21st Century PAWPAW

7/31/2019 21st Century PAWPAW

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Pawpaws in the21st Century


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Why have people turned away from

pawpaws?

Lumpy

Banana, peanut or potato shaped

Greenish-yellow skin

Brown to black spots


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No doubt, the first Native American to

sample the Indian banana was both verycourageous and very hungry.


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Well rewarded

Orange-colored flesh

Feels like egg custard on the palate

Flavors blend nuances Mango

Banana

Papaya

Peach

With an after taste of melon


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Faded into obscurity

Shift of population from rural to urban

areas in the late 19th

and 20th

centuries

Known to many only through the lyrics of

Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch


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What is a pawpaw?

Asimina triloba

North Americas largest edible fruit

Typically small tress 20 to 30 feet

Forest under story near a river

flood plain


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Flowers open in April & May

Hang upside down

Resemble a bell

May be up to 2 inches across

Dark maroon-colored petals

Three petals triloba

Self-incompatible

Require cross pollination

Need 2 unrelated trees to set

fruit


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Whether wild or cultivated

Variation for fruit size average is 8 oz

Variation for flavor Variation for skin thickness

Variation for skin color when ripening

Variation for flesh color at ripeness Variation in number of seeds

Variation in seed size


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Fruit

Short shelf life tree-ripened fruit will spoil in several days at room

temperature

refrigerated fruit will last for up to three weeks

Can be picked slightly green to extend shelflife


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Pawpaws have a large number of synonyms

Possumhaw

Dog-banana

Indian-banana

False banana

Custard-apple Michigan banana

Hoosier banana

Ozark banana

Poor-mans banana

Wild banana

Prairie banana

Nebraska banana

Indiana banana

Woodland banana

Midwest banana


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Fossil records:

New Jersey15 million years

Mississippi45 to 55 million years

History of the pawpaw


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In Blue Jacket, Warrior of the

Shawnees, the author states, The

Eastern Native American tribes

cultivated the pawpaw for its fruit,

spreading the tree from the Ohio

River Valley south to Florida by

planting seeds as they traveled


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Inner bark Cord to string fish

Weaving baskets Cloth

Fruit

Cakes

Seeds Lice control

Uses by Native American Indians


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For early settlers, pawpaws served as

an emergency food source

Several American towns, townships,

creeks, and rivers were named after the

pawpaw

Pawpaw, West Virginia

Pawpaw, Michigan

Assimilated into fabric of rural life


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Hernando De Soto 1541

A verie good smell and an excellent taste


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Hernando de Sotos journal

Recorded finding Native Americans

growing and eating pawpaws in the

valley of the Mississippi


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Lewis & Clark

1806

There were plenty of ripe

plums, which the men called

pawpaws. Gathering a few

bushels was the work of a

few minutes only. The men

told the captains they could

live very well on the

pawpaws. The captainswere even more anxious

than the men to get on, so

there were no halts to hunt.


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Hatfield & McCoy feud

1882

Three sons of

Randolph McCoywere tied to pawpaw

bushes and

executed by the

Hatfield family


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American Genetic Associations

Journal of Heredity 1916


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Best Pawpaw Contest

Ohio had three of the top seven entries

The best fruit received by the contest

was from Ironton, Ohio


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Little documentation regarding the

development of the pawpaw industry after

the 1916 contest. In fact, pawpaws weregrown commercially in the United States

until around WWII, when the advent of

refrigeration enabled shipment of more

exotic fruit from many hundred of miles

away.

