The Tamopan persimmon has a thick enough shell that you can just slice it and scoop out the luscious sweet flesh. This turban-shaped fruit is one of the best as well as most unusual looking persimmons, yet it is not well known.
Determining when to harvest is not easy, as this variety is astringent (implying it must be somewhat soft to be edible), but it also has a hard shell (very unlike Hachiya, for example). I picked three (all that this 4-year-old tree had) as soon as one of them began to soften. It is wonderfully sweet and extremely juicy, but without the “slimy” texture that some people find disagreeable in Hachiya. One of my books says the flesh can be a bit stringy, but I have not had that experience.
Below is a photo of a Tamopan fruit on the tree, which shows more clearly (or as clear as can be through bird netting) the odd shape of the fruit.
It looks quite yummy.
I have thought about planting a persimmon tree myself.