It's Pawpaw Time

[PirangaPP]

Sunflower is probably the firmest of the pawpaws, so as it fell off the tree by itself, this may be ready to eat now. From what I have read and heard in conversations, most pawpaw do not ripen much if you pick them too early.

[PaulinKansas6b]

You could give it a try at ripening a few days! Maybe someone will give you some tips! Would banana peel in paper bag a few days help?

[JustPeachy]

@PirangaPP

Sunflower is probably the firmest of the pawpaws, so as it fell off the tree by itself, this may be ready to eat now. From what I have read and heard in conversations, most pawpaw do not ripen much if you pick them too early.

I know that was the result from the Davies lab, but there are enough regional differences that I don’t think this is a hard and fast rule for every location. Try a Sweet Alice from Georgia and one grown in Ohio. They taste totally different and have different mouthfeel, even Ron Powell thinks so. Rappahannock is notorious for being finicky regionally too, which even Neal acknowledges.

We have allegheny, rappahannock, susquehanna, wabash, shenandoah, Jerry’s big girl, potomac, Sunflower, overleese, PA Golden, NC-1, probably a dozen more that I can’t name off the top of my head, many crosses, and many many more. Sunflower is definitely not the firmest here.

[JustPeachy]

@DennisD

Found One fruit lying on ground under the Sunflower, others are still hanging on the Prolific and Sunflower trees. This one was probably shaken off by wind as it does not emit a ripening smell, and has not turned color. Since this is our first year fruiting, I am inquiring if this one can be ripened on the counter, or some other process?

I’ve noticed that pawpaws will abort fruit or even exhibit localized accelerated ripening within a single tree when stressed. This includes overcropping if you don’t thin. If it’s still rock hard, it’s probably not ever going to get “ripe” to the stage I would recommend eating it. If it’s soft, then it should be ok.

If a pawpaw is still mostly firm but you can kind of pull it off peduncle, you might be able to get away with counter ripening it. Otherwise, I’ve found stuff pulled too early is terrible. I tried it last year with about 7 pounds of pawpaw I pulled at various stages as an experiment for trying to figure out a way to ship pawpaws easier without bruising. Picking maybe one week early from being able to freely pull from peduncle is probably the most you could get away with for it to be edible. Any earlier and they are spitters (imo). They taste chalky and weird. I know a lot of people complain about upset stomachs from way way overripe pawpaws, but I’ve heard complaints about the same for eating unripe or picked early fruit that were subsequently counter and or ethylene ripened (the various neighbors and friends who were my guinea pigs… I mean volunteer test subjects).

[Robert]

Pawpaw bread made with wild pawpaw. Must say baking it really helps with the nasty aftertaste.

[PirangaPP]

Yep, so many things can play a role - soil characteristics especially, but year-to-year variation in temperature and rainfall. Fun learning about different folks’ experiences.

[JustPeachy]

@DennisD

Found One fruit lying on ground under the Sunflower, others are still hanging on the Prolific and Sunflower trees. This one was probably shaken off by wind as it does not emit a ripening smell, and has not turned color. Since this is our first year fruiting, I am inquiring if this one can be ripened on the counter, or some other process?

I just realized I need to amend what I previously wrote, because it doesn’t cover all scenarios. Sometimes the fruit will also fall when it’s as ripe the tree can get, it’s kind of soft but definitely not hard. However, it’s not what Neal’s friend calls “ready to eat ripe.” For that, you need to let it counter ripe for a few days and when it because really tropical smelling (it’s usually still almost all green though), it’s ready to eat. However, what I described earlier still applies. If you harvest way early when its stone hard, it never will get “ready to eat ripe” on the counter.