Last persimmon of the season, "Any persimmon you can eat without getting juice on your chin isn't worth eating in the first place". There are many persimmon varieties and most are late season fruits, ripening in October or November after all the leaves have fallen. The inedible unripe fruit is firm and so full of tannins folks could use them to tan leather. The ripe fruit is tannin free and sweetly succulent. The Latin genus name, Diospyros, means 'fruit of the gods'.