Persimmon
Food · Fruit · Food, Typed Supps
Persimmons are a sweet, vitamin-rich fall fruit -- but eating a lot of unripe ones on an empty stomach can actually cause a real stomach problem.
Stage by stage
- Chewing & Sweetness (Mouth): Ripe persimmon flesh is soft and sugar-dense, releasing natural fructose and glucose as it's chewed, while unripe fruit's soluble tannins bind saliva proteins and cause the puckering astringency the fruit is known for.
- Tannin Reaction (Stomach): In the acidic stomach, soluble tannins from unripe or under-ripe persimmon can polymerize and bind with fiber into a sticky, cohesive mass -- the documented mechanism behind rare but real persimmon bezoars, especially when large amounts are eaten on an empty stomach.
- Nutrient Absorption (Small intestine): Dietary fiber slows digestion and feeds gut bacteria, while the fat-soluble carotenoids beta-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin are packaged with any dietary fat present and absorbed across the intestinal wall.
- Vitamin A Storage (Liver): The liver converts absorbed beta-carotene into active vitamin A and stores it for use in vision, immune function, and skin maintenance, releasing it over the following days as the body needs it.
Timing
Pair persimmon with a source of fat -- yogurt, nuts, or nut butter -- to improve absorption of its fat-soluble carotenoids, and avoid eating large amounts of unripe, astringent persimmon on an empty stomach.
Time to effect
- Hours to Weeks: Sugars and fiber are digested within hours, while the vitamin A converted from beta-carotene is stored in the liver and drawn on over subsequent days to weeks to support vision, skin, and immune function.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
In season
October to December in the northern hemisphere, April to June in the southern.
Satiety
168 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — high. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
1.1 kg CO2e and 199 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Other fruit" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £3 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 70.3
- Protein: 0.6g
- Carbohydrate: 16g
- of which sugars: 16g
- Fat: 0.1g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 2.7g
- Sodium: 4mg
Food vs. supplement
A whole persimmon supplies provitamin-A carotenoids and vitamin C alongside fiber and polyphenols that an isolated vitamin A or beta-carotene supplement lacks, and unlike high-dose preformed vitamin A pills, the carotenoids in fruit carry no established toxicity risk from food alone.
Kitchen tip
Let Hachiya-type persimmons ripen until jelly-soft before eating; firm Fuyu-type persimmons can be eaten crisp like an apple, sliced into salads, or dried into hoshigaki.
Common myth
"Unripe or astringent persimmons are poisonous and unsafe to eat." In reality: Ripe persimmons are a safe, nutrient-dense fruit; the real, medically documented risk is diospyrobezoar formation when large quantities of unripe, high-tannin fruit are eaten on an empty stomach, particularly in people with prior gastric surgery, diabetes-related slowed digestion, or advanced age.
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