I don’t think deer care much for pawpaw as saplings… I wonder if bears or deer might eat the fruit.
1 Like
From personal experience…I’m not sure. But probably. I think raccoons are one of the top thiefs of the fruits.
I like Blake Cothron, sent him a bunch of free scionwood. His variety descriptions are excellent.
1 Like
What’s so cool about the seeds??? I am really confused what the fascination is with pawpaw seeds.
Nothing. Seeds are just seeds. I’m not sure what you mean.
1 Like
Well, you are processing 30 pawpaws for seeds. Those seeds seem to be prized.
1 Like
They are for rootstock and or seedlings. Some on this forum are professional nurseries. They always need seed. Most of us though are hobbyists and want the chance to grow out a seedling to see what they might get from the genetic lottery.
Most nurseries charge a dollar (some up to five) per seed for “select seed” (just means from cultivated varieties not wild).
6 Likes
Revisiting the frozen pulp discussion.
I thawed some pulp in the fridge just to taste it on its own.
The flavor is really very good on the front end. Excellent actually, BUT there is a little off taste at the end that was not there while sampling the fruits during processing.
It’s not the phenolic taste. It’s more of a bad cantaloupe kind of thing. Very hard to describe. It’s not ruined per se but it’s unfortunate.
Oh - I did add a couple drops of fresh lemon juice per 2 cups pulp prior to freezing. Don’t know if that’s an issue but will forego next time.
Also I think I am just sensitive to too much pawpaw. Of course pulp is “concentrated” so for weak-bellied folks perhaps moderation is advised.
2 Likes
I freeze no skin no seed, vac packed, no citric acid additive. Still tastes diff to me. It’s not the same type of phenolic as a wild pawpaw. Phenolic flavors encompass a wide range of flavonoids, so that is the word I choose to describe the off flavors.
You’re in for a world of I dunno what once your 40+ trees come into full bear. We have stunted pawpaws due to the heavy clay soil and you already can see how much these pawpaws produce… A LOT. You’re going to need a bigger freezer.
KYSU says they freeze their pulp for up to 2 years (they use it for ice cream), but they use a deep freezer, so it’s not the same as the home fridge/freezer. Also, ice cream means the pulp is diluted… so its not the same as eating frozen pulp.
2 Likes
Yeah i think I will be giving away or composting a lot of pawpaws.
If I can find a way to sell them quickly with minimal effort, great, but I don’t have a walk in fridge to store fruit etc.
I also am considering significant thinning, to one fruit per cluster, for easier harvest and less crop to deal with. But not sure if I will want to take the time for that.
1 Like
I should show you what a compost pile looks like from a place with 40+ something pawpaw trees. You think you are looking at creeping periwinkle, but it’s ALL pawpaw seedlings that sprouted up.
Maybe thin to 1 pawpaw per tree. You can aim for that largest pawpaw award at the Ohio pawpaw festival. I think the annual winners are always around 1.6 pounds.
3 Likes
Hehe yeah I had the same thought about the contest. But too bad my season is so much earlier. Maybe if I freeze the whole fruit
1 Like
If you choose late ripening ones you should be able to last till September right? When does Susquehanna ripen for you?
1 Like
Don’t know yet on Susq.
This year could be a fluke but yeah I guess if there really are later varieties (I’m a little skeptical of the true seasonal differences) then maybe I could make it to mid September.
1 Like
I still have Potomac, Sunflower, and Shenandoah dropping. What was your latest dropping this year for you?
wow!
Mine was August 29th. It was very unexpected for me to have such an early and short season.
However, this was the first crop I’ve ever had, so the trees are just getting started. Perhaps as they mature the seasonailty will change. It may have something to do with my irrigation (well, lack thereof)…i did learn that I need to water more in July to ensure good size and texture, at least in parts of the orchard where it seems drier (uphill).
1 Like
They will even out as they mature. It’s the fact they are young they get stressed easier. Any stressing causes them to drop fruit early and small, just like any other fruit.
3 Likes
@JustPeachy I have some thoughts and questions on shipping pawpaws. Having eaten all of five pawpaws in my life, and shipped precisely zero,these are definitely just theory at this point.
First of all, I’m curious as to how you package them for shipping? Do you individually wrap the fruits, or do you go more for simply immobilizing? I feel like something like an egg crate, or the trays that they put pears in combined with those styrofoam “socks” would be ideal. It also occurred to me that you could probably use a wine case to good effect. Put crumpled up paper at the bottom of each division, then stack the fruits (with more paper in between). It would provide cushioning and immobilization.
