After having eaten soo many exotic or rare tropical fruits I've yet been unable to eat a ripe pawpaw. Good small eastern native woodland tree.
I wouldn't recognize a paw paw if it came up to me on the street and kissed me on the lips.
Originally Posted by Snowleopard
Either or both of you going to The Gathering?
Thought for sure we'd hear from DWM. Maybe he needs a PM.
No fruit here. I have two trees, one died but resprouted in a couple of places a few feet away from the dead trunk. The tallest of the re-sprouts is only about 4 feet tall now, too small to flower. The larger tree, about 15 feet tall already, flowered heavily this spring but set no fruit.
You never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you.
Afraid not.
I've also eaten (and liked) some uncommon tropical fruits that rarely make it to markets, but I've never seen pawpaws for sale. They must not travel well.
Post about your experiences with tropical fruit not available in Appalachia. I started the thread. If someone else doesn't like it, they can start another more to their own liking.
I figure anyone who would eat a pawpaw has a sense of adventure and enjoys learning about the world by trying new things. Were someone who clicks on this thread to have an opportunity to visit a location where tropical fruits that don't ship well are available, they'd benefit from what you can share.
This thread isn't SF and I don't expect someone to start a thread on breadfruit.
pawpaw recipes, but best raw in the woods
Sorry to hear it. Hope you will be rewarded for your patience.
If the root suckers aren't crowding one another, I'd keep both and see which produces the better fruit provided you don't mind where either is growing and they aren't nearer the larger tree than 15 feet.
The best is aguaje ice cream, in Iquitos, Peru. Peruvians eat it raw, but it is so bitter that it will turn your face inside out. But, it makes the best ice cream I've ever had. It looks a bit like an avocado but the skin is much tougher and harder. The locals peel it by holding it in their hand and whacking at it with a machete. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriche_Palm
Another fruit I had in Peru only in ice cream was Lucuma, also great in ice cream. Some of these fruit are hard to describe.
In the jungle, there was a fruit that I don't know the name of that the monkeys ate. It tasted like a wet marshmallow, a bit weird, too sweet for my taste and I have a real sweet tooth. It was really nice when I was there to step outside, pick a mango and make a refresca (ice, water, sugar and fruit, blended).
Mangosteens are really good and not at all like mangos. They're in Asia, I had them in Taiwan.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangosteen
A fruit that shows up in Puerto Rican markets around here is, I think, called quenepa. Sweet with some sourness, a bit like a mangosteen. http://reavel.blogspot.com/2008/09/s...-fruit_30.html
Of course, we have some really good fruit here. A perfect peach is just perfect. Good cherries are as good as any tropical fruit. I've become something of an heirloom apple snob since I discovered Scott Farms near Brattleboro, VT.http://www.scottfarmvermont.com/index.html I highly recommend this place to anyone within driving distance of Brattleboro in Sept to Nov.
It is a source of eternal regret to me that Mangos don't grow in Massachusetts.
I'm kind of partial to prickly pears-kind of hard to come-by on the AT but they are nice.
When I was in Venezueala a few yearsa go they were serving me fried yucca. It was really good. I have not seen it served here in theh States anywhere.
I don't like catus pads. I have never had any luck with preparing them myself and very few places actually serve them.
May apples are great but man you have to be lucky to get them when they are ripe. They don't last lone...much like the pawpaw they go from ripe to rotten very quickly. If you're unfamiliar with them only the fruit is edible the leaves, stock and roots are poisonous...go figure.
Take almost nothing I say seriously--if it seems to make no sense what so ever it's probably meant as a joke....but do treat your water!
What are a few of your favorites?
Are tree-ripened mangos that much better than what's picked early enough to tolerate shipping?It is a source of eternal regret to me that Mangos don't grow in Massachusetts.
RE: Heirloom apples
For cooking or in oatmeal, Rhode Island Greenings. For eating, there's a bunch whose names I don't remember. Cox's Orange Pippin, Orleans Reinette, ananas reinette. Ashmead's kernel is odd; an absolutely delicious apple with the texture of styrofoam. There is a really nice pinapple flavored apple.
Here's a link to heirloom apples in the central and southern Appalachians. There are likely apples that do well down there that won't in New England.
http://www.longbrancheec.org/pubs/apples.html
For gardeners to the north, there's Saint Lawrence Nursery (gets to -50F). http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/ I was disappointed because my order for trees got in too late this spring.
Well I don't know!! I've never had a tree-ripened mango straight from the tree.
I don't believe I've ever seen it on a menu, but a coworker of mine raised in Dominican Republic, called it to my attention. There's enough demand for it here primarily amongst Spanish-speaking people to cause some supermarkets to stock it.
funny i saw this thread guys and gals: my mom recently had a spot in the local newspaper in virginia beach about paw paws. grew up with them in my yard and blanketed in the woods of my youth, but i never had a taste for them. anyways, here's the article, posted online without a picture of my beautiful mother...
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/pawp...argely-ignored
Readers who have never seen a zebra swallowtail are missing a special treat. Some butterflies or moths are dependant upon a single plant species at one or more stages of their life cycle. It was mentioned in the article linked to the last post pawpaws serve as a host species for zebra swallowtail larvae.
I have long known this fact, but my trees have not yet been visited by any zebra swallowtails. Maybe I will give nature a helping hand. They sure are pretty.
See also Butterflies and Moths which links the reference to which you were directed for the butterfly image. WhiteBlaze provides assistance with identification and is always seeking good images for its gallery.
There are a LOT of PawPaws here in Virginia. If you're near harper's Ferry they're everywhere. It's fun trying to spot the trees that have fruit on them.
I have a video on finding PawPaws on YouTube. Click on the link in my signature.
If you don't have something nice to say,
Be witty in your cruelty.
I grew up in MD and knew all about pawpaws when I lived there. I ate tons of them every year--as many as I could find anyway. I didn't realize they grew as far wouth and west as Texas i'll have to keep my eyes open for them down this way now...yay!
Take almost nothing I say seriously--if it seems to make no sense what so ever it's probably meant as a joke....but do treat your water!
Different Paw-paw?
The only Paw-Paw I can think of is around 90, survived Pearl Harbor, has thousands of Trail miles, weighs around 105 pounds soaking wet, and is partial to Maker's Mark.
He's also one of the finest gentlemen I know.
What are the chances he might post to this thread? Were he to post on pawpaws, he would be straight on-topic! That's even more on-topic than straight forward. Maybe I wish for too much.
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