November 17, 2019

by drplasticpicker

Last Friday the topic of conversation in the pediatric office lunchroom was persimmons. My blogpost on Squeasy Gear https://squeasygear.com/ and the Pediatric Fiber Deficit https://drplasticpicker.com/squeasy-gear-1-tackling-the-pediatric-fiber-deficit-with-real-fruit-and-not-plastic/ led to many interesting conversations in clinic about the benefits of persimmons. Then we heard from one of our lead nurses that his sister was considering chopping down this tree that is flourishing in the middle of Long Beach, California.

This is a healthy productive persimmon tree. Our pediatric RN said, “It hardly requires any water and no maintenance. It produces delicious fruit by the boxful. It would be such a waste to cut down.” Of note, his family also came to our recent office beach cleaning https://drplasticpicker.com/part-3-office-beach-clean-up-final-results/!

Indeed, dear readers drplasticpicker knows when there is a mission! Just like combating ocean plastic pollution takes one piece at a time. Protecting our forests and trees takes one tree at a time.

Drplasticpicker is a lover of trees. This blog has donated $450 to the Rainforest Trust directed at preserving Peruvian rainforest and that has protected 150,000 trees when I calculated it out with the average tree density per hectre https://drplasticpicker.com/donation-round-up/. In our old more urban neighborhood, a local inner-city school had planted 15 young saplings in the small dirt space between the sidewalk and street and I used to try to jog by once a week to see how much they had grown. The saplings were numbered and different classes tended different trees. I have not been back in 5 years and it is hard to justify the carbon from driving. But soon I will try to combine a few errands and make it out there to visit those trees.

So I can understand my friend’s attachment to his sister’s tree. This tree belongs to her, but it really has helped everyone. So let us delve more into this fruit tree and persimmons, and set out the argument for our friend’s sister as to why she should not chop down her persimmon tree in Long Beach.

Persimmon Fruit. Through the magic of Wikipedia, I am giving you a summary of the Wikipedia summary! There are two types of persimmon fruits, astringent and non-astringent. I have been used to eating the non-astringent permissions which is more squat-like and have less tannins and do not ripen as much. These can be consumed when still very firm and remain edible when soft as well. The astringent type is heart shaped and is more common. It has high levels of tannins and is unpalatable if eaten before completely softenend.

Persimmons have a lot of fiber! I think it depends on whether you eat the peel or not. I have never traditionally eaten the peel, but I noticed for the first time that multiple other clinic friends were eating the peel! This makes sense as there will be less food waste and methane production. Range of fiber I saw is 3.6 to 7 grams per fruit. Therefore persimmons with the peel have more fiber than a pear or apple! The most fascinating part about persimmons is that 85% of phytobezoars are caused by overeating unripened fruit, especially in regions where it is grown. Unripened persimmons have soluble tannin shibuol which when in contact with weak acids polymerizes in the stomach and forms a “gluey coagulum.” Thank you Wikipedia! I donated a dollar for this help! So persimmons in moderation are healthy, but as with everything do not go overboard.

Persimmon Tree Sequesters Carbon. All trees sequester carbon in their root system and bark. But the amount and whether it’s the most effective carbon reduction measure is debatable. A single tree can sequester over 25 years about 400 pounds of carbon = 181 kg of carbon (assuming 8.8 kg/gallon of gas) = 20 gallons of gasoline (used epa.gov). From what I’ve read on-line, I believe this tree since it exists already and no one had to drive it there is now a carbon sink. The benefit is also if the family eats the fruit from this backyard tree rather than eating say fruit shipped from Peru, or in general eats more fruit to displace animal proteins.

I hope my friend’s sister decides to keep the persimmon tree. Persimmons can do so much such as preventing constipation by addressing the national pediatric fiber deficit. Please eat in moderation as one does not want to get a phytobezoar. Persimmon trees sequester carbon. Most importantly since this tree is in someone’s backyard, it will save greenhouse gases as they won’t buy fruit shipped from far-off lands.

So drplasticpicker got to think about persimmons today and trees in general. As I walked into my parents-in-law room (we are a multi-generational household and they live with us), I saw this hanging in my mother-in-law’s bedroom. Why she hoards food in her room is a whole other anonymous blog.

Drplasticpicker will let you know what our friend’s sister decides and whether this blogpost made a difference! I am hoping he will show it to her. Signing off and about 15 more minutes until it gets light enough for me to go for my walk. I remain truly yours, drplasticpicker – ocean plastic picking pediatrician and champion of backyard Persimmon Trees!

Here is another story about persimmons and the sweetness they bring to life https://drplasticpicker.com/a-rainstorm-persimmons-and-childhood-friends/. Or click here to read about how you can plant trees by just changing your search engine https://drplasticpicker.com/ecosians-drplasticpicker-has-always-liked-alien-like-names-change-your-search-engine-to-ecosia-they-plant-trees-you-become-an-ecosian/