If you love sweet, juicy fruit, you may have tried a persimmon. With its bright orange color and sweet flavor, the persimmon is a popular addition to many diets. But did you know that persimmons also offer a host of health benefits? From boosting your immune system to helping prevent certain chronic diseases, eating persimmons can do a lot for your overall health. In this post, we’ll explore the benefits of eating persimmons, as well as how to select and store them so you can get the most out of this delicious fruit.
Persimmon Nutrition Facts and Calories Chart
Persimmons are a sweet, orange-yellow fruit that offer many health benefits. The fruit is a good source of vitamins A and C, dietary fiber, and potassium. Total vitamin A includes Beta – carotene, Beta – cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, lutein and lycopene. It also contains minerals such as iron, magnesium, and phosphorus. Persimmons are rich in antioxidants, which help protect the body from damage caused by free radicals. One medium-sized persimmon provides about 80 calories and 20 grams of carbohydrates. It also contains 5 grams of dietary fiber and 2 grams of protein. Nutritional value per 100 g persimmons:
- Biotin: 0 µg
- Calcium: 9 mg
- Carbohydrates (Carbs): 18.3 g
- Chloride: 24 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Choline: 0.5 mg
- Chromium: 0 µg
- Copper: 0.075 mg
- Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g
- Energy (Calories): 58 kcal
- Fat: 0.2 g
- Iodine: 0 µg
- Iron: 0.25 mg
- Magnesium: 10 mg
- Manganese: 0.088 mg
- Molybdenum: 0 µg
- Pantothenic Acid: 0.2 mg
- Phosphorus: 28 mg
- Potassium: 181 mg
- Protein: 0.5 g
- Saturated fat: 0.02 g
- Selenium: 0 µg
- Sodium: 3 mg
- Sugars: 14.7 g
- Vitamin A: 246 µg
- Vitamin B1 (Thiamin): 0.03 mg
- Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 0.04 mg
- Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 0.3 mg
- Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): 0.2 mg
- Vitamin B6: 0.06 mg
- Vitamin B9 (Folate / Folic Acid): 12 µg
- Vitamin B12: 0 µg
- Vitamin C: 8.3 mg
- Vitamin D: 0 µg
- Vitamin E: 0.08 mg
- Vitamin K: 0.4 µg
- Water: 80.4 g
- Zinc: 0.06 mg
Persimmon In India
According to Indian text, Charaka used the fruits as a single drug in urticaria, phlegm, excessive bile secretion, piles. The extract of the bark was prescribed in diarrhea, flowers and fruits in hiccough, externally the paste of the bark in burns and for re-pigmentation of the skin. Persimmon is native to China, where it has been cultivated for centuries. It spread to Korea and Japan (where it is popular with name “kaki”). The fruits are very sweet and when ripe are a deep orange that looks almost red.
- Scientific Binomial: Japanese Diospyros kaki
- Common English: Diospyros ebenum / Diospyros peregrina – Indian / Ebony Persimmon / Malabar Ebony / Ceylon Ebony
- Ayurvedic: Tinduki / Tinduka
- Unani: Aaabnuus
- Sanskrit: Tinduka
- Hindi / Urdu: Gaab / Gab
- Bengali
- Marathi: Temburi / Abnus / Karmar
- Telugu: Bandadamara / Karimara / Malluti
- Tamil: Tumbika / Acha-Thumbi
- Gujarati
- Kannada: Holitupare / Abanasi / Bale / Bale Mara / Balemara
- Malayalam: Panancca / ebony / kari / karimaram
- Oriya
- Punjabi / Sindhi
- Assamese
- Kashmiri
- Konkani
- Manipuri
- Dogri
- Bhojpuri
Home Remedies
When eaten fresh, all also provide vitamin C, which also benefits the immune system. Choose a ripe persimmon, as they are bitter when unripe. The ripe fruit is useful for treating bloody stools, candida albicans, common cold, diarrhea, food poisoning, hangover, headache, hemorrhaging, infection, influenza, ulcers, worms, and wounds. Persimmons contains fisetin, which is showing promise as a useful natural agent against cancer and has been evaluated for its potential inhibitory role against cancer.
- Sore Throat: The juice of one ripe persimmon mixed with 3-1/2 tbsp. of warm water makes an excellent gargle for sore throat brought on by the common cold and influenza. Yellow and orange persimmons are high in beta-carotene which help the lungs resist infection.
- Expel Worms: In Thailand the ripe fruits are valuable for getting rid of intestinal worms, particularly hookworms.
- Digestive Aid: Persimmons is good food for anorexia, bulimia, ulcers, bronchitis and constipation, as it is rich in enzymes that help digestion and reduce inflammation.
- Headaches: Raw persimmon when combined with a little horehound herb, are excellent for relieving the throbbing headaches accompanying an alcohol hangover.
- Seafood Poisoning: Both the fruit and the herb are also good as an antidote in tea form to reduce the symptoms of poisoning encountered when eating any kind of spoiled seafood such as raw sushi or oysters. To make this tea:
- Add 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped, unpeeled, ripe persimmon and 1-1/2 tbsp. fresh or dried, coarsely cut horehound herb into 1 pint of boiling water.
- Cover with a lid, remove from the heat and steep 40 minutes.
- Strain and drink the entire contents while still lukewarm.
- Scurvy: The leaves and fruit are rich in vitamin C and have been used to treat scurvy.
- Warts: Externally, the fruit is used as a poultice to treat warts.
- Infections: Native Americans used persimmon juice for cleansing gangrenous leg ulcers and wounds, to stop bloody bowel discharges and to wash out an infant’s mouth to cure thrush, a yeast infection caused by Candida albicans.
- Diarrhea: To treat chronic diarrhea, take 6 almost ripen persimmons. Cut into sections and steeped in 3 cups of boiling water, covered, for 20 minutes before straining. Drink 2 cups in a 4-hour period. The fresh juice of the fruit may also be taken, but the tea seems to work better. This tea could also be used as a vaginal douche to eradicate this yeast infection as well.
FAQs.
Q. What is the cultural significance of persimmons?
According to some folk believes, persimmons bring good luck, attract abundance, and sweeten attitude toward life. Eat fully ripe Persimmons to help you feel grateful for life’s many gifts. To ensure good luck in the coming year, bury a green Persimmon in your backyard on New Year’s Eve.