Vegan Persimmon Smoothie

Persimmon

Persimmon is a fruit that has been loved by Korean. Most of the persimmons that are being sold are from East Asia. Especially during the autumn and winter season, many fruit or vegetable shops sell boxes of these bright orange colour persimmons. And often people give a box of dried persimmons as a special gift for Sellal(Korean New Year) to others.

The name of Persimmons

One thing I have found interesting about persimmon was that persimmon has many different names in Korean. The name varies with its sweetness, colours and textures. The general name of persimmon in Korean is ‘Gam(감)’. It means all types of persimmons. But if you say only ‘Gam(감)’, you will be asked which type of persimmon by Korean people.

The crunchy and sweet persimmon; Dangam @unsplash

The persimmon varies with the level of tannin it contains. Tannin makes the fruit bitter. ‘Dangam(단감)’ is the one that has the less tannin. it is sweet and crunchy. ‘Dan’ means sweetness. Since ‘Dangam(단감)’ has less tannin, it doesn’t need to go through the ripening process. That is why it is crunchy. ‘Dangam’ is originally from Japan.

The tannin levels are reduced as the fruit matures. The Korean traditional persimmon contains a high level of tannin. But our ancestors had very wisely found the way to enjoy these nice fruits nicely.

‘Hongsi(홍시)’ is the one that completely ripened on the tree and has bright red colour. ‘Yeonsi(연시)’ is the one picked from the tree and go through a process for ripening by people. These are very soft and sweet. People enjoy these types of persimmon as a sweet dessert.

The soft and sweet persimmon, Hongsi / Yeonsi @unsplash

As I have mentioned earlier there is another type of persimmon which is the dried one. We call it Gojgam(곶감). Gojgam, the dried persimmon refers to Dangams that have been cut and dried in the sun. Dried persimmons are said to be a good energy source for Korean people in the past because the sugar content increased as moisture evaporates during the drying process.

Nutrition of Persimmon

Persimmon has been not only used as fruit also as medicine for Korean. This fruit is high in Vitamin A and Vitamin C. It contains 70mg of Vitamin C per 100g which is higher than grapefruit or kiwi. Tannins in persimmons help detoxify your stomach and prevent bad hangovers. The dried persimmons contain even more Vitamin A and Vitamin C than the undried ones.

An old story of Gojgam (The dried persimmon)

A long, long time ago there was a tiger living in the mountain. One night it was hungry so went down to a little town to find something to eat. Soon it found a house with a light that came out through the window. When the tiger got closer to the house it could hear some voices come out, the mother and the son’s voices. Tiger thought he could soon have a delicious dinner. But it decided to listen to their voices to figure out what is going on inside.

For some reason, the son was crying. The mother said “If you don’t stop crying, a tiger will come and take you.” with a warning voice. The tiger was shocked at how the mother knew I am here. However, the little boy didn’t stop crying. This time the mother said to him that “If you don’t stop crying now you won’t get ‘gojgam(The dried persimmon)’. Then suddenly the boy stopped crying. The tiger wondered who and what is the gojgam? How come the little boy stopped crying immediately? It must be much stronger and more dangerous than me. The tiger was too scared to be there anymore so it ran away to the mountain.

It is an old and cute story about dried persimmon. I guess the boy stopped crying because it is so excited to eat the sweet and tasty snack.