JSTOR ( March 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Paw Paw, Michigan" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. The pale yellow pulp is very quick to oxidize, so I have found that we can enjoy them longer if we scrape the insides into baggies for freezing to thaw and enjoy on ice cream, puddings, Knox Blox gelatin, and baked goods.This section needs additional citations for verification. We figured that the reason the pawpaws have sprouted all around the yard is squirrels buried seeds from the fruit that had dropped on the ground and was left there. We learned that the seeds have to remain moist to germinate (we’d dried the early ones out that first year), and we were too impatient the first go-around with some that didn’t die the first winter because pawpaws require time to establish a very deep taproot. Now, we’ve noticed that we have pawpaws popping up all over the yard. Unfortunately, that summer, my husband had to spend a lot of time later on a ladder removing Japanese beetles that loved eating the leaves. At first, my husband hand-pollinated the purple-brown flowers, but a couple seasons later the summer weather arrived too quickly and we didn’t have enough time. (We found out years later they were planted too close together as the largest plant at the beginning that we planted in the middle became the smallest.) We had to protect the spindly trunks from rabbits with chicken-wire fencing next spring. We planted them as soon as they arrived near a sunny spot next to the street, close to a ravine. I heard it was called the ‘Hoosier Banana’ so knew it would grow here in central Indiana, and tried a few years in a row with different propagation forms, first from the seeds of those we’d eaten, then bare roots from a catalog, and finally had success after we ordered seven different species of saplings transplant-ready in a pail from a nursery in TN. It quickly turned black but my family got a taste. I was always curious what it was and was excited to see it at the Purdue University apple market (experimental agricultural products) years later. He was born in South Dakota, and moved to Wichita Falls when his father served in the Navy during WWII. My daddy used to sing this to my sister whose nickname was Nellie when I was little. Scouts not only learned about paws paws, but almost every child knew the Paw Paw Patch song either from Cub Scouts or taught in school… Unfortunately, kids don’t walk in the woods or explore streams anymore (heck, they don’t even use the parks or playgrounds) so even that seems to have disappeared…along with the Paw Paw. Paws Paws grow wild out in the shady woods back in Kentucky and Ohio and, except for the kids that would stumble upon them to eat as they walked along, they mostly just rotted on the ground and flies and ants would eat them…unseen and unknown. As a child we usually knew where ever single paw paw patch was within about 5 miles or so. Though once extremely well known and popular throughout the eastern US, if you are under 40 yrs old, then they would be unknown to you…even the children’s songs about Paws Paws are no longer taught in school because children are no longer outdoor oriented. They are easy to ID because they’re leaves are so large and distinct. This is why they grown under the shade of larger deciduous (leafy tree) vegetation. They only grow in shady areas because the seedlings are VERY light sensitive, especially to any long sunlight from the west/southwest. The skin is too thin, the meat too soft and the ripe period too short (2-5 days) for normal fruit transport. You will never see them in a store, though sometimes, rarely, you might find a very few at a fruit market in the early fall. The seeds are very large and easy enough to eat around. Though some might have a vanilla or strawberry taste mixed in there as well. Wild Paw paws usually taste like a cross between a banana and a very ripe mango. Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets, Mature pawpaw trees produce fruits 2″ wide by 10″ long, which turn from green, to yellow, and then black as they ripen in the fall.Ĭome on, boys, let’s go find her, There are about seven other members of the genus Asimina, all growing in the southeastern U.S. It’s the Paw-paw (Asimina trilob), the largest native fruit of North America, and it grows throughout Appalachia. Call it the American Custard Apple or the West Virginia Banana, but it’s neither apple nor banana.
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