Lastly, have you (or has anyone else) experimented with throwing an ethylene absorber in the box? I’ve been wondering whether that would be enough to slow down the ripening process well enough to keep them firm in transit.
1 Like
[I apologize for the long post in advance.] I tried it all this year. Styrofoam socks. Bubble wrap. Individual wrapping. Segregated tray like what they use for peaches. Styrofoam netting sleeves like they use for asian pears.
A lot of my experiments shipping this year were based on pictures and posts I saw on this forum about people receiving pawpaws from online orders.
I think the best is still crumbled newspaper layering + individual wrapped each one with newspaper + lose lasagna layering. This is to maximize the number of pawpaw you can ship at one time and minimize any damage that might occur during shipping. I can ship roughly ~5 pounds in probably ~12x10x8 box this way (I don’t remember the exact dimensions of the boxes I used).
I have tried ethylene absorber. It doesn’t matter much. Actually, I shouldn’t say that. It doesn’t matter much in such a enclosed space where all of them are individually packed because they end up being each in their own localized contained in a sense. Newspaper is permeable and the cracks and space in the crumpled newspaper do let gas exchange happen. It doesn’t help much is what I mean. The two times I tried.
If you were to pack each individually with less permeable material (styrofoam sleeve or bubblewrap) and use one ethylene absorber per pawpaw that might work. The down side with this is that you’re using a lot of ethylene absorbers and it’s just another cost.
Ethylene isn’t the only issue. We’re still talking about pawpaw shipping between basically August through October. Even here, where I am, where we get fall before almost everyone else growing pawpaws, it’s can be still warm till Halloween. If it’s warm outside, it’s warm inside, where the package is getting processed and in the shipping van. I could send it refrigerated shipping, but that’s insanely expensive even choosing the slow service.
To completely remove ethylene and heat as issues (without refrigerated shipping), you could use a styrofoam cooler box, pack with ice packs, individually wrap each pawpaw and include ethylene absorbers in each wrapped pawpaw. You could probably get away with 2 or maybe even 3 day shipping this way. That’s about 60% of the cost of overnight shipping. The problem is that now the packing material is substantially increased due to the styrofoam and I’m shipping you 2 pounds of pawpaw instead of 5. Or I’ve needed to use a larger box, meaning more expensive cost. So you’re end up getting maybe 20-30% of shipping savings for 50% less pawpaw.
In the end, there is no substitute for time. Overnight shipping is the way to go. I will couch this with you can pick hardened pawpaw and time it right for slower shipping, but you’re rolling the dice on counter-ripening unless you are really experienced at picking pawpaws (which I am not). Plus, there is still no substitute for a tree ripened pawpaw. It’s like any other fruit in that respect. You’re not really evaluating the “correct flavor profile.”
There is another caveat for this. It has to be overnight shipping THAT night it was picked. With a late drop off at 8-9PM at the shipping hub, the pawpaw needs only to travel 10-16 hours in a box max. With tree ripe pawpaw, you’re gambling too much with waiting a day or two. An enclosed space, shipping on warm days, you need to get it from point A to point B as fast as possible. I’d probably put a few holes in the box for aeration actually. That is another way to go instead of adding the cost of ethylene absorbers. The people on the back half of my shipping experiments benefited more from the experience of the first half. They typically arrived if not all green but still mostly green and still firm.
If anyone wants pawpaws next year from me, I would suggest contacting me in June and July. I will just make it a standing order. It has to be that way to do it as tree ripened pawpaw. We are thinning next year so they will be larger.
Posts (mostly bad experiences on shipping):
Red Ferm Farm - smashed fruit and blacked, this was ground shipping from what I can tell from shipping cost ($15 bucks shipping up to 15 pounds sounds like priority mail flat rate), they no longer sell fruit via mail
Integration Acres - Look at that big aerated shipping box and how many pawpaw got through Use of bubblewrap in shipment the year prior.
Earthly - individually packed, somewhat segregated shipping These are from Deep Run pawpaw orchard in Maryland. Jim Davis is an expert in picking them early to handle better before they are tree-ripe. Even so, I don’t think that reflects a true taste, maybe 80-90% of it. I don’t know if that is why @Vincent_8B Susquehanna looks pale. variable experience from @murky
7 Likes
Wow! I figured you’d been thorough, but I am impressed with just how thorough you’ve been. That’s all very good info for anyone wanting to ship or receive pawpaws. That’s disappointing that the ethylene absorbers don’t seem to help much, but I suppose if the silver bullet was that obvious, we’d all be getting mail-order pawpaws by now!
And, totally unrelated, the latest episode of The Sporkful happens to highlight pawpaws:
2 Likes