Japanese persimmon (kaki)

What it is and how to eat it

The persimmon or kaki (Diospyros kaki), called caqui or kaki in Spanish, is an autumn fruit native to Asia. Astringent varieties, which leave the mouth feeling rough, are eaten very ripe, when the flesh is soft as jam, and in Spain the Rojo Brillante variety from the Ribera del Xúquer (Valencia), which has protected designation of origin status, is also sold firm, without astringency, under the Persimon brand. This page covers raw Japanese-type persimmon, with 70 kcal, 12.5 g of sugars and 3.6 g of fiber per 100 g according to USDA.

A persimmon of about 170 g (6 oz), roughly one fruit according to USDA, provides 119 kcal, 21.3 g of sugars, 6.1 g of fiber and barely 1 g of protein, so it is a sweet dessert but not the protein part the 2025 nutrition advisory on GLP-1 therapy suggests eating first; with a yogurt or some queso fresco you get both. It is fairly high in fiber, and the same advisory advises avoiding very high-fiber foods in the first few days of treatment and, for constipation, increasing fiber gradually, so in those days, and after a dose increase, half a fruit may be enough. If it is an astringent variety, wait until it is fully ripe.

What the evidence says

With 3.6 g of fiber per 100 g it is a "source of fibre", and its 5.1 g per 100 kcal meet the 3 g per 100 kcal criterion the EU sets for a "high fibre" claim (Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006); its 12.5 g of sugars per 100 g are intrinsic sugars in whole fruit, which WHO's 2015 guideline leaves out of its recommendation to keep free sugars below 10% of energy. A 2018 review explains that tannins have a strongly astringent taste and that persimmon tannins become insoluble as the fruit ripens, and the EU register lists as non-authorized the assessed claims that presented persimmon as a major source of antioxidants or of carotenoids good for eyesight. As background, a 2015 review of bezoars, compact masses that form in the digestive tract and are relatively infrequent, explains that persimmon tannin, abundant in the skin of unripe persimmons, is believed to polymerize with stomach acid and form a conglomerate with fiber and proteins, and that bezoars are believed to form as a complication of delayed gastric emptying, with predisposing factors such as previous gastric surgery. The Wegovy label states that semaglutide delays gastric emptying, but I have not found studies on persimmon in people taking GLP-1 medications, so it is not known whether this matters in practice with these drugs.

The sources for this section are listed under "Sources" at the end of the page.