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Thread: Paw Paw grove

  1. #1
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    Paw Paw grove

    For the last few years, I've notices this little grove of maybe 7 small trees/saplings in my woods. The leaves are quite large, and they bear kiwi sized fruit! I'd never seen that type of tree before, and a week or so ago, when walking through the woods, I pointed them out (with their cool little dark purple blossoms) to my wife. We looked them up, and apparently they are Paw Paw trees. The fruit is actually edible. Kinda cool! I have NO idea where this grove came from...there are no adult Paw Paw trees anywhere else in my woods...
    I drink, therefore I am.

  2. #2
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    Feb 2007
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    From someone pickin' up Paw Paws and puttin' them in their pocket?

    “Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy and chivalry.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Everybody knows what to do with the devil but them that has him. My Grandmother
    I had a guardian angel at one time, but my little devil got him drunk, tattooed, and left him penniless at a strip club. I have not had another angel assigned to me yet.
    I didn't change my mind, my mind changed me.
    Bella Terra

  3. #3
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    Here's a Paw Paw recipe for you, Paw Paw Pudding.

    http://www.ncfolk.org/ncfood/pawpawpudding.aspx

    “Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy and chivalry.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Everybody knows what to do with the devil but them that has him. My Grandmother
    I had a guardian angel at one time, but my little devil got him drunk, tattooed, and left him penniless at a strip club. I have not had another angel assigned to me yet.
    I didn't change my mind, my mind changed me.
    Bella Terra

  4. #4
    I wish we had paw paw trees around here, I've never seen one. Apparently they were very common before apples became the orchard tree of choice (and more hearty than a lot of of fruit trees that are non-natives).

  5. #5
    I believe they have some in Paw Paw Michigan.

    Almost forgot:

    Way down yonder in the paw paw patch.
    Last edited by Bill Edwards(2); 05-03-2012 at 12:44 PM.

  6. #6
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    Saw my first in bloom a few weeks ago along the Ozark Trail in the forest in Arkansas. Pretty little dark red flower. Didnt know what it was but ask an arborist late and found out that's what it was. Didn't notice a patch of them but understand they normally grow in groups which makes sense actually.
    My three favorite things are the Oxford comma, irony and missed opportunities

    The problem with humanity is: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and God-like technology. Edward O. Wilson

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Weaver View Post
    I wish we had paw paw trees around here, I've never seen one.
    Check around your area, I bet you can find one if you have any nurseries in the area that specialize in native species.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Cruz View Post
    For the last few years, I've notices this little grove of maybe 7 small trees/saplings in my woods. The leaves are quite large, and they bear kiwi sized fruit! I'd never seen that type of tree before, and a week or so ago, when walking through the woods, I pointed them out (with their cool little dark purple blossoms) to my wife. We looked them up, and apparently they are Paw Paw trees. The fruit is actually edible. Kinda cool! I have NO idea where this grove came from...there are no adult Paw Paw trees anywhere else in my woods...
    We've been growing a couple in our city backyard for the past .. oh I forget how many years, 8-10 I think. We are at the extreme northern edge of the Carolinian Forest range, so I'm only barely in their growing area. They leaf out last, and lose them first, in our yard. You folks down south will have an easier time with them. Last year we finally got one, yes one, fruit off of it. (partly the squirrels fault.) It really did have a very interesting peach/custard sort of texture. They've got quite large pits -- nearly the size of a penny and twice as thick.

    I forget what the botanical word is, but you need two trees for them to fruit, like many apple trees.
    They're an understory tree, and like moist conditions. (My backyard is too dry!) Oh yeah, if you have seven trees now, Mike, you'll probably have more next year, as they spread via suckers also.
    "It's Not About You."

  8. #8
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    I can remember eating them as a kid in southern Illinois. Paw Paws and persimmons....you want those rascals ripe!
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  9. #9
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    Ken, I stupidly ate an unripe persimmon once...couldn't get that bitter taste out of my mouth to save my life!

    Art, I had a bunch of fruit on them last year...didn't know what they were. Hope we have as many this year!

    Bill, we have a Paw Paw, WV about an hour from me...

    David, apparently, they were cultivated a while back. But didn't seem to make it big...kinda like the Betamax...

    Belinda, thanks! I'll check that out...
    I drink, therefore I am.

  10. #10
    I remember reading on a permaculture forum that they're native, but you have to eat them at the right time and they don't keep like apples. I don't have the space to grow a tree, but I'd like to eat one sometime.

  11. #11
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    IIRC.....a properly ripened PawPaw tastes a little like a banana. An unripened one or green was hard and had little taste.

    Now a persimmon on the other hand.....As Mike can testify......biting into an unripened persimmon will leave a lasting impression on your tastebuds and in your memory. Ripened they make a great pudding and taste a little like a date.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  12. #12
    They taste like a cross between a banana and a mango to me. Delish! Here is a pic of some that I picked in a swamp in North Carolina. I disseminate a lot of paw paw seed on the highway between Plymouth and New Bern, NC that day .




    IMG_2001.JPG

  13. #13
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    Yup, those look like the fruit that my trees are bearing... Of course, it looks like you like yours with a touch of salt.
    I drink, therefore I am.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danny Hamsley View Post
    They taste like a cross between a banana and a mango to me. Delish! Here is a pic of some that I picked in a swamp in North Carolina. I disseminate a lot of paw paw seed on the highway between Plymouth and New Bern, NC that day .




    IMG_2001.JPG
    Mango is another name for a green or sweet pepper but not similar to paw-paw taste

  15. #15
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    Ray....mango is also a fruit..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango to which he is referring.....
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

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