hi
Do they really taste like banana pudding...ok they say custard

I have planted a dozen or so small trees (1-4 feet). But have never tasted the fruit....

break it to me, how do paw paws taste?

Wet, slightly sweet. Not unpleasant, but not much "umph" to them. It is wishful thinking to compare them to bananas or other strongly flavored fruits. Egg custard without quite enough sugar and no spices or other flavorings of any kind may be close.

My great appreciation goes to Terry for sending me a sampler of paw-paw fruits! I have paw-paws in my yard but I figured it would take them 7 more years before they come to fruiting, they are slowest growing tree in my yard.

From the sampler, I can say that they tasted a lot better than bananas. Some paw-paw fruits are banana shaped, that's as far as comparison goes. If you have tasted Cherimoya, soursop (graviola, guyabano, Annona muricata), and sugar apple (atis, custard apple, sweet sop, A. squamosa), the taste is a combination of all of these. Naturally, they are all Annonaceae.

The aroma is strongly more towards soursop (50%), and cherimoya like flavor (30%) and sugar apple (20%). The flesh texture is midway between the fine textured cherimoya and the gritty sugar apple. Of course, there could be varietal differences that may shift the aroma and texture. Cherimoya alone has vastly different kinds of taste. The Paw-paw's leaves have strong resemblance to sugar apple, and the smell of the leaves when you crush them smells exactly like that of sugar apple.

The fruit is a treasure for native Americans, and should be appreciated more. It reminds me of the tropical fruits like the soursop, sugar apple, cherimoya, atemoya, etc., and yet the pawpaw is cold hardier temperate cousins of these tropical fruits. It might be possible to increase hardiness of cherimoya, sugar apple and soursop if we can transfer (plant breeding) or splice some of the paw-paw's genes unto them. I would recommend these fruits for people who have loved eating Soursop and sugar apple. Cherimoya is still by far the best tasting among the edible Annonaceae.

This fruit is a must have, so much more if you are US citizen...

You see, this is where personal taste comes in. What is a favorate for one person is disliked by another person. Myself, I do not like the taste of Cherimoya and was very disappointed when I purchased some from the supermarket. - Millet

And so expensive $2.99 a lb.
But personally I like the taste and my kids.
Joe or anyone:
Can you get a paw-paw grafted so it will bear fruit sooner. Can you buy them in the nursery ready to fruit?

Chilled Paw Paw was George Washington's favorite desert & fruit.
Sometimes called banana-apple custard.
Citrus Joe sent me a store bought cherimoya just so I could taste one. Do paw paws have as many seeds?? There were a TON of seeds in it.
I have to say it was bland tasting...but then it was store bought.
Paw paws are very slow growing - I have 2 about 4-5 yrs old, & I have 3 cherimoyas I grew from seed in '02 & are 3 1/2 & 4 ft from soil. I may get fruits next yr on both!

Yes, they are slow growers, about a foot a year here near Houston, TX. From seed, they take about 3-4 years to get big enough to graft, 1/4inch caliper. I had my first crop of fruit this summer after a five year wait. They tasted sort of tropical(pineapple and bannana) with a very strong flavor and odor. The pawpaw ice cream tasted good as well. Some can't stand the odor, but I liked it. I have 5 trees, two from neal peterson, naomi's gold, mango, and one with several varieties I grafted with chip buds from a friend with more than I have. I've had my best luck with locally dug root suckers. Peterson is the only one I'd mailorder from as he sends bigger trees with well developed roots systems. This year I grafted taylor and wells.

I recently got a couple Paw Paw seeds from Trade Winds. I have had them in the refrigerator for about a month-- Is that enough cold exposure or do they need several months of cold conditioning?

I've had a couple in the ground for 3 years now...Got a couple of flowers last year...and hopefully will set some fruit this coming spring....I also have 1 little fruitlet growing on one of my Cherimoya trees..... It did take 3 years to get these pawpaws to take off..they are bout 4-5 ft tall now, with some strong branches...Cherimoya are a bit swmaller still...

Joe, I'm gald with your description, as I've got 5 pawpaw in the ground....I still have not eaten one, but I do love Cherimoya....You gotta watch where you buy Cherimoya in the store.....I had the luxury to taste some home grown...and was truly amazed with it....

Soon I shall have both to enjoy with the citrus, grapes, and all other fruit in the yard...

My latest quest is to learn how to best cook quince, as my tree has some fruit this year for the first time also...

Good EATS !

I had a great experience ordering Pawpaws from Heritage Foods USA
Under the heading of "Native American Foods". They will not be on their list till next summer. They only send out Pawpaws in September!
https://secure3.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=hfusa&BusType=BtoC&Count1=396618068&Count2=313758492
Again they only offer it for the month of Sept. It was 10lbs or about 15 pawpaws for $100, overnight shipping included. It was great. They had 4 kinds: Susquehanna, Shenandoah, Pa Golden and Allegheny.

Susquehanna and Shenandoah trees are from Peterson's Pawpaws
http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/Products.php

There was a noticeable difference in taste and texture. Susquehanna and Shenandoah's are large and firm. Up to a 1 lb each. The other two were small about a 1/3lb and were softer and sweeter.
My favorite was the Susquehanna and my wife liked the Pa Golden.
This is a bit costly but you can get several people together and have a Pawpaw party. 10 lbs of Pawpaws is a lot for one person.
My friends and I will do it again next year.
Terry

info I got from another forum....heading to SF Farmers Market Saturday !!

http://www.lagierranches.com/pawpaw.html