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Volunteer Newsletter Oct 30, 2025 Persimmon Orchard Harvest Meet the Persimmons Persimmon Recipes Upcoming Harvest Schedule Persimmon season is here! Bright orange fruit, fall colors, crisp outdoor air, and community are a wonderful combination. Persimmons can be rare and expensive in the market, so the fruit we provide to food pantries for the families and seniors they assist is truly special. Here are the new volunteer harvest opportunities arranged for November, packed into a week so the fruit can be distributed to families before Thanksgiving:
Join us for the fun and the satisfaction of helping others. Spaces are limited, so please submit sign up requests within the next 24 hours and we'll try to include as many volunteers as possible into one event.
For the home harvest please visit the Events calendar to sign up; for the orchard harvest see the event details and sign up link below in this newsletter. Don't know much about persimmons? I didn't either, before Village Harvest. They're our most abundant fall fruit, and the two main kinds are delicious and very different. Learn more about persimmons in this newsletter, and bring home fruit seconds from a harvest to enjoy yourself. We also have a few recipes to get you started. Happy Halloween ... and join us for Persimmon Week in November! Craig Diserens Executive Director craig@villageharvest.org PS. Thinking ahead to the giving season ... Village Harvest is community supported, including by many volunters. Together, we reduce local hunger with local fruit, help seniors, learn while doing, and reduce food waste for a healthier planet. You may donate online, by mail (PO Box 9231, San Jose, CA 95157), through employer services and donor advised funds, and with gifts of stock. Contributions are eligible for tax deductions and company matching. Fuyu Persimmon Orchard Harvest Persimmon orchards are beautiful places, with bright orange fruit and leaves that are changing from green to red and orange during November.This year several of our most frequent persimmon orchards don't have any fruit, some because the trees didn't produce and one where squirrels beat us to the fruit. But one Fuyu persimmon orchard iin Gilroy has a bumper crop! We're harvesting the fruit to help people in need in the community but there will be fruit seconds for volunteers to take home and enjoy. Sign up for this harvest through the link in the table or on the Events calendar.
Meet Your Local PersimmonsOrange, in season in the fall, and not a pumpkin!If you're unfamiliar with this fruit, according to UC Davis the persimmons in California are native to China and first brought to the US in the 1850s. Most of the persimmons we pick are of two very different kinds, Fuyu and Hachiya:  Fuyu persimmons have a rounded shape, round or flat end, and are ready to eat right off the tree when they are fully colored orange. They have a mild sweet flavor, and are often prepared like a fresh crisp apple, sliced and peeled and used in salads. Hachiya persimmons have a pointed end like a big acorn. They are picked firm and fully colored orange, but if you bite into them then they are astringent and taste terrible. They must ripen until very soft, then they're incredibly sweet. This type is often called a "baking" persimmon because the ripe pulp is delicious in baked goods.After picking, ripen firm Hachiyas at room temperature on a counter or in a paper bag until very soft. They're also delicious dried, or frozen whole. Volunteers get to take home fruit seconds from harvests - be sure to try some!  Our local persimmons are delicious in many ways. Here's how some of our volunteers like to eat them.Fuyu persimmons are usually eaten fresh and used like a crisp apple; try them in salads for seasonal treat.
Hachiya persimmons, shown on the right, must be ripened for at least a few days to a week or more after picking until very soft. Keep them at room temperature on a counter or in a paper bag. Or you can peel them, slice thickly, and dehydrate immediately, a favorite "recipe" of many VH volunteer leaders. The Village Harvest website Resources page has a recipe for the Japanese version of whole dried persimmons, hoshikaki (PDF), and a recipe for very easy Persimmon Sorbet served in its own natural cup (PDF). Hachiyas are often called baking persimmons and the soft inner pulp is a delicious sweet ingredient for breads, cakes, and cookies. Here's a recipe courtesy of long-time San Jose team volunteer Heather Dooley; you can even make this recipe in the food processor, pulsing between additions. Heather's Hachiya Persimmon Bread
To ripen Hachiya persimmons, keep in a paper bag on the counter a few days to a week until very soft.
puree 2 ripe Hachiya persimmon insides to make 1 C puree add 2 tsp baking soda add 1 C sugar add 1 egg, beaten ( I don't bother beating before hand) 2 Tbsp butter, melted 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla 1C flour mix well, then pulse in 1 C walnuts 1 C raisins pulse a few times to chop & you're done. Use skinny loaf pan w parchment paper. Best not to use wide loaf pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hr. Makes 1 long skinny loaf or 2 small loaves. This bread will turn a nice dark color when done. Doesn't rise much. Upcoming Harvest ScheduleTo volunteer for any harvest, please visit the Events calendar online to see all details and the current availability for each harvest, then click the link within each calendar entry to sign up. Most harvests are 3 1/2 hours long.
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