#643 King of Sweetness

It’s me again.

The sweltering heat of summer has passed, and autumn is deepening.

Norito, who was just born, is now holding his head up and growing stronger, while Junior is starting to run and play outside.

I feel the passage of time.

As winter approached, someone asked me for advice.

Who?

It’s the persimmon.

“It is I, Perciemon, the persimmon tree spirit.”

“Oh...!”

On our farm, we run an orchard a little ways away where spiritual beings called tree spirits dwell among the trees.

We cultivate and manage a variety of fruits, such as oranges and apples, and the presence of these spirits has been a great help to us.

Among them, a spirit resides in the persimmon tree known as Perciemon.

Despite its comical appearance, with cartoonish eyes and nose on the persimmon, Perciemon is quite capable of mobility even when not inhabiting a tree.

So, what kind of consultation did Perciemon come to me for?

“Lately...The persimmons haven’t been growing so well...!”  

“Huh?”

“I deeply apologize! Despite being entrusted with the cultivation and management of the trees by Lord Saint, I am ashamed that I cannot produce satisfactory results! I should commit seppuku to apologize for this failure...!”

“Wait a minute. Please calm down.”

If you disembodied from the persimmon, you would just become a cut fruit.

“What is the situation like, exactly? If you can tell me more, maybe I can help you...”

“Well, please try the fruit and see for yourself...!”

Roll roll roll...

A few persimmons are presented in front of me.

...Oh.

“Here are the bad persimmons I recently harvested!”

“I see...!”

Is it suggesting that I should actually try eating them?

Isn’t that risky?

Is this an empirical approach that dares to try even poorly produced fruits? 

They say to taste is to believe...

However, the idea of finding out how it tastes is also frightening...

“Eh! To heck with it!”

I make up my mind and take a bite of the persimmon.

“Oogh, that’s astringent!”

It’s an astringent persimmon!

It’s so nasty inside my mouth!!!

I can’t eat this!

Somebody, give me tea! Teaaaaaa!

Blegh!

“As you can see, the previous persimmons were all sweet but suddenly started mixing with astringent ones. At first, it was only one or two out of a harvest, but now it has exceeded 20% without me noticing...!” regretfully says Perciemon. “Normally, the fruit trees blessed by Lord Saint should bear only delicious fruit. This situation is my fault as the one responsible for their management! I will apologize even if it means shredding myseeeeeeeeeelf!”

“Calm down, calm down.”

Since you’re inhabiting the persimmon fruit, cutting yourself up will only give us persimmon puree.

“Besides, there is nothing wrong with astringent persimmons. This is not a failure.”

“Huh?”

* * *

We need astringent persimmons.

We gather as many as possible, even though they’re not very tasty due to their astringency.

Using a knife, peel off the skin, tie a string around the stem at the top, and dip them into hot water to kill any excess bacteria on the surface.

Once that’s done, we hang them outside to dry, protecting them from pesky crows.

No, shoo! Stupid crows!

Not a grain of rice is meant for you here!

...I struggled like so, continuing to dry the fruits for a month.

But we shall skip that whole part and resume after completing the process.

* * *

“This is hoshigakiiiiiiiii!”

“Hoshigaki?!”

They’re dried persimmons!

Let’s try a sample now that it’s complete!

Losing its internal moisture caused the contraction and wrinkling of the once plump and juicy persimmons.

“That’s dangerous, Lord Saint! If you eat them whole, the astringent flavor will spread in your mouth...! It might make you gag!!!”

Perciemon rushes to stop me, but it’s okay.

I position my teeth around the middle of the dried persimmon and bite off a piece!

“Mmmmm! So sweeeeeeeeet!!!”

“Whaaaaaaat?!”

The absence of moisture during the drying process condensed the sweetness, making it increeeeeeeeeeeedibly sweet! 

It’s like the sweetest thing ever!

“How, Lord Saint?! How can a persimmon that’s so astringent you can’t even eat it fresh become sweet just by drying it? Is that some kind of magic?!”

“Hmm, I wonder why?”

What was it again? The astringent component of astringent persimmons?

Tannin? Oxytocin? Trimethylamine?

Anyway, maybe some kind of chemical reaction happens, and the astringency turns into sweetness when it dries out.

“Anyway, it’s sweet now, so it’s good, right? ... Ah, so sweet...! Peak sweetness you can’t experience just by eating regular fruit.”

I remember reading somewhere that sweets shouldn’t be sweeter than dried persimmons.

In other words, this is the ultimate sweetness that you can savor as a dish!

It’s shoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo sweet!

Sweet!

So, so sweet!

“Stop saying sweet over and over. It’s annoying.”

“Sweet means that today’s new dish is a pastry! Is it cake or sweet red-bean soup?! I have a feeling it’s going to be a big hit!”

As usual, Platy and Veil arrived with their keen sense of smell.

Platy held Nori in her arms while Junior held her hand.

“I knew you’d come! Of course I’ve prepared enough for everyone! Go ahead and devour these hoshigakis to your heart’s content!”

“Wow, what’s this? It’s hard to guess from looks alone.”

“There are...hoshigaki!”

“Hoshigaki?”

“Yes, hoshigaki!”

“Huh. Didn’t know you could dry oysters. You can dry abalones, so I guess they must be similar.”

There seemed to be a difference in perception between Platy and me.

A misunderstanding between husband and wife?!

“Whaa... What are these? They’re brownish and chalky. Are they really edible?”

Veil stares at the dried persimmons with a look of trepidation. 

Fair, the appearance of dried persimmons can be rather intimidating.

One might even question if it’s safe to eat.

“However! Everything Master has prepared for us has been nothing but goodies! I trust in him completely! Bon appeti-”

“Wait, Veil! Don’t bite down too hard--!”

There are still seeds left in the dried persimmon.

And because the fruit has shrunk during the drying process, the relative area covered by the seeds has increased.

If one were to accidentally bite into a seed in the dried persimmon...

Krakkk!

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! My teeth! My teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeth!!!”

“Persimmons do have some of the hardest seeds among all fruits...!”

If one were to foolishly bite down on it with full force, they can say goodbye to their teeth.

It’s like the orichalcum of fruit seeds, after all.

“But it’s sweet! Like, viscously sweeeeeet! It’s a different type of sweetness that you can’t find in cakes or ankoooo!”

“Glad you like it.”

Be careful not to bite into the seeds next time you eat.

It’s probably too early for Norito, but...we can give Junior ones with the seeds removed.

“Eat a persimmon, and the bell will wing at Horyujiii.”

“It tastes good, huh, Junior?”

Now, the use of seedless dried persimmons doesn’t end here.

I dice them, place them on a plate and mash the dried persimmons till they reach a paste-like consistency.

Then, dress it with the cream cheese I got from Panu and...

...eat it!

“Kyaaaa! What’s that? Cream cheese dressing on dried persimmon?!”

“It looks so tasty, Master! Gimme, gimmeeeee!!!”

And so, the astringent persimmons underwent a spectacular transformation into dried persimmons loved by all.

“Woohoo! As expected of Lord Saint! With your wisdom, even an astringent persimmon can become a messenger of smileeeeeees!”

Perciemon was also impressed.