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I've never eaten a paw paw, however I've been to the town of Paw Paw, West Virginia along the Potomac River. It is home of the Paw Paw tunnel too, which no longer carries train traffic but is part of the Potomac bicycle route. There is also a town in MI and IL called Paw Paw! Up until now, I never knew why the towns were called Paw Paw!!
I was astonished to find that it was the state fruit of Ohio, where I lived for over 40 years. I bought some paw paw plants, but they didn’t live. I still have never seen one or tasted one. My understanding is they are extremely perishable, so aren’t a fruit that makes it to the stores.
I just discovered this fruit last week! I know that in the southeast US they are more common, so they may be nothing new to some of you.
A local farmer in PA is now raising and selling paw paws. They look like a big oval-shaped pear, and they smell and taste delicious! Evidently they are indigenous to 25 US states and parts of Canada, and they were eaten a lot by native Americans and early settlers. The farmer told me they are big in Ohio, where there is an annual paw paw festival.
You basically just cut one in half, and eat out the flesh with a spoon. There are big seeds, but they're so big you can easily eat around them. The fruit tastes sort-of like a pear, combined with a banana, and maybe a little peach thrown in. There are also all kinds of recipes for using them in desserts. I'm trying to figure out how to make a paw-paw daquiri, which I'm anticipating will be yummy.
It sounds like they are hard to cultivate. They grow on trees that can grow to about 15-20 feet tall. It's hard to get the seeds to germinate, and when you do get a tree it's very hard to get the flowers to pollenate. Then they go from not-ripe-at-all to very-ripe-eat-very-quickly almost instantaneously, so some of the fruit tends to go to waste and fall on the ground.
Anyway, I searched and didn't find any threads on this site about Paw-paws, so had to post about them.
The article the farmer was giving out at our local farmer's market said that they are the largest fruit native to north America. They are also one of the rare fruits that actually have protein in them. They have lots of other nutrients as well, like potassium.
Does anyone else out there like them? Anyone else (like me) never heard of them?
I thought Paw paws were the North American version of papayas. Have you ever eaten a papaya, OP?
No, they're totally different trees. Paw paws are native to the Eastern United States (and Canada) and often grow in rich. moist bottomland. The Papaya is native to tropical America.
TIL about North American paw paws. I have never seen one and always assumed people were talking about papayas but after looking at pictures of the trees they don't appear related.
Now I'm wondering how many people have ever heard of mayhaws. My mother used to make mayhaw jelly.
TIL about North American paw paws. I have never seen one and always assumed people were talking about papayas but after looking at pictures of the trees they don't appear related.
Now I'm wondering how many people have ever heard of mayhaws. My mother used to make mayhaw jelly.
I have not heard of them, but please tell me what they taste like. I love sampling rare fruits whenever possible and I'm intrigued.
I really love noodles! It all started at a local cafe when I was traveling around the South Crope.
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I know this is an old post, but I was just about to say that this was the first and only time I had ever heard of it. Sounds good, though.
