Does not matter where we grew up. adult always scare us with the same statement. I “accidentally” swallowed so many seeds of various fruits. The last time I checked the top of my head, saw a lot of gray hair so I have not checked it again since.
Tony - it looks like I’d easily turn totally gray before I could get to eat paw paw from my trees.
Thanks for the reassuring words. I assumed that it only take 4 years then. As Mamuang said, she projected that she would get to a “totally gray” before getting any fruit. My problem is, what happen to the guy that went bald before he plant his first pawpaw?
Man, I don’t even have a chance to go gray! Do I still have any chance of getting them pawpaw fruits?
Tom, you picked well. In my opinion, Allegheny is the best-tasting pawpaw around. Susquehanna is undisputed as producing the largest-sized pawpaw fruit (bigger than Russet potatoes), so it’s a good value.
nice sample pics you posted. These are of the purple variety, and which exudes, of course, purplish juice. There is also a green caimito which is the better-tasting variety(at least in my opinion), which has milky white juice. I have seen and tasted plenty caimito’s in my life, and agree with tomIL that they don’t come in sour varieties. Could be Mamuang was referring to ‘star fruit’, and not ‘star apple’. Star apple is another name for caimito.
btw, forgot to mention other ‘milky’ fruits also exist(although not as milky as caimito), and speaking of pawpaws, many belong to the same family annonaceae. The custard apples such as sweetsop, soursop, cherimoya, atemoya, etc also have milky juice. They are all delicious!
Jujube,
After I responded to Tom, I changed my mind. His milk fruit is not what I thought it is . However, I think the fruit I described is related to milk fruit. In short, I do think I know what milk fruit is.
I know star fruit well. My neighbor in Thailand grew it. Not my preferred fruit by any means.
This pawpaw thingy gets so many praises from you, tonyOmahaz5 and host of others. That makes me want to find and push the fast forward button so that I don’t have to wait for 4 years to taste the “fruits of my labor”!
Could anyone show me where that special button is? Just can’t wait anymore…
For the mangosteen lovers, I saw it yesterday at local Hmart.
I have never tasted a mangosteen. First time I heard this fruit is from report of mysteriously disappeared Malaysia airline MA370. There were tons of mangosteen on board.
Newly planted trees often take several years before they flower or produce any fruit.
Only way to get your fix quicker is to find a specialty farm or festival with the fruit in late Aug/ early Sept. Or find someone in your region growing pawpaw. Or find a state park or other wild place where pawpaws are known to be growing. I have found sources in my area.
Slightly closer to you: There is popular pawpaw festival that occurs every fall near Albany, Ohio:
I believe similar events are held in WV and KY, and might also occur in IL and IN. After all: one of the fruit’s nicknames is the “Indiana Banana!”
Do some searches on Google. If you search hard enough, you might be suprised to find a few options convenient to you. Good luck.
Keep them shaded the first two years, and keep well-watered the first year. After that, clear some of their competition so they can get more light, and give modest doses of balanced or slightly acidic fertilizer once a month early in the growing season.
See Kentucky State University’s pawpaw website. They are the experts and know all of the best tricks for growing pawpaw fruit: http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu
Talk about a wild pawpaw patch, I just wonder if there’s any in northern Illinois? And if anyone knows an existing patch and willing to tip the compass to share?
I hope it’s not like the shroom hunters, the morel patches can’t be disclosed to more than 1 person… and that’s counting self! To be honest, I’ve read about it but I’ve never had one and dared not to try out if I’ve ever stumbled onto one!
at 12.99$ a pound, mangosteen should be purchased with a keen eye and with sensitive fingers.
and here’s a couple of tips:
fruits must be brightly colored and somewhat shiny
each fruit should be gently squeezed with one’s thumb. A firm rind , but which could still be dented with one’s thumb indicates that the pulp inside is likely ok.
thus said, dull-looking fruits which are also rock-hard are likely to be rotten inside.
I ate a can of lychees yesterday…i get a hint of citrus in there. I haven’t tried canned rambutan or longan… I still think I like the canned mangosteen more. I’ve also tried jackfruit…which i didn’t so much care for.