At the orchard

During my visit to California, we visited the Otow Orchard.  This sign greeted us as we drove down the driveway to the house and barn of the orchard.

The orchard has several varieties of fruit, but our attention that day was drawn to the persimmons and the preservation of the fruit.

The following is a quote from the orchard's website.  Please be sure to click on the link to read further about the hosigaki method of treating the fruit. There is a slideshow there that shows step by step the process. The following is a quote from the website.

"Otow Orchard is renowned for preserving the Japanese art of hoshigaki -- hoshi means dried and gaki is from kaki, the Japanese word for persimmon.

Our fresh persimmons are dried each fall in a slow, patient, hands-on process that usually takes three to six weeks...per persimmon. Each persimmon is hand-peeled, strung onto a rack, and massaged every 3 to 5 days for several weeks. Weather conditions are watched carefully. The result is a transformation into a sugary delicacy that is tender and moist with concentrated persimmon flavor.

Harvest season begins in October and the process is completed by January. "

After the fruit is picked, each persimmon is peeled and a string is tied around the stem.  It is then tied to another persimmon and hung on a rack to begin the drying process.  During the drying period, the fruit is massaged to bring out the sweetness."

This photo shows the final product.  It looks moldy, doesn't it.  It isn't mold; it's sugar.  My question was, "What do you do with it?"  The young man said that it can be cut up and put in salads much like dried cranberries or other dried fruits.  One of the ladies at the farm gave us a sample of the confection.  It was very good.

The thing that impressed me most about this orchard and its owners is that they give regularly to the local food bank.  Angela, the lady who was talking to us, said that they don't give seconds, they give the best that they have.  They truly are giving of the firstfruits of their labor.  Angela also told us that they make sure some of the fruit is soft, so that those who come for food and have few teeth or none at all can enjoy the fruit.
I thought of my giving.  Do I give my best, my firstfruits?  Proverbs 3:9 tells us to honor the Lord with our wealth, with the firstfruits of all our crops.  The Message puts it like this: Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best.                                                                                                                  
  I believe the folks at the Otow Orchard are truly doing that, and they are blessed.  I'm so glad I was able to visit their farm and see their faith and good works in action.

Pumpkins, Pomegranates, and Persimmons

Having finally accumulated enough air miles, I flew to California last week for a visit with my "axe-murder" friends, friends I met a few years ago through blogging.  When I first went to California to meet them, I had some friends here in Florida who wondered about my sanity.  It all turned out for the good.  We have become the best of friends.

Three years ago, when I first met  them, they showed me San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.  It was a wonderful week of seeing things I had only read about or seen pictures of.  This time the trip was much more low key.  When my friends moved to the Sacramento area, they bought a home that had several fruit trees in the back yard, one of which was a pomegranate tree.  The only other time I had seen such a tree was in my grandpa's back yard in north Florida.  I remember eating the fruit and liking it very much.  I came home with some of them in my suitcase.

On Sunday afternoon we visited the Otow Orchard, where we saw lots of persimmon trees.  Again, I knew of persimmons, mainly my mother having said that if you ate one before it was ripe, it would make your mouth pucker.  I remember one time being in line at the grocery store, and someone had one with his groceries.  He must not have known what it was, and the cashier didn't know either.  They asked me if I knew what it was, and I said I think it is a persimmon.  The cashier looked up the code for it, and it went through, so I guess I was right.  I will write more about this orchard in another blog post, because there is so much to tell about these fine folks.  Be sure to click the link and read about their farm.

And what would a fall day be without pumpkins.  On the day before I left we visited Apple Hill, an area with many apple orchards...lots to write about there too.  Being fall, there were pumpkins, and that is where I will leave you today.