Friday, January 15, 2010

hey, it's fuyu!

Tell me, what would you do if given a thousand pounds of ripe fuyus?
Inspired by last year's experiments with goo I took action.....

Take one box of the crazy-soft goo balls (between 24-36 fruit) and rip off and compost the stems and upper leaves. Toss the rest into an 8q pot and mash with a potato thingie. Chuck this into a big gauge colander and stir around with a spoon-like object. When most the pulp is through, remove most the skins and compost 'em. Pour the remaining mess into a clean 5 gallon bucket. Repeat this process 6 more times, adding a quart of orange blossom honey at the end. Stir thoroughly and you have something like this. I covered it with a nylon grain bag to keep the flies and monkeys out and took to stirring it every few hours.

By day two and a half, the froth had set in. It was getting on near that time to put this beast into a large vessel before it decides to go eat some sugar elsewhere. I got out a huge piece of glass for just such occasions, scrubbed it a bit and left it overnight to soak some more. The next morning I check on the yeastie beasties and they have shoved the nylon bag into a slight dome, stretching it some, causing it to hold tight to the bucket rim, thus keeping the foam from climbing out. I removed the bag at first sight and it released the cork a bit. A few quarts or so of foam blurbed on over the edge.

Safely behind glass, I could now judge the true character of these wild organisms. They were chewing up the persimmons pretty good, but the pulp still had the consistency of a runny flan. I added a gallon of tap water and swirled it around as well as one can when you find yourself agitating a 45 pound glass container with 5 gallons of orange snot in it. I gave it my best, then left it alone. Checking a few hours later, some separation had occurred and I finally felt like this experiment was leaning toward success.

Now, more than a week into it, I wonder if I should have made more. Maybe a lot more. Then I think, that's crazy! I couldn't post something about that, people would think I'm nuts!

Then my brew buddy gives me an update of the madness we have going in his backyard. He sends a link. So now, if you have any interest in what one might do with a mad amount of ripe persimmons........

Because, really, using seven boxes only puts a tiny dent in 170!

5 comments:

Mimi said...

Wow. That's one heaping pile 'o persimmons. I can't wait to find out if your brew was a success.

Maybe you could dry them all and start a stand at the farmers market to make extra cash.

Persimmon bread? Loads of it?

Unknown said...

Impressive amount of permissions...good luck to you and your brew buddy...love the link to your fuyu brew maddness.

Ryan said...

Any chance you want to swap some homebrew for some resulting persimmon wine? I'm over in SF.

Mimi said...

Hey D.,
I've awarded your blog, please stop by when you have a chance to pick up your award.

Monkey Wrangler said...

Mimi: I can't wait either. And I tried drying some......delicious! But really, at this point I never want to see another persimmon again. Well, until next year that is.

Ma: Loads and loads huh? It really helps seeing the pictures to get an idea of the true scope of the madness.

Ryan: Trade? Oh yeah! Even if this year's turns out to totally suck, I've still got a bottle or two from last year I'd give up. Give me a shout: geo(like earth) dylan (put these two together as one word) at comcast dot net.

Mimi: I'll drop by sometime later today. Thank you!