Fall harvest: Chestnuts and Persimmons

Seems like everytime I go to visit my parents in Pennsylvania, I end up harvesting whatever happens to be ripe on their trees or vines. This time it was chestnuts and persimmon.

Chestnuts are dangerous because they fall off the tree encased in a spiky death shell. You have to carefully pry them open with a stick or the toes of your shoes. I like to eat them roasted. My mom said "Don't forget to cut a slice before you roast it or KABOOM." The pugs liked eating them raw, but that made them a bit gassy.

Persimmons were ready to be picked too. The tree was supposed to be an oriental persimmon (Fuyu) but apparently rabbits chewed away at the young tree leaving only the graft which was an American persimmon (Hachiya). So instead of big lucsious persimmons, we have these smaller versions. The Fuyu persimmons sound like amazing sweet treats while the Hachiya can be astringent if eaten at the wrong time.

They seem like a tricky fruit. If it is a Fuyu you can't go wrong. Bite into an unripe Hachiya and your mouth will pucker up and go numb. Luckily I can put the unripe ones into a paper bag with a banana and they will ripen.

I picked a lot of persimmons and am planning to dehydrate some and the others are going into a jar with honey. My mom says in Korea persimmons soaked in honey were considered to be a food to make your life longer. I can't find anything online about this but how can anything in honey be bad?