>> "california's gold" is produced in association with kcet los angeles, and is seen statewide on-- this series is endorsed by: well, hello everybody. i'm huell howser and here we are on this spectacular fall morning in the nice little community of granite bay and placer county, just a little east of sacramento. now we've come here to spend the whole day

visiting a family orchard. there's the sign right there: otow orchard--fruit stand, tree ripe fruit. and right over here is the orchard itself-- this beautiful place full of family history rich family history of beautiful delicious california fruit this orchard is definitely a fine example of "california's gold." well, this isn't exactly the way i thought we were gonna be startin' off this adventure but here i am standin' on top of a big old pile of-- well, this is horse manure and there's a whole field piled high with horse manure.

tosh, tell us what in the world we're lookin' at out there? why did you bring us down here to all this manure? >> well, we're going organic and we wanted to do farmin' without any chemical additives or pesticides and so forth so we've gone to a completely no-spray, no- chemical program. and the horse manure is just part of the fertilization for the soil. and we're tryin' vermiculture, we're tryin' biodynamics-- whatever works. we're just tryin' a bunch of different things. >> from horse manure to-- what are we lookin' at now tosh? >> well--and you'd think they were our pet geese, but these guys come every year. they spend six-eight months here maybe three or 400 of 'em altogether-- maybe even more. >> so these are wild geese. >> that's correct. >> do they live here for a couple of weeks or-- >> well, they live here for several months but they do take off so they're not resident geese

where they stay year around. >> they know we're coming, don't they? >> yes, they do 'cause they're-- they're always alert and mindful that we're intruders. >> oh, look. [geese squawking] oh, that's the most beautiful thing i've ever seen. and i'm overwhelmed by these colors too. >> persimmons have some of the best colors when the leaves turned. i'm from back east and to look at these colors just makes me homesick. >> yeah. now is this persimmon? >> that is sunburn. it gets sugar and then we get a hundred degree weather and it just cooks 'em. >> so that one's not any good. >> it's not any good but it's a lot sweeter than a blemish-free hachiya persimmon. >> can i take this off? >> you can. you can't eat it until it's water-balloon soft,

but-- >> it's hard. >> yes, it is. >> now what do you got the bucket on there for? aren't you gonna-- >> well, i can do that. >> i thought we were gonna harvest some out here. >> i tell everybody i'm just a tractor driver. it's pretty. it's pretty. i think that's why we keep doing this kind of stuff because there's a lot of beauty and there's a lot of connection--connection to where our food comes from. and then the other thing is the sustainability, you know? we may not be making a livin' at it yet, but we hope to get there and with all this other, what should i call it, responsibility to the earth and to the environment. >> yeah. >> so, otherwise this would be houses. >> yeah. look at this. >> it'd be mansions. >> it's not houses today. boy, look at this. >> it's pretty much-- >> this beautiful orchard and there is your big old-- is that an oak tree over there? >> yes, it is. yes, it is. >> and we're talking about how many acres here? >> there is still 40 acres-- 20 acres of orchard

and about 20 acres of open space that we're doing a composting. the strawberry farmers leasing two, three acres from us and trying to keep it like it was in the old days. >> and when you talk about the old days this is as good a time as any. well, let's stand right here with this as a backdrop because some of these trees look like they're pretty old. this orchard has been here since-- >> 1910, 1911, somewhere around there and my wife's grandfather planted some of these trees. >> his name was? >> kitchitaro kawano. that was a good quiz. we hate to take out the old trees-- >> yeah. >> --because we know of the family connection. and at the same time you can see we're puttin' in new trees every year. >> yeah. >> we're putting a hundred 200 new trees every year to let people know that we're not giving up. we're gonna keep on movin'. >> boy, i think we have come at the absolute perfect time of the year.

look at the colors and look at the persimmons on these trees. this two right here are absolutely covered. >> well, it's interesting because we actually have harvested these things two or three maybe even four times already. >> wait a minute. you've stripped these trees down three or four times already? >> well, we come through and the first thing we do is we look for color and we look for size. since we're dryin' them, we don't want 'em to end up being tiny. so that's one reason why-- >> look at-- and there are hundreds of persimmons in these trees. >> there are. >> oh my. >> persimmons are very, very productive. and i think for homeowners they don't prune and they don't thin. and that's one reason why they're not as productive as our orchard would be. >> yeah. >> we run a danger of braking branches so-- and that's why the wooden props under 'em.

