@kybishop Lehman’s Chiffon is a great small-fruited pawpaw in my experience.
Super sweet, cotton candy flavor.
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I definitely did not fall for pawpaws immediately, and I have detected bitterness in some, but not all cultivars. Beyond genetics of pawpaws we have yet to really define best practices for growers in order to have a fruit at peak quality and flavor. The few excellent fruit that get produced each year are generally not accessible to the general public. Festivals are about the only exception, KSU Pawpaw day, or if you know someone that grows them. Tasting a cultivar at its best is rare for most people.
Tallahatchie cluster just before thinning. Thinning to singles every cluster I can reach.
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Do you taste, bitter, even in Shenandoah and chapelle?
Hi Hambone,
I think a lot have to do with my senses. Do you know a flowering plant called Catmint? Some people say it smells bad (like cat’s poop) but others say the plant smell nice. I am with the former.
I can taste bitter after taste in all 5-6 varieties I have tried. Shenandoah has the mildest bitter after-taste. Susquehanna has stronger bitter after-taste.
I like bitter gourds. The veggie is bitter but it is bitter as I eat it. I don’t taste bitter after-taste.
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Do figs smell like cat pee to you? I have had some that do and others that smell nice.
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No. Figs smell and taste good to me.
I had several friends smell catmints. Some loved it and wanted to have this plant. Other said it smelled awful, the way I feel.
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@mamuang I’m exactly the same, and Susquehanna definitely has one of the stronger metallic/bitter aftertastes… but I still generally like pawpaws 
For the ones where that facet comes through extra strong I like to make ice cream with them 
(I cannot eat Susquehanna raw)
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ME! YES! 8 OUNCES IS BITE SIZE!
Granted I’m not afraid of processing multiple fruits, but I easily eat 2 pounds of fruit a day.
And yes I would prefer better tasting and more productive trees to big and poorer quality fruits, but more fruit is better despite being only one factor.
I’ve got tons of pawpaw trees, from suckers and seedlings only 3 unknown varieties plus a few more seedlings of cultivated select wild trees, but still haven’t eaten a pawpaw but I love all its relatives.
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You should try the Thai non-acidic mangos some day, they’re so interesting and have a bit of guava flavor to them, I’m sure mango lovers would like them, but mango haters might too!
They taste like raw sweet potatoes when green, or at least somewhat green.
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For me quality of taste is way more important that strength of flavor. With blueberries smaller berries often means better quality of taste. Yet not all fruits are that way.
Some of the best tasting figs have larger than average fruit. Figs of all sizes can be unappealing or even taste bad. Same thing with melons and squash.
Me I don’t like most varieties of plums that are said to be the strongest or the best tasting. And to me most plums that I have tried, don’t taste much, if anything like plum, there is other flavor there overpowering the plum flavor.
As far as apples in my experience only the larger size of Honeycrisp apples are worth buying for baking or for fresh eating, the smaller sized ones do not taste the same, are not as good.
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The only times that fig trees have smelled like cat pee to me, was when a fig friend of mine was transporting some in a car. And a few times cats were actually peeing for real, sometimes cats do pee in grow bags, or in pots, I have seen it happen. Sometimes they poop in them too. Although most of my figs get planted in the ground, or go to new homes.
For me smaller blueberries mean more skin making them less pleasurable to eat, but that’s a small deal compared to the extra time they take to pick. Highbush blueberries take way too much time to harvest compared to tree fruit, but larger berries speed the process. Most of the blueberries I eat are the frozen ones I saved from the previous season that I eat every morning that I don’t have fresh peaches or nectarines from my trees. I mix them with frozen plums, peaches or nectarines then- usually with steel-cut oats. Slight differences in flavor do not matter much to me except when I’m eating them right off the plants, but that’s the minority of occassions by far. I like blueberries a lot but am more interested in stone-fruit.
Given that most of my peach and all of my nectarine crop was frozen out this year, this may be a season where I’m more of a blueberry conneseur.
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The blueberries i had in my cereal this morning were disappointingly bland. The apricots and peaches were just finished up were superb, though.
(Sadly, all purchased fruit.)
I love fruit, but I’m very picky about off flavors. I’m curious to try pawpaw, but suspect i wouldn’t like it.
As a mango lover, i doubt it. I am always sad if i let mangos get overripe and they don’t have enough acid. And I’m not a fan of guava.
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We found a patch a mile or so away from home, and they were lovely, very banana like in texture. When Annie and Diana brought some down from the KY breeding program, I found them huge but quishy and pudding-like, They had a pawpaw contest, and the ones I brought were the smallest but go the highest marks for texture, and maybe flavor. I forget. But since encountering those monster gloppy things I have sure never ordered any pawpaw plants! There are a few around out place that crop occasionally, and are small. I seldom try very hard to beat the critters to them.
The whole thing reminds me of a guy in Fla who had been extolling the wonders of Kaki persimmons. When we moved down there for me to go to school, he took me around to see his young trees, and cut a dead ripe astringent type for me. It was huge and weirdly translucent. The flesh was like a soft pudding, and the flavor was utterly bland. He was so pleased to introduce me to kakis with such a perfect speciman, and was so disappointed in my reaction. But after years of eating small intensely flavored wild native persimmons, I see no reason to even consider the astringent kakis. Non-astrigent kakis are Okay, and are nice dried. but I can’t be bothered to try growing them. Mind you, I have a branch on a native tree of ‘Campbell’ which appears to be kaki. It’s ok. Less flavor than natives, lots more than the giant fruit he had.
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They don’t develop that sickening vomit flavor that comes along with the softness in overripe mangos, you have to try it to know what it’s like. This is it! It’s like sweet potato when it’s unripe! And it’s really good when it’s suppose and fully ripe (or overripe if you ask a tropical person) but I think it’s best when part is soft and part is hard.
Every few years I probably spend $100 getting mangoes imported from Florida as a treat for myself… Specialty labeled/named varieties that have slight coconut or pineapple flavors… I’m not sure if I can detect those flavors very well (they are kinda there though) but overall they are pretty amazing compared to what we have in grocery stores. I’ll have to look out for the Thai ones, what are the names of those varieties?
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No, I’m not commenting on the over-ripe flavor, I’m commenting on how the amount of acid drops as they ripen. I don’t care for white peaches, either, as they lack acid to my tastes. I really want most fruits to be tart.
(And i avoid most of the apples in the supermarket because they lack acid, too.)
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Ugh I did that this year its so good… only had 3 so far and still thinking about doing it again later this mont lol
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Kiew Sa We or Keow Savoy
I’m not yelling at you, but copy and paste won’t let me eliminate the bold and paste as plain text too! 
Also the article mentions another similar mango (but possibly similar from a geographic standpoint not flavor actually) and says it’s particularly good for Florida’s growing conditions, but I’m not sure that I tried it: Nam Dok Mai #4
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Nam dok mai is one i tried and we ate it mostly green. I believe its #4.
So good. Very tart but balanced.
The brix of the 3 i tried were
Valcarrie: 21,
Ndm: 18
Azucar: 17.5
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