon season has started J I like to eat them fresh by either taking off the top and scooping the insides out, or, if they are too soft, just peeling the skin off and putting the insides in a bowl to eat. Last week, we made a puree from the fruit and made persimmon muffins (which were yummy!). We also like to buy them dried as a handy snack when we are out and about. There are numerous kinds of persimmons, and they can be sweet or astringent, so you have to know what you have before biting into it! The ones we get here look almost like tomatoes and are really sweet, but I can’t name which variety they are, in Chinese they were just called “red persimmons.” They are usually so soft when you buy them that you have to be really careful not to squish them when taking them home. I had never had a persimmon before coming to China and I remember when someone first gave me one I had no idea what it was! They supposedly have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years, for a wide variety of things ranging from curing hiccoughs to hangovers! The dried ones we buy come 2 in a package for 2 rmb or about 30 cents usd, 2 fresh ones were 3.30 rmb or about 50 cents.