- Gordon Dumoulin
Last fruit hanging in 2021... "the fruit of success"

๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ 2021โฆ โ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ดโ
Beijing and the North of China have already witnessed snow storms and most trees have been stripped from their leaves, ready for a winter sleep. But there is still one fruit proudly hanging on bare tree branches these days, orange and plump splashing pulp and juice when finally dropping off around the end of this month or even into December (But not many fruits will drop as people will pick them during this time).


ๆฟ (Shรฌ) or Persimmon (Diospyros kaki), also called kaki (but this name applies to other similar diospyros species around the world as well) is an ancient fruit in China and ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ค๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ (๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐-๐๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฌ), ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ด๐ฒ-๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ป๐ด (๐ฒ๐ญ๐ด-๐ต๐ฌ๐ณ). Persimmon was introduced to Japan in the 7th century where it has become a national fruit and later on to other countries in Asia. In the late 1800's the fruit was introduced in the USA and other parts of the world.
The fruit is recommended in ๐ง๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ for high blood pressure and loaded with vitamin C, beta-carotene (for Vitamin A) and fibers.


Due to its perishability, the fruits are usually dried, frozen or processed to jams or cakes immediately after harvest to be consumed during wintertime. Persimmon should not be eaten unripe due to the high amount of tannins which only lowers to acceptable levels at its full ripeness.
Its name ๆฟ (Shรฌ) sounds similar to โbusiness affairsโ and ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ. A persimmon tree is often planted in temple gardens as it is said to have ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฒ๐: ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐; ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐; ๐ด๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ผ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐๐๐.

๐ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข '๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด' (็พไบๅๅฉ).
These pictures are taken from a beautiful persimmon tree in the middle of the Beijing Zoo during a visit last week.
#beijing #harvest #persimmon #crosscultural