Dried Persimmon substitute

Best substitute

Dried figs (Turkish or Mission)

Use the same amount by weight as the dried persimmon you are replacing

Best for sujeonggwa and persimmon tea

Different texture

For the flavour, dried figs are the closest widely available swap at 1:1 by weight: honeyed, jammy, faintly tannic and full of the same caramel depth. Medjool dates are the best texture match for a soft whole hoshigaki, though sweeter and less complex, so use about three quarters as much. For Korean sujeonggwa or a spiced persimmon tea, dried figs plus a few extra thin slices of ginger get you remarkably close. Understand what the fruit is doing first: dried persimmon supplies concentrated sweetness and a gentle tannic grip, and in a simmered drink it also thickens the liquid slightly and turns it amber. Honest warning about hoshigaki specifically, there is no true substitute for it, because the months of hand-massaging give a texture like fruit leather wrapped around jam that nothing in a supermarket reproduces.

Other dried persimmon substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Medjool dates
Different taste
3 parts dates for every 4 parts dried persimmon by weight
Closest to the squashy, sticky give of a soft whole gotgam, and the right choice when you are slicing the fruit to serve or stuffing it with a walnut.
What changes
Best for
stuffed dried fruit with walnuts, cheese and dessert plates, energy bars, compotes, steamed puddings
Distinctly sweeter and heavier on caramel, with none of the tannic edge, so a dish made with dates tastes rounder and a bit cloying by comparison. Use less, and if it is a simmered drink, add a strip of orange peel or extra cinnamon to put some structure back.
3Dried apricots, preferably the dark unsulphured Turkish kind
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
A good option where you want the chew and the concentrated fruit sweetness but the exact flavour is not the point.
What changes
Best for
compotes, tagines and braises, baking, grain salads, snacking
Clearly tangier, which cuts against the mellow character of persimmon, and the bright orange sulphured ones are sharper still. The dark brown unsulphured apricots are much closer because their sugars have already caramelised.
4Fresh Fuyu persimmon, sliced and oven-dried
Different texture
About 1 lb fresh Fuyu yields enough to replace 4 oz dried
If fresh persimmons are in season this is the only substitute that genuinely tastes of persimmon, and it takes an afternoon rather than the months hoshigaki needs.
What changes
Best for
persimmon chips, tea and sujeonggwa, garnishes, granola
Slice non-astringent Fuyu about 1/4 inch thick and dry at 175F for 4 to 6 hours until leathery but still bendy. You get the flavour and the chew, but not the jammy centre or the sugar bloom of true hoshigaki.
5Prunes (dried plums)
Different taste
Use the same amount by weight
Widely available, properly soft and sticky, and useful in any simmered or baked application where a dark fruit is welcome.
What changes
Best for
compotes, braises, steamed puddings, spiced fruit teas
Much darker and noticeably more tart and winey, and it will turn a golden sujeonggwa muddy brown-purple. Fine for a stew, a poor choice for anything you are serving in a clear glass.
6Dried persimmon slices or persimmon chips instead of whole fruit
Different texture
By weight, 1:1
Worth naming because these are far easier to find than whole hoshigaki and are the same fruit, just dried harder and faster.
What changes
Best for
tea and sujeonggwa, granola and trail mix, garnishes, baking
Chewier and drier, so they need longer simmering to soften and release their sweetness into a liquid. Give them 15 to 20 minutes rather than the 5 a soft whole fruit needs, and expect a lighter, less syrupy result.

What is Dried Persimmon?

Dried Persimmon is the dried form of astringent persimmon, left to dry slowly until the tannins mellow and the sugars concentrate, sold either as whole hand-massaged fruit (hoshigaki in Japan, gotgam in Korea) that is amber, squashy and dusted with its own natural sugar, or as firmer chewy slices and chips.

Cooking tips

The white powdery bloom on good hoshigaki and gotgam is crystallised natural fruit sugar, not mould. Mould on dried persimmon is fuzzy, grey-green and smells musty; sugar bloom is dry, fine and tastes sweet.
Whole dried persimmons often keep a hard woody calyx at the stem and sometimes seeds inside. Pull the calyx off and check for seeds before you chop or blend, or you will hit something unpleasant halfway through a smooth puree.
For sujeonggwa, do not boil the fruit with the cinnamon and ginger from the start. Simmer the spices first, strain, then add the dried persimmon off the heat and let it steep and soften, which keeps the drink clear and stops the fruit disintegrating into shreds.
Dried persimmon is much sweeter than it looks. If you substitute it into a dessert calling for fresh fruit, cut the sugar by a couple of tablespoons per cup of fruit, and if you substitute dates for it, cut the sugar again.
To make dried persimmon usable as a pulp for baking, soak 4 oz in 1/2 cup of hot water for 30 minutes and blend, which yields roughly a cup. Blend longer than feels necessary, since the skins stay stubborn.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave dried persimmon out?

In a compote, a trail mix or a cheese board, yes. In sujeonggwa you should not, because the fruit is the body of the drink and without it you have spiced sugar water, and in a persimmon-forward dessert it is the main flavour. If you have nothing else, dried figs or dates plus a strip of orange peel will carry the dish.

Is hoshigaki the same as ordinary dried persimmon?

Same fruit, very different product. Hoshigaki is peeled, hung for weeks and hand-massaged repeatedly, which breaks the interior down into something like jam inside a leathery skin and draws sugar to the surface as a white bloom. Ordinary dried slices are simply dehydrated and are chewier and simpler. If a recipe or a gift box specifies hoshigaki, no substitute matches it and the closest is a very soft Medjool date.

Can I use fresh persimmon instead of dried?

Not measure for measure. Fresh persimmon is mostly water, so it will thin a sauce and will not deliver the concentrated sweetness, and in sujeonggwa it falls apart. If fresh is all you have, slice and oven-dry it first, or use roughly three times the weight and accept a lighter, wetter dish.

Why is my dried persimmon astringent and drying in the mouth?

Because it was not dried long enough for the tannins to mellow, which is the whole purpose of drying an astringent persimmon in the first place. There is no fixing it by cooking a little longer, though simmering it in a sweet spiced liquid masks a lot. Properly dried fruit should be sweet with only a faint grip at the back of the tongue.

What is gotgam used for in Korean cooking?

Mostly sujeonggwa, the cold cinnamon and ginger punch served after a heavy meal or at Lunar New Year, and as a holiday gift or dessert, often sliced and rolled with walnuts. Dried figs stand in acceptably for both uses, and for the walnut rolls a soft Medjool date is closer still.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Dried Persimmon substitute

Other dried persimmon substitutes

2Medjool dates

3Dried apricots, preferably the dark unsulphured Turkish kind

4Fresh Fuyu persimmon, sliced and oven-dried

5Prunes (dried plums)

6Dried persimmon slices or persimmon chips instead of whole fruit