and i never wanted to do that. i wanted the trees to go strong on their own-- >> yeah. >> --and not be just-- >> but they're so heavy with the fruit. >> very much. >> and look. when the leaves change it's hard to see the fruit because the fruit and the leaves blend together. >> yeah. now see, i would fault the workers if they missed a nice persimmon up there, but this year, i probably done most of the picking myself and it's easy to miss 'em. >> so you got 40 acres how many of 'em in persimmons? >> probably six, seven acres of persimmons. >> so the other 34 acres are in--well, you grow a little bit of everything here. >> yes. peaches, plums, asian pear apples, jujube, quince-- >> oh my gosh. >> --pomegranates--you name it. we put it in the ground and it will grow. >> all of this on 40 acres. >> that's correct. in order to keep the place runnin', we opened up a retail fruit stand. and then we need diversity and we need to be able to supply the stand.

>> now we're gettin' down to business. what are we lookin' at now? >> well, each persimmon has to be peeled before we can try them. and so-- >> look at this. >> veronica is quick and skillful and peels about 15 to 18,000 of these in a season. >> look at the size of those persimmons. >> they won't be that size when it's dried, probably 1/4 of the size-- >> all right. now we've been talkin' about dryin' the persimmons. this gets us into the whole story here that we're lookin' at. and boy, look at this. what a statement this makes. and maybe we should let your wife pick up the story from here. hi, i'm huell howser. >> hello, huell. >> your name? >> i'm chris. >> nice to meet you. what are we lookin' at here because this is the payoff right here, isn't it? >> yeah. this is the prices of hoshigaki making dried persimmons. >> it's called what? >> hoshigaki.

>> okay. now walk us through that. is this a japanese thing? is this a japanese american thing? >> well, it's a process of drying persimmons that came from japan when my grandfather came in the late 1800s, and we have continued to do it in this manner--the same way he did it many, many years ago. >> so he did it here on this farm in placer county when he started this orchard back in 1911. >> that's right. >> still being done the same way. >> basically yes. >> she's laughing. >> we should meet this lady right over here. hi. i'm huell howser. oh, she's got her glove on. nice to meet you. now this lady is-- >> this is my mother. her name is helen otow. >> and she's been on this orchard-- >> her whole life. >> her whole life. >> yes, yes. >> more or less. >> wow. and what are you doin' right here? >> i'm hanging up--

the persimmons that's been peeled and hang up to dry. >> so how does this work? show us how this works? you put a string-- >> yeah. >> --around--oh, look. so there's-- >> well, you make it pretty tight. >> there's one of 'em. >> yeah. >> here goes the other one and then you just put it right over here. what a beautiful sight. look at this. >> yes. >> it's captivating. now, do we know how far back in time this process goes? >> no. that i don't know. >> i mean, do we think it went back hundreds of years thousands of years? >> i would guess at least a couple of hundred years. >> yeah. wow. is this still done in japan? >> i believe it is. yes, it is still done in japan. although i think that they have modernized the way they do it.

they have machines to peel it. they don't peel it by hand. and i guess their process is a little bit different than ours and-- >> so they've modernized it in japan. >> yeah. and we're still doing it the old-fashioned way. >> you've kept it the old-fashioned way here in granite bay. well, good for you. >> it's more modern in japan than here-- >> now, from your mother-in-law, helen, hangin' 'em like this what happens? they just hang on this board here for how long? >> well, if we're fortunate enough to have good weather like we do, maybe four or five days, then they're ready to become-- to begin the massaging process. >> the massaging process. and what is that? is that what goes on over here? >> that's exactly right. >> so, wait a minute. these have been hangin' for how long? four or five days? >> correct. >> so they've already began to shrink up a little bit. >> yes. you can see that some of 'em have more wrinkles than others and then some of 'em

are still fairly smooth. and when they get to the point where you can see 'em give they're ready for just a gentle light massage. >> can i touch these? >> fine. go ahead. well, i mean-- >> why did you hesitate for a minute? >> well, because i always wear gloves but, you know, for the sake of experience you're gonna have to do it. >> i'm gonna have to touch it. >> yeah. >> so you just massage it. >> and you can feel the difference between that one and this one, for example. try this one and you'd-- >> wow. >> you can tell the difference right away. >> yeah. this one's harder. >> that's correct. so we don't like to do it too early and-- >> how much massage do you give on it? >> well, i guess just enough to feel the flesh start to give. >> can you give us a massage right here? >> oh, okay. we just kind of--

