ST. LOUIS — Meteorologists spend hours formulating a winter outlook, but a native fruit could cut that time in half. The lore behind persimmon seed forecasting is hard to trace.
Whoever decided to cut into the seed the first time, must have been determined. The tough shell has to be cut along the seam in order to "read" the forecast.
Missouri Botanical Garden Associate Scientist, Emily Warchefsky, explained what to look for.
"Once you cut into there you can see the little embryo, so kind of the baby plant that's inside the seed, ready to start growing and you look at the shape of it and it can look either like a knife, a spoon or a fork."
Warchefsky didn't pick out persimmons from the grocery store to cut into, those are Japanese persimmons. Instead, she found ones growing in Forest Park.
"It is very clearly a spoon shape," she said pointing to the inside of the seed. Every seed she cut into revealed the same thing.
So what does a spoon mean?
"The spoon, it's kind of obvious, is like a shovel," Warchefsky explained. "So if you see a spoon it will be a snowy winter. If you see a knife, it's supposed to represent cutting winds and cold and if it's a fork, it's supposed to be bountiful like a warmer winter that is more pleasant."
There could be a scientific link to seed shape and winter predictions, but for now, it's just a bit of fun.
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