Persimmons

October 15, 2012

A few weeks ago, I took a lil somethin’ I’m working on to the Shiloh Museum annual quilt fair (photos to come). And while we were there, Marty, the kind groundskeeper, treated me and a few of my friends to some persimmons. We ate the fruit, which was gooey and a little sweet, then saved the seeds for later. Everyone I’ve mentioned this to has said that not-ripe persimmons have a very bitter, sour taste; so fortunately, ours were ready to eat.

Now, ever since I moved to this part of the world, I’ve heard about persimmons’ magical fortune-telling powers. Supposedly the persimmon’s seed—when cut in half—will look either like a knife, a fork, or a spoon; and each piece of cutlery is indicative of a certain type of winter ahead.

knife: icy and bitterly cold
fork: mild
spoon: snowy

This lore is repeated every year in the Farmers’ Almanac; and every fall, folks get on the local news channels to cut open a persimmon seed to predict what our winter is going to look like. This year, I got to see one for myself when Marty skillfully used his gardening shears to cut open a tiny seed.