Tom Hunt, the owner and manager of the Mohican Preservation Arboretum, told me recently that we are at the end of the season for pawpaw.
Pawpaw came on early this year, but Hunt said that drought did not affect fruit production.
On Sept. 13 to 15 at Lake Snowden near Albany (in southeast Ohio), the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association celebrated the 26th annual Pawpaw Festival.
Last year almost 10,000 attendees passed through the gates at this celebration. The pawpaw is the largest native fruit and the person that grew the largest fruit weighed his pawpaw in at 1.25 pounds. The average pawpaw is from .7 ounces to 18 ounces.
From the reports, this festival is one of the largest in the country and draws folks from many states. Pawpaw food creations were a favorite reason to attend.
The 2023 Pawpaw Cook-off winner in the professional division was an Arkansas couple, Meghan and Matt Feyeraband, owners of Pure Joy Ice Cream. They made a pawpaw caramel sauce for their ice cream.
“We make a lot of pawpaw products, so this is a great outlet not only to sell those products but also to learn about growing pawpaw,” Feyeraband said.
I have reported that pawpaw has many different flavors like melon, banana, mango, kiwi, custard, tapioca, or concord grape. This might be the best reason to go to the festival next year.
To start, pawpaw seed can be difficult. My new pawpaw expert was on the phone last week talking about his success in starting seeds. What he encouraged was unusual.
To begin the process, one needs adequate shade, cold, and moist stratification which takes 60 to 100 days to complete. Generally, seeds are planted in tall tree containers, which you will need in time.
The twist is that you would plant five to 10 seeds instead of just one seed in these containers. Cold stratification can be achieved in a crisper drawer at 32 to 40 degrees F.
Place your seeds in a Ziploc bag with moist, not wet, sphagnum peat moss, paper towels, sand, or potting soil. Seeds should then be kept in the refrigerator for 70 to 100 days. Make sure no fungus is growing on your seeds weekly.
Remove the seed from the crisper once the seed has been cold for the time mentioned. The seeds can be soaked in warm water for 24 hours to break the dormancy, then planted in the ground or the nursery containers.
My expert friend said he’s had 100% of the seeds germinate when he clusters the seeds together in moist paper towels.
Pawpaw seedlings usually sprout a month or two after germination. Top growth can be slow for the first two years as the plant expends most of its energy into root development.
Pawpaw should be a fruit to eat regularly fresh or frozen. The health benefits of this fruit are substantial.
Pawpaw is related genetically to the tropical papaya. Our pawpaw’s flesh has many of the nutrients in the pulp, but you will find nutrients in the seeds, skin, leaves, bark, and even the roots, which can also be poisonous if done improperly.
Here is a quick list of some of the health benefits of the pawpaw. Regular consumption of oils in the fruit and leaves in small quantities can help relieve inflammation and pain related to arthritis.
Squeeze some yellow pawpaw leaves into a glass of water and drink the water three times a day. It takes care of jaundice and malaria fever. Green leaves squeezed into a glass of water will help both diabetes-induced hypertension and constipation used three times daily.
Cut a big unripe pawpaw fruit into cubes, not removing seeds or skin, and soak the fruit in five cups of water for four days. This will help intestinal ulcers.
Inhaling the smoke of dried leaves can provide relief from asthma attacks. Gather the milky white sap of the unripe fruit, which contains papain, and use it for chronic wounds or ulcers.
Boil the pawpaw root and take ½ glass of water daily or chew a tender root to help bronchitis.
There are many more uses for the pawpaw.
Native Americans have been using this tree in many ways for centuries. Sloan Kettering has been researching how this tree may solve some cancer issues.
I have one caution from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
They warned of a toxin called annonacin that causes vomiting or severe issues like nerve damage. We need to regard the skin and seeds of the pawpaw as mildly toxic and research how they might affect us individually.
Native Americans have used pawpaw for centuries safely.
I hope all of you have a great stroll through your gardens and evaluate how they did. If you see a challenge in your garden email ericlarson546@yahoo.com. I shall do the best I can to help.
I shall convert this column into a blog and link it to my website www.ohiohealthyfoodcooperative.orgsoon. Thank you for participating in our column.