Unfortunately, people have been poaching a lot of the fruit from the trees along the Susquehanna and selling them at festivals or online. Last year, during the PA Pawpaw fest, I walked along trials that had thousands of trees, and basically no fruits. When they are selling them for $16 a pound, it is no wonder that they get stripped. I have had better luck in Maryland, but it has been a couple of years, so maybe it has changed there too.
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Good point, demand has seemingly shot way higher than it has been in the past. Iāll keep looking when Iām in the woods and maybe Iāll get lucky but Iāll be going to the Duncansville pawpaw festival to at least taste some more types. I had Shenandoah, PA Golden, Allegheny and Overleese. I thought they all tasted very similar and as crazy as it sounds my gf and I preferred PA Golden. I wish I knew which specific iteration of PA Golden it was because it consistently was my favorite, even after I forgot them in the back of the fridge for 2 weeks (what some consider too over ripe but I think was as good or better than day 1 flavor).
Can anyone here speak to their thoughts on PA Golden flavor? I realize the general sentiment is itās a subpar cultivar these days but Iām strongly considering at least doing a graft of PA Golden #3.
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Get scion from someone that enjoys their PA Golden. From my experience trying pawpaws from different growers it definitely matters how they are grown, harvested, and stored. I try to keep an open mind with cultivars I have only tried once from one source. I think I remember Raleigh Pawpaw having a āgoodā PA golden, and he sells scion every year,
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Even if a lot of the pawpaw fruit is taken and sold, there are still people wishing to try some, would buy it, and canāt find any to even purchase.
I went to a pawpaw festival where all the pawpaw fruit was sold in the first hour.
I have still only had two pawpaws ever. One a friend foraged for me and one grew on my trees. I didnāt like either of them! However, I have friends who like them and they are cool looking trees and Iād like to try some more named cultivars to see if I like them better- itās just really hard to find them.
Sadly, in two of the years my trees fruited well, I had long covid and couldnāt taste a thing. I gave about 10 gallons of fruit away.
Hereās hoping for a good crop next year!
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The thing about the pawpaw festivals, at least the P.A fest I went to, is that the fruit is picked a bit early. I had paid the ridiculous amount per pound, basically 6 dollars per fruit, to try some varieties and they were definitely not entirely ripe. The Shenandoah was a bit starchy, as was sunflower. the only good one was Susquehanna, that one tasted like some of the ones I had foraged for. To @FruitAddictedās point, I would try to find a farm or enthusiast near you that will let you purchase or trade some fruits, because ones that are picked are not going to have the best flavor, just like any fruit!
That said, it is an acquired taste that is not for everybody lol.
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Thanks for the recommendation, Iāll definitely keep that in mind. Thankfully, I personally donāt notice a huge difference between any of the ones Iāve tried and I am quite terrible at describing flavors unlike some in this forum so I am happy with generally any decent cultivar.
They had some random wild pawpaws when I went to the festival near me last year and the wild ones were far and away the worst fruit Iāve had in quite some time. The bitterness that people describe is about all I noticed, it was my very first time trying it and itās easy for me to understand why someone with a wild patch without further experience would swear away the fruit in general. Besides tasting pretty good, I just find them interesting. I hope to one day experience a pawpaw that tastes better than a good apple or pear but they are at least a fun novelty until I can try more.
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Susquehanna is the one Iām extremely eager to get my hands on to taste. Always said to be basically the pinnacle but the tree seems temperamental at best in certain situations (unlikely to fully ripen in am average season for me). Would be tempted to check out the major one in Ohio but between the cost of travel and tickets, it would be quite cost prohibitive compared to smaller local ones for me.
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Been kind of out of the loop lately. But I pulled some of the potted grafts out and took off the buddy tape around the graft unions to prevent girdling. I usually do that after 2 months. Theyāre looking good. Theyāve been getting occasional fish and seaweed fert this season and only rain/collected rainwater.
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Beautiful trees and graft unions.
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Thanksā¦appreciate the comment. Itās been a struggle with a lot of the fruit trees, but at least the pawpaws have been a success this year.
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This year first fruits dropping are Wabash and Rappahannock, the constant heatwawe seems not changing the ripening time, with figs weāre 15 days earlier.
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I have 2 pawpaws on my little SAA Overlease and I was just checking on them and noticed that I think Iām starting to see a little bit of a color break and when I squeeze lightly there is a little give. They also seem to have swelled up a little more over the last week or so. Could they really be ripening this early in 7B, Arlington, VA? I believe this variety is an earlier one.
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Niceeeeee!!! Canāt wait to see the insides!
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