Discovering Powhatan’s fall fruit

by YankeeJim | September 18, 2010 at 04:15 pm

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I am out walking the Custis and Bluemont trails of Arlington Virginia circa George Washington to Civil War era. I have a work in progress about Arlington history and so my research is ongoing.

Long before Europeans inhabited the place, for as long as 18,000 years, Native Americans were here. When asked how long they have been here, the tribe’s official answer is “forever.”

I was walking through a park clearing where the trees are about 150 years old or so. There was a very tall tree with chunky dark bark. All around the floor beneath the tree I saw a fruit. I picked it up to smell and it had a wonderful odor. I wanted to take a bite, but not knowing for certain what it was, I decided to investigate more. Looking up into the tree, I could not see the origin of the fruit, any fruit remaining on branches.

I walked to a different location along Four Mile Run and I discovered the same fruit on the ground, though this time, I could see green fruit on the branches. With more discovery and research I discovered that these are persimmon trees.

“A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family (Ebenaceae). The word Diospyros means "the fruit of the gods" in ancient Greek.[1] As a tree, it is a perennial plant. The word persimmon is derived from putchamin, pasiminan, or pessamin, from Powhatan, an Algonquian language (related to Blackfoot, Cree and Mohican) of the eastern United States, meaning "a dry fruit".[2] Persimmons are generally light yellow-orange to dark red-orange in color, and depending on the species, vary in size from 1.5 to 9 cm (0.5 to 4 in) diameter, and may be spherical, acorn-, or pumpkin-shaped.[3] The calyx often remains attached to the fruit after harvesting, but becomes easier to remove as it ripens. They are high in glucose, with a balanced protein profile, and possess various medicinal and chemical uses.

Like the tomato, it is not considered a "common berry", but is in fact a "true berry" by definition.”

Walking further back toward Ball’s Crossroads (Now Glebe Road and Fairfax) I discovered an old grape arbor with grapes that we in California used to call Champagne grapes as they are small. I tasted them and I imagine these are like those grown by Thomas Jefferson that he used for his wine.

There are still a few black cherries on the trees. I had a handful of those and they were especially ripe and flavorful.

Then, as I was coming home, I saw the crab tree grove near my place. I wondered why no one ever does anything with crab apples. Sure, some people can them in cinnamon and serve them at holidays, but what else can be done with them?

I picked more than 100 and put them in a plastic bag. When I got home a quartered the little devils just like the big apples. Then, I made a crab apple crisp. Want to see it?

See the picture.

All of these fruits are said to be what the Powhatan (Algonquian) Indian tribe harvested and ate this time of year.