How to Make Kakishibu (fermented Persimmon Tannin Dye)
Introduction: How to Make Kakishibu (fermented Persimmon Tannin Dye)
Kakishibu is the juice you get from crushing, fermenting and pressing unripe astringent persimmons.
Astringent persimmons contain very high levels of soluble tannins and these add: antiseptic, insecticidal, water resistant, and antibacterial properties to the surface of any material and makes chemicals, such as formalin, harmless.
Non-astringent persimmons are not actually free of tannins, but rather are far less astringent before ripening and lose more of their tannic quality sooner. Don't use these to make kakishibu.
Making kakishibu is easy, but takes at least a year to age. The longer the better too.
We started the kakishibu in this Instructable on September 1, 2018.
There are a lot of different ways to make kakishibu and I will show you what I think is the easiest.
Kakishibu is a Japanese word meaning: Kaki (persimmon) shibu (astringent).
Before we start, do you like eating persimmons? I've read that more than 80% are thrown away in Japan every year! They literally grow everywhere, so maybe there's just too many to eat. I think that the non-astringent persimmons are easy to eat because they can be eaten fresh right from the tree. They have a really light honey-like taste and for me, biting into one feels like bitting into a hard apple with an apricot texture underneath. The astringent ones will burn your face off if you try to eat them green. You need to wait until they're almost too mushy too eat and then eat them. They are super sweet and rich with a heavy maple taste, but the texture feels like you're eating something that's gone bad. I love them dried, but not a fan of eating ripe astringent persimmons.
Step 1: The Astringent Persimmons
So, there are different ways to make kakishibu.
My method is simple:
1. Crush astringent persimmons
2. Ferment in ground water
3. Hand press
4. Age
The traditional method is:
1. Crush using a mortar and wooden hammer
2. Ferment in an open container with no liquid
3. Press with a kakishibu pressing machine
4. Age in an open container
The kakishibu sold in stores:
The persimmons are dropped in a huge machine where they are-
1. 496
Cleaned
2. Crushed
3. Pressed
4. Filtered
5. Sterilized
6. Cooled
7. Fed persimmon yeast
8. Fermented
9. Aged
They are all about the same! We use water, because traditionally made kakishibu needs to be diluted when you paint with it. While kakishibu can be applied undiluted, it is better to dilute it with water since undiluted kakishibu tends to become uneven when applied. It also doesn't have a very long shelf life, because it turns to a gel soon after opening. You can turn it back into a liquid by adding water or heating it.
Step 2: Smashing the Persimmons
Here we go!
After collecting the unripe persimmons, you'll need to remove the leaves on top and smash them. We did this by filling an oversized heavy-duty plastic bag and smashing each persimmon with a wooden mallet.
*These aren't very juicy, so it's not that messy. Far less juice compared to smashing an apple.
The goal in this step isn't getting juice, it's just smashing.
**We like making a lighter kakishibu, because it darkens in the sun. The color of the finished kakishibu depends on how you press.
For a darker kakishibu, you can pulverize the persimmons or use a blender to break them all down and ferment them without the ground water.
*Once smashed-Avoid contact with iron metals. The contact area will react and turn black.
If fermenting in water, the amount of kakishibu you'll get is about half the amount of the container size. If you're not fermenting in water, it's about 25% of the container size.
Step 3: Fermenting
The best water to use for fermenting is groundwater.
*Do not use chlorinated water.
You can also use:
-Distilled water
-Rain water
The container needs to be in a dark place during fermentation. 496