After the 1916 contest


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Current interest

Began in 1990 KSU

Regional Variety Trials


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Regional variety Trials


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Landscape use

Year 2000

Landscape Tree of the Yearby

Better Homes and Gardens

Magazine

Year 2005

Ohio Nursery and Landscape

Association as one of its

Landscape Trees of the year


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The pawpaw plants naturalresistance to bugs and predators

such as grazing whitetail deermake it a perfect choice for anylandscape

Plant more pawpaws

ONLA


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Recognition by Slow Food USA

Pawpaw was accepted for the Ark of Taste in2004

The Ark of Taste identifies gastronomicallydesirable regional foods that are disappearing

The job of designated members of Slow Food todevise a way to increase an awareness of theproduct and to help create markets for it


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Originating in North America,

pawpaws have a prominentplace in history


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Provided sustenance to Native

Americans and many early explorers


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Food source

Landscape plant


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Backyard fruit tree


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Butterfly gardens


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Marketing of pawpaws in the

21st Century Achievement

of popularity

andcommercialsuccess

Fruits thin soft skin

Perishable

Highly inconsistent

flavor

10 to 12 large seeds


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Organic farmers

No serious insects

No serious diseases


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Superior fruit

Antioxidant-rich

Anti-tumor

Anti-aging

Pesticidal properties Superbly nutritious Proteins

Amino acids

Fat

Calcium

Iron

Zinc

Cosmetics, skin products and perfumes


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Fruit is versatile Fat substitute

Substitute for bananas in recipes

Cooking Pies

Cookies

Cakes Puddings

Marmalade

Bread

Beer

Wine

Desserts

Sauces Muffins

Danishes


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Other uses of pawpaws

Farmers markets

Biomass

Organic farmers Regional food

Frozen pulp

Specialty fruit crop

Butterfly gardens Backyard fruit

Orchards

Specimen plants in landscape


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Commercial development?

Although the pawpaw is not yet

commercially important nativeAmerican fruit, others, such as the

blueberry, cranberry and raspberry

have come from the wild to occupy

important niches in the commercial

fruit market


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Commercial development? Cont.

The economic rationale for the

commercial development of pawpawis tied to the need in certain areas of

the country to identify new high-value

crops to supplement or provide

alternatives for old ones that are

losing value.


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Future of pawpaws

The rich pool of pawpaw genetics in Ohio

is still growing in forests, yards, riparianzones and pastures across Ohio,

especially in the southern part of the state.

There are several reasons why pawpaw

cultivation makes so much sense for theMidwest, especially Ohio.


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Future of pawpaws cont.

Pawpaws have excellent commercial

potential in Ohio for these reasons:

1. The tree is well adapted to our regions soilsand climate

2. Nutritional and cosmetic value

3. Natural compounds produced


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Future of pawpaws cont

4. Nursery wholesale and retail tree sales

5. Component in residential edible landscapes and

butterfly gardens

6. Virtually no pests and the powerful chemicals deterbrowsing animals

7. Utilized for habitat restoration and biodiversification inparks, woodlots and forests

8. Potential for organic fruit production


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The problem of the pawpaw

proved greater than imagined.

The breeding, scientific studies

and applied science necessary for

their solution did not materialize.


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In 2008, 91 years later, we are

finally seeing the first faint

glimmers of a pawpaw industry.

Many factors have contributed to

make this possible:


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1. Consumer demand in America for new andunusual produce.

2. Increased interest in native plants.

3. High value crop for farmers

4. Progress in the scientific study ofAsimina.

5. High quality pawpaw varieties


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Neal Peterson


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In conclusion

Yelow-billed Cuckoo in Pawpaw Tree

By

John James Audubon

1863


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In 1905 James A. Little wrote:

We can never realize what a great blessing thepawpaw was to the first settlers while they were clearingthe great natural forest and preparing to build cabins."

Planting fruit trees was rather an experimentfor a number of years. The pawpaws, and a few otherwild fruits of less value, were all their dependence so faras fruit is concerned. Well do I remember sixty or moreyears ago my father would take his gun and basket andgo to the woods and return in the evening loaded withpawpaws, young squirrels and sometimes mushrooms of

which he was very fond. But there will never be arecurrence of those days which were the happiest of mylife.


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OPGA

% Ron & Terry Powell

6549 Amelia Dr. Cincinnati, Ohio 45241

(513) 777-8367

[email protected]

www.Ohiopawpaw.com

Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association

Documents

21st Century PAWPAW