Vanilla persimmons are less known fruits than the classic persimmons but equally rich in properties. They sprout from a not particularly beautiful plant and they too certainly cannot be called a choreographic fruit, but those who love the particular flavor they have or want to fill up on vitamins cannot fail to know and taste them. Vanilla persimmons are good for everyone because they are a concentrate of vitamins and energy, of course those who are on a diet or suffer from diabetes, it is better not to exaggerate in consuming them. Vitamin C abounds in these fruits which also have laxative effects if eaten ripe, on the contrary they are astringent when unripe. Other properties of vanilla persimmons are diuretics and those concerning the liver that protect and purify. These persimmons are produced from a fruit tree belonging to the Ebenaceae family and which originates in East Asia, they look like a large berry and ripen in November. The shape of the vanilla persimmons is flatter than that of the "regular" persimmons, the peel is a deep yellow, in some cases even orange, and very thin. When vanilla beans are ripe they can even look red. Once opened, these fruits show a dark bronze or deep red pulp, juicy and full of seeds that has a particularly sweet taste, usually appreciated, even by the little ones.
I Cachi Vaniglia si coltivano soprattutto nelle aree meridionali del nostro paese, queste piante, caratterizzate da foglie caduche, grandi e glabre, molto lucide ma solo sulla pagina superiore. Non arrivano ai 20 metri di altezza e hanno una chioma a forma di globo. Non sono originarie dell’Italia ma abituate a climi semitropicali con inverni mai rigidi ed estati mai fresche, oggi però, si sono abituate a resistere anche a temperature minori dei -10 gradi, fino a -15 gradi. Ciò che bisogna evitare quando si coltivano i cachi vaniglia, sono i continui spostamenti, vanno messi subito dove poi resteranno e in 4 anni potranno già regalarci molti frutti se in posizione soleggiata.