Italian kaki (cachi in Italian, also referred to as kaki muscat in France) are in season...yeah! They're one of my favorite fruits and I eagerly await their appearance each autumn. These belong to the persimmon family, but are nothing like the crunchy, hard persimmons seen in the States. Italian kaki are eaten ripe – very ripe. They're like little water ballons just ready to burst and are so fragile they're sold in protective styrofoam containers. In fact, it's rare I can get them home without cracking at least one (I was lucky this time).
When choosing a kaki, be sure it's fully ripe. If you have to ask yourself whether if it's ripe or not, it's not ripe. A ripe kaki is obvious. An unripe kaki has an unpleasant astringent taste. The best way to eat them is to cut one in half and eat its oozing, jammy sweet goodness with a spoon.
Surprising fact – morphologically speaking, kakis are (like tomatoes)...berries!
Not only do kakis taste good, they're good for you! They contain the powerful antioxidants beta-carotene and lycopene, as well as vitamin C, vitamin B9 and fiber. Their only downsides are a high glycemic index which could be problematic for diabetics, and their price...they can be expensive. I paid €2.79 for these three, which is a very good price (about $3.30). I suppose that's relative though, Seattle Cousin told me he paid $2.90 for ONE red pepper the other day. I was shocked.
Thanks for sharing, I did not know of this fruit.
ReplyDeleteUmm, excuse me, where the heck has that fruit been all my life? (Well, Italy, obviously, but you know what I'm getting at here.) Omg, it looks soooo good! Question....do you eat the 'skin' too?
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