Pawpaw Time
21 Aug 2025 02:08![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karmicdragonflyI made my annual pawpaw-gathering trek down to the river yesterday. They seem to have gotten ripe earlier than usual! Maybe because Fall has arrived early this year.
They are not for everyone -- mushy and have sort of an odd taste with big pits -- but I like foraging for wild food, and so I usually get a few each year.
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Some people make smoothies. I usually just plop them in a bowl and eat!
Pawpaws are only ripe when they look and smell very ripe and are ready to fall off the tree -- generally, I forage for those already on the ground that haven't gotten eaten by insects and haven't rotted. I also usually give the trees a gentle shake to see if any will fall.
Years ago when I was first finding out about pawpaws, I mentioned them to my Mom, and she launched into an old nursery rhyme, something like "picking up pawpaws in the pawpaw patch and stuffing them in my pockets..." It also surprised me at first that I did not know about them since I grew up in a rural area and knew about the trees that grow here. I asked Dad about them, so he asked me to describe them. When he recognized them by my description, he said he didn't like the taste. So we never learned about them as kids because he didn't like them!
They grow in patches (hence the nursery rhyme's "pawpaw patch" reference). And often the patch is made up of the same tree because they can send roots underground to form new trees in addition to having seeds germinate.
Side note: evidently Australians use the word pawpaw for what I call a papaya, but that is not the same fruit. These fruits shown here are native to eastern North America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba
Here's a chart of comparative nutrition between various common fruits:
https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-ahnr/school-of-anr/pawpaw/pawpaw-description-and-nutritional-information.php/#Table3
They are not for everyone -- mushy and have sort of an odd taste with big pits -- but I like foraging for wild food, and so I usually get a few each year.
"
"Some people make smoothies. I usually just plop them in a bowl and eat!
Pawpaws are only ripe when they look and smell very ripe and are ready to fall off the tree -- generally, I forage for those already on the ground that haven't gotten eaten by insects and haven't rotted. I also usually give the trees a gentle shake to see if any will fall.
Years ago when I was first finding out about pawpaws, I mentioned them to my Mom, and she launched into an old nursery rhyme, something like "picking up pawpaws in the pawpaw patch and stuffing them in my pockets..." It also surprised me at first that I did not know about them since I grew up in a rural area and knew about the trees that grow here. I asked Dad about them, so he asked me to describe them. When he recognized them by my description, he said he didn't like the taste. So we never learned about them as kids because he didn't like them!
They grow in patches (hence the nursery rhyme's "pawpaw patch" reference). And often the patch is made up of the same tree because they can send roots underground to form new trees in addition to having seeds germinate.
Side note: evidently Australians use the word pawpaw for what I call a papaya, but that is not the same fruit. These fruits shown here are native to eastern North America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba
Here's a chart of comparative nutrition between various common fruits:
https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-ahnr/school-of-anr/pawpaw/pawpaw-description-and-nutritional-information.php/#Table3
Thoughts
on 21 Aug 2025 08:19 (UTC)I keep trying to grow them but they're hard to start or to transplant. This year I have 2 seedlings that are still hanging on. The Charleston Food Forest has a bigger seedling, about hip-high, that I really hope will fruit eventually so I can taste some.
Note that wild pawpaws will come from seedling trees, so the taste and texture can vary greatly. Commercial ones are sometimes grafted from parent stock with good texture and flavor. Me, I want them to be able to reproduce naturally, so I buy seeds or seedlings. I figure if I don't like the fruit, the wildlife certainly will.
Re: Thoughts
on 21 Aug 2025 12:45 (UTC)I also tried to grow one from seed once, because I have a shady area in my back yard that I think would work really well for it. It came up -- but that summer was very dry and I didn't water enough so I lost it.