The Drying Room

The process of making hoshigaki begins with peeling and stringing the persimmons.  Ideally they dry outside first for a while, but this process is very dependent on the weather.  Only one stand of newly peeled persimmons was outside when I visited.  This drying room was the intermediate step.  The door was open and a fan was running, and when I got here, each persimmon was being individually worked by hand.  After they dry here for a while they move to a third room which was much more temperature-controlled.  There the persimmons lose their orange color completely, and when they're done they look like they're coated in sugar.  The finished hoshigaki is very sweet and chewy; not tough like a dried apricot, more like a gum drop.