2018 Crop of persimmons One of the joys of the rural South are the persimmon trees. Persimmons grow further North (I've harvested them just outside the Strafford train station in Pennsylvania and on the C&O canal by the Potomac), but are far more common in Northeastern Alabama. 

These are not ripe. Almost ripe, but not quite. The deer and raccoons get them as quickly as they turn soft - and a darker orange. Early on they have a protective colony of ants, which defend the ripe ones to their death. That said, we get our share by carefully feeling the fruit or shaking the trees to see which fruits drop. The bulk will turn ripe after the first hard frost and there will be some on the tree until Christmas.

It's a bit of a pain to convert the fruit into a useful form for baking. What I do is to mash them with sugar - about a cup (300 ml or so) and then dissolve the mixture with milk. Then it's an easy matter to strain the mixture and remove the seeds and inedible bits. After that, any muffin recipe will do - I like adding walnuts, cinnammon, and ginger.

Remember to plant the seeds when you're done. It's the least you can do for the plants.