Way down yonder in the paw paw patch
Call it the American Custard Apple or the West Virginia Banana, but it’s neither apple nor banana. It’s the Paw-paw (Asimina trilob), the largest native fruit of North America, and it grows throughout Appalachia. There are about seven other members of the genus Asimina, all growing in the southeastern U.S. Mature pawpaw trees produce fruits 2" wide by 10" long, which turn from green, to yellow, and then black