i like to roll 'em in my fingers, and i like to try to work the ridge so it's not going to dry hard and chewy or brittle or tough, i guess. >> so that's about 30-second-- >> right. >> all the way around. >> and we go right on down the line and then we'll come back in two or three days and we'll do it again, and then if it starts to get really-- like a water balloon then we kind to leave it alone. >> what do you mean "like a water balloon"? >> there will be some that-- here you go. it--up in here you can see that the skin is real wet, and if we're not careful it'll go-- [makes sound] >> --pop open and the insides will come out. so-- >> you know, this is like a piece of art. >> we use-- >> this is one of the most beautiful assemblages of fruit

that i think i've ever seen anywhere. >> we compare it to making wine, fine wine. and it's a food art. there are different styles. people do different things. some people try different shortcuts. we have tried shortcuts and we always go back to the long method. it just makes a better-- more tasty or more-- better textured finished product. >> boy, this takes-- this is hands-on to the extreme, literally and figuratively. >> about six weeks before we market them, handled 15, 20 times each. >> massaged that many times. >> massaged probably a dozen to 15 times and then the peeling, the tying, the packing, it takes a long time. >> from the first drying stage they stay here how long? >> okay, they are here about four days, five days.

>> five days here, and then we move over to stage two and you've got them set up in this little shed here. what is this all about? >> well, you know, it's nice that there's this glass-- sun exposure but we have to open the windows in order to keep it cool enough. if it dries too fast it gets too hard, too quick, and-- >> so, there are a lot of variables here. >> yeah. >> i mean, if it came on a cold spell or if it was too wet or-- >> there you go. >> --just like any kind of farming it really depends a lot on the--on nature, doesn't it? >> very much so. we call it faith-based agriculture. >> absolutely. >> it takes a lot of faith and it takes a lot of intervention that is not ours, so we really-- >> well, now what are we looking at here? >> okay. so, these are hachiya. they seem to have a little more wrinkle and a little darker in color and these are the gionbo variety. and as you can tell, they dry-- >> this shriveled up more. >> and a better color.

and so, in the finished product, these actually are much more attractive than these. but then, if they-- the final stages when they're coated in white sugar natural sugar from inside, nobody can tell. >> yeah. but this--they've still got a ways to go-- >> yeah. >> --here, don't they. >> and all these wrinkles are susceptible to mold. >> oh, wow. >> and so-- >> then you have to worry about mold. >> so, we watch the weather and they said 30 percent chance of showers today and that was, you know-- >> it's not a good thing. >> no, no. so we-- >> now, you're massaging these too. >> yes. >> can i massage one? i got the glove on now. >> very good. >> you just--oh, wow. >> water balloon? >> yeah. now, these are feeling like they're full of liquid. >> yeah. and then if we're not careful and we break this membrane the insides just goosh out so-- >> so, you just kind of barely-- >> and we're trying to move it so that the wrinkles

are in a different place and then that will allow that moisture to dry out. >> boy, this is fascinating again. >> just-- >> just--and this whole shed-- look at this-- is full of these things. >> we come out and we spend evenings out here just massaging and straightening up wrinkles, and i think we went in 1:00 last night, 12:30-- >> for another massage. boy, by the time these things are ready you'd get to know each one of 'em very well, don't you? >> yes. and we try to identify some-- oh, that was a big one that was a long one, how did it dry. and when we're out there picking fruit, a lot of times we drop our fruit or we stick it in a different box because we say "ah, it's gonna be hard to dry that one." >> yeah. >> so-- >> so, you can tell early on and boy, doesn't this have a nice--see, this is about-- this is like looking at history here.

>> we think--when we drive into this place and really give it much thought, it's like stepping back in time. >> all right. where do you want me to put these? what are-- >> put it right there behind the fresh one. >> okay. now, we're bringing these out here because this, i think, is one of the most interesting parts of the whole process. what are we looking out here? >> okay. these are-- after they've been removed from the rack, we will-- and we think they're too damp, we'll stick 'em in a brown grocery bag and that helps 'em to dry a little bit more. and then when they're in that bag we like to bounce the bag around. >> you're shaking 'em around. >> so, we shake 'em around. and because we shake 'em around, we try to trim up the calyx so that it doesn't splinter and get sawdust or little particles of wood all over the surface that people will be eating. >> these are very strange-looking when they dry up, aren't they? >> and then, if you play with these you'll actually see them sugaring up.

>> look at this. sugaring up. now, what do you mean by "sugaring up"? and this is what is so fascinating to me. >> well, when you work in the sugar bush, i guess you got certain phrases that-- >> sugaring up. >> --they don't use around here. >> these are sugaring up-- >> well-- >> --because what we're lookin' at right there-- this is natural sugar-- >> right. >> --coming from the inside of the persimmons. >> the moisture had come to the surface and evaporated or-- >> look at this. >> --glazed on the surface and then whenever you massage 'em, you're actually breaking up that glaze. it's pretty much like the windows in a movie whenever they break a window and the sugar water shatters it looks just like glass glaring, and so, we're basically doing the same thing. we're breaking up the juice that's dried on the surface and it glitters. and-- >> this is--this is natural-- 100 percent, natural-- >> sugar. >> --sugar. >> and if we were to take

the sugar off there, scrape it or whatever else we do to get it off, it would not be as sweet as sugar, but it definitely is sweet and it has its own flavor. >> all right. so, you're shaking it up. now, what does that do again? >> that should help to ventilate it, get the moisture-- actually, i would leave the plastic bag open to allow the moisture to escape when i do that, but also that action-- that action will also break up-- >> break the sugar. >> yup. so-- >> wow. look at this. >> certainly, to shake a whole box is quicker than massaging each and every individual. >> now, this shows-- well, actually starting over here this shows the whole process. here, the persimmons right off the tree and then here they are-- look at this--especially the two that are white. >> yup, it runs right around until they're like that. and like my mother-in-law said

if we're not careful these will get harder than a rock, and that's another reason for using plastic bags because it helps to hold the moisture in. >> so, there's a fine line between being perfectly cured and ready to eat and being hard as a rock. >> my grandfather used to make them and he showed me how. and my mother-in-law would not take mine to ship. she said, they're too hard. >> really? >> and so, i had to learn all over again. but my grandfather used to slice his up stick it in his coffee you chop 'em up, stick 'em in your oatmeal, so if it was too hard, it absorbs some moisture. >> can i eat this just like it is? >> certainly. >> well, i don't know. i'm asking you instead of him 'cause he was gonna have me eat one off the tree and get all puckered. >> oh, no. oh, no, no. >> so, i could just bite into this? >> yes, you can. it's much-- >> this is the way people eat them. >> yes. >> just right on the end. >> um-hmm. >> oh my gosh.

oh my gosh. these are absolutely wonderful. >> very good. >> wait a minute there's a pit in there. >> oh, i'm sorry. >> sweet fruit always have seeds, and we put a little disclaimer in the--when we sell the package and it always says "watch out for the seeds." >> i didn't see the disclaimer and you didn't tell me. but they're great. boy. and look at the color on the inside. boy. >> it's golden-- >> now, your husband is the one who came up with the idea of selling these dried persimmons. >> yeah. he thought that there was a future in it. until then people didn't know much about it and just the japanese would eat it a little bit on christmas times and things like that. so, he made that gift box.

he ordered that special because he thought that if we package it, people will buy it for gifts and that's what-- and then he made all these racks and we started, you know drying more and commercially try 'em. >> they caught on. >> yeah. >> well, look, they have a beautiful look to 'em, don't they? >> well, they do, yeah. >> what do you think it is about these things that's so captivates people and-- >> i don't know. everybody that comes here, they just surprised to see all this, you know? yeah. >> well, you're used to it but to someone like me seeing it for the first time this is beautiful. >> well, it's something we always had and it's just-- some people say, "oh, it looks like christmas lights coming down," you know, and all that. but to me, it's just persimmons. [laughter]

>> it's called hoshigaki and it's been going on for generations here in placer county. still going on. still going on in japan itself and it's absolutely spectacular to see it done the old-fashioned way. now, you're not getting rich off this, are you? >> no. we might make $4, $5 an hour. every time we have to hire more help because of expanding our hourly wage goes down. but-- >> but you're rich in the experience and in the history and in the fact that you have kept this family this orchard in your family' cause it could easily been gobbled up like all the land around here has for big housing developments. >> well, that's true. that's true. and we're very fortunate that our kids come out and help us, and chris has the grandkids working and helping us. so, hopefully it'll continue. >> wow. i sure hope it does. thank you very much

for allowing us to watch this in progress today. thank you very much. thank you for allowing me to eat a couple of these things, even though i almost chipped a tooth twice. but that's part of it, isn't it? >> right. we have to warn people there are seeds in persimmons and-- >> there are seeds in persimmons, but, boy, look, there's also a lot of sugar, a lot of history and a lot of love. and these little dried-up, shriveled up persimmons are very much a part not only of the history of california, but of "california's gold." we've had an absolutely wonderful day here on this family orchard. [music] captioning performed by peoplesupport transcription & captioning

well, hello, everybody i'm huell howser and i sure hope you enjoyed this beautiful day we spent on this historic california family orchard. if you'd like to go on this adventure again, share it with family or friends, or perhaps donate a copy to your local school or library, it's available on videocassette and on dvd. all you have to do

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