Replied By Lou (Tyler, Tx) on 01/06/2012
I had an aunt who was part Indian and she always heated pineapple juice for whatever ailed us when we were little. Pineapple/pineapple juice contains catalase (which is an important enzyme). It is good for stomach problems and it works in neutralizing H202 in your liver (people with vitiligo have a high level of H202 in their liver). So eat more pineapple!!! I am beginning to think that is what is in pseudocatalase cream.Replied By Francisca (Zug, Switzerland) on 01/07/2012
Lou, I agree with you as far as pineapples goes, at least the real ones! In Europe now you see mostly the ultra-sweet ones which I believe are manipulated to produce always the sweetest pineapples. I try to stay away from those. Actually many fruit we eat now seems to be manipulated to contain more sugar, maybe to cover up the fact that they don't taste like anything anymore! I love kakis and till a little while ago I could find the traditional ones you eat very ripe, which are lovely but now I only find sharon fruit and those too are manipulated. They took away the tannin and they look just like they are made of plastic. I tried them a little while ago and it was almost like eating an apple just it wasn't an apple, very weird and they never seem to ripen.
Even pears nowadays are awfully sweet, too bad because we need the vitamins but not the sugar. When we go and live in our new house we will be growing quite a bit of fruit ourselves! The problem is that you have to stay away from the modern manipulated kinds!
Replied By Maria (Gippsland, Australia) on 01/10/2012
Hi Francisca, My understanding of kakis (persimmon) is that the non astringent type, the one you eat crisp, is native to Japan and China, which I love I might add. I know with apples we should be eating the smaller old fashioned ones as the skin to the sweet flesh ratio is best, that is more nutrients via the skin and less sugar with less flesh.Replied By Francisca (Zug, Switzerland) on 01/11/2012
Maria, as far as I understand the persimmons are actually genetically manipulated kakis. I think that because people hated the tannin when the kakis aren't very ripe they decided to create something that can be eaten while not very ripe. The original kakis can only be eaten when very ripe and soft and if you have eaten those you won't eat the persimmon again! I have done a lot of research because we will be moving to our new home in the countryside soon and we are working with a local gardener who is doing our garden so I wanted to be able to tell him which fruit trees we want exactly!
Sharon fruit and persimmon seem to be the same fruit. I kept a few persimmons in my warm living room for a few weeks and they never got soft like the real kakis! I tend to distrust all these new manipulated fruit, call me old..... So the gardener now knows which kind of kakis we want! You love the persimmon but have you ever tried the real kakis? Interestingly enough since we arrived here they had a lot of kakis for sale, ready to eat, very soft and I started eating them all day. Since then my digestion was very good. I seemed to be hungry all day something that never happens to me. They are now gone...... The season is short!
Replied By Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 01/11/2012
Yes Francisca! Where I live we have both but, like you said, once you taste a REAL ripe kaki, you can never eat the other ones. We try to take full advantage of their very short season, then dream about their heavenly taste till next year!!!Replied By Maria (Gippsland, Australia) on 01/12/2012
Hi Francisca, Yes I have had the persimmons that are very soft when ripe and yes they are yum. I had never heard the name kakis and had to do an internet search to see which fruit you were talking about as they are all called persimmons here. They are the only ones that are grown locally. Hard to get as they are not grown commercially where I live and there are not many old gardens that have them now. They are not a common fruit here in Oz and some have not even tried them.Replied By Francisca (Zug, Switzerland) on 01/12/2012
Hi Maria and sorry about the confusion with the fruits... Here kakis are the soft and persimmons the manipulated ones. In Portugal where I come from we call them diospiros, a scientific name for this fruit. I think that most people are not familiar with them! My husband who is Welsh had never heard of them at all and he doesn't wish to try them. Too bad because it is sure that we are going to have them growing in our garden and I tell you, I noticed such a difference in my digestion when I started eating them regularly.... I knew them from my youth as my grandfather had a tree on his farm. Sharon fruit again is the same fruit but means the ones you eat while hard! Many people are put off this fruit because they don't understand that the tannin is a natural part of the unripe fruit! Maybe that was the reason you now have the modern version without any tannin at all! No idea they grew in Australia as here they are picked at the beginning of the winter and eaten around Christmas!Replied By Maria (Gippsland, Australia) on 01/12/2012
Hi Francisca, Well your hubby is missing out on a treat! They are full of lots of nutrients and again especially in the skin. Very interesting that they helped your digestion. It will be good when you can eat your own.