LXXV 
ROBBING PERSIMMONS OF PUCKER 
I SN’T IT ODD that men 
of science have found a 
way to clip the string that 
puckers the mouth when 
we eat persimmons that are 
not entirely ripe! 
If a persimmon hangs on 
the tree until the frost 
touches it, the bitterness goes and it is good to eat. But 
it is also so soft that it will not stand handling and is 
available only to those who live near the place of its 
growth. If the bitterness could be made to disappear 
while the fruit was yet firm, the scientists thought, per¬ 
simmons could be shipped to market as are apples. 
The Japanese had a process for taking the pucker out 
of persimmons while they were still firm. They did it by 
putting them in casks that had contained sake, which is 
the national drink. The American scientists got some 
sake casks, sealed persimmons in them for a while, and 
found that the pucker had disappeared. They tried the 
experiment with whiskey kegs. It worked. They tried 
it in wine casks, which were less alcoholic, and it still 
worked. All this time they had thought that the loss of 
bitterness was due to some chemical reaction brought 
about by the presence of alcoholic fumes. 
Finally persimmons were put in butter tubs saturated 
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