I wish some of the pawpaw growers with many varieties would do a few youtube video’s, maybe with several people involved in taste testing. There are numerous such video’s featuring tomato, apple, and mangoes that I have seen and very much enjoyed. It would be nice to have something featuring pawpaw varieties and peoples likes and dislikes. I have been quite surprised with all the pawpaw interest that this has not been done more frequently. I am not physically able or tech enough to pull this off but I know most out there these days are.
1 Like
Hey Derek,
I agree. I’m not sure if you saw the videos @TrilobaTracker did last season. Hopefully he will make more!
2 Likes
Pawpaw are one of those things that I really want to like but after trying a local pawpaw tree I found the bitter/metallic aftertaste nauseating.
That’s to say that you should really try them for yourself because the taste preferences of others is highly subjective.
Try to find a pawpaw festival near you or knock on the door of someone local growing pawpaw
1 Like
The overwhelming majority of wild pawpaws I have tried have tasted bad or had a bad after taste that ruined it. My wife wont eat pawpaws because the first one she tried was a wild one and it ruined it for her.
If you haven’t tried any of the top tier pawpaws it is a big difference imo.
2 Likes
We need to send @ross to a pawpaw tasting. That said, even having gone to three tastings now, I still don’t feel like I have any sort of handle on the fruit. Usually at best you’re getting one sample of a few different cultivars, rather than three samples of the same cultivar at different stages of ripeness.
1 Like
Through the years I have met many people that have told me they do not like pawpaws only later to find out they have only tasted one or two from the wild. You are correct in saying there can be a huge difference in the quality between named varieties and many found in the wild. Of course a few named varieties are not all that great, wilson and mitchell come to mind. As I have said before I have yet to taste a decent wild fruit from my area in NC though I have not tried many. Most of the ones I have tried are horrible with turpentine like flavor and really bad aftertaste. If these were my only exposure to pawpaw I would rate it as one of the worst fruits in existence. The same could be said for native persimmon though good fruited wild trees of these are easier to find where I live, but I have found a few that were pretty bad overall.
4 Likes