Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, we've all been handed our fair share
Speaker 1: of lemons lately. So enough already with the lemonade. As
Speaker 1: time sprawls on with ongoing challenges and unhold potential, why
Speaker 1: not grab it by its stem, ties, string around it,
Speaker 1: and give another of life's astringent fruits a shot at
Speaker 1: proverb status. When life hands you per simmons, make hushigaki.
Speaker 1: A hushigaki is a type of dried per simon, Originally
Speaker 1: a method of preserving the fall harvest for winter. Hushigaki
Speaker 1: are a century's old Japanese delicacy that's easy to make
Speaker 1: but is remarkably time and effort intensive. The week's long
Speaker 1: process happens slowly, requiring patience, mindfulness, and almost microscopic attention
Speaker 1: to detail, and a near daily practice of gently and
Speaker 1: slowly massaging each percimon by hand. There are many species
Speaker 1: and varieties of persimmons, though they tend to be about
Speaker 1: the size and shape of a tomato, either squatly round
Speaker 1: or more oval and sort of pointed, and are golden
Speaker 1: to red to brown in color when they're mature. The
Speaker 1: fruits are sweet and taste sort of rich, like squash,
Speaker 1: with a little bit of fruity spice to them. You
Speaker 1: can categorize persimmons into two main categories, a stringent and
Speaker 1: non astringent. A stringency is the quality of things that
Speaker 1: make you pucker. They taste drying and sort of bitter.
Speaker 1: Non estringent per simon varieties like fuyu and gito can
Speaker 1: be eaten fresh out of hand like an apple, or
Speaker 1: peeled and sliced into any dish that you'd like peeled
Speaker 1: sliced fruit in, either while they're still crisp or when
Speaker 1: they're a little riper and thus softer and sweeter. They're
Speaker 1: also dried in slices like apples or mangoes. These stringent varieties,
Speaker 1: like one called hachia, have to be uber ripe to
Speaker 1: be eaten fresh. They're essentially so puckery that they're inedible
Speaker 1: until they're jelly on the inside, at which point you
Speaker 1: scoop out that jelly and eat it straight or incorporate
Speaker 1: it into desserts like puddings. You can take unripe hachia
Speaker 1: and freeze them or blend them up and then incorporate
Speaker 1: them into foods or drinks, probably with some sugar, but
Speaker 1: the most famous way to make them palatable is by
Speaker 1: making hushigaki. Hushagaki are made from ferm hachia with just
Speaker 1: the right tat of softness and preferably a longish stem
Speaker 1: still attached. Anybody can hypothetically make them. There's no one
Speaker 1: exact right way, and people have lots of different tips
Speaker 1: and techniques, and outcomes vary with the maker and the
Speaker 1: year and the individual fruit. All you need is a knife,
Speaker 1: some string, and hatchia per simmons, which in the US
Speaker 1: can be found at many Asian groceries, California Farmer's Market,
Speaker 1: and some supermarkets. You first peel the skin off each
Speaker 1: hattia with a knife, leaving a little bit of skin
Speaker 1: around the stem, and tie length of string around each
Speaker 1: stem four persimons. Without a stem, you can sterilize a
Speaker 1: stainless steel screw, screw it through the top into the
Speaker 1: core and attach your string to that screw. Next, sterilize
Speaker 1: each percimon by dipping it in boiling water for just
Speaker 1: a couple seconds. Some makers will do a quick dunk
Speaker 1: in vodka or brandy instead. You hang the persimons indoors
Speaker 1: someplace warm and dry with good air circulation, like in
Speaker 1: a sunny window, and leave them undisturbed for a week
Speaker 1: to air dry. After a week, using a very gentle touch,
Speaker 1: never squeeze, You press each persimon ever so gingerly once
Speaker 1: a day, working your way up to a very light
Speaker 1: daily massage. This soft coddling helps break down the pulp
Speaker 1: and smooths the outside of the fruit, where wrinkles could
Speaker 1: entrap moisture and harbor mold. It also forces out internal
Speaker 1: air pockets and lets the natural sugars inside rise to
Speaker 1: the surface of the fruit, where they eventually form a white,
Speaker 1: powdery bloom, a sort of crust that looks like powdered sugar.
Speaker 1: Over several weeks anywhere from as few as three weeks
Speaker 1: to a few months, the fruit will soften and shrivel,
Speaker 1: forming a craggy exterior with deep grooves in the folded skin.
Speaker 1: At the end of the process, you gently roll the
Speaker 1: hushigaki with a rolling pin to achieve even thickness and
Speaker 1: get rid of any remaining air bubbles and VOILA a
Speaker 1: time to test the literal fruits of your labor. If
Speaker 1: all goes well, your hushigaki should be amber colored and firm,
Speaker 1: but pliable, almost gummylike in texture, sort of like a
Speaker 1: whole fruit petato fruit. The drying process brings out flavors
Speaker 1: of honey and caramel and warm fall spices. They can
Speaker 1: be stored in an airtight container and shared with your
Speaker 1: most appreciative friends, or say, at your ledger, for up
Speaker 1: to a year or more. Because of their labor intensive
Speaker 1: creation process, pushikaki are expensive for a dried fruit. They
Speaker 1: tend to run about five bucks apiece if you're buying
Speaker 1: them instead of massaging them yourself. In Japanese tradition, they're
Speaker 1: often given as gifts at New Year's or other winter holidays.
Speaker 1: Pushadaki are often savored in small slices as a snack
Speaker 1: alongside tea or incorporated into New Year's themed dishes, and
Speaker 1: they're a lovely treat on a cheese or charcuterie plate.
Speaker 1: You can find them online if you don't happen to
Speaker 1: have any markets that carry them in your area. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article when life pansy persimmons
Speaker 1: make Koshigaki on how stuffworks dot com, written by Kerry Tatro.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how
Speaker 1: Stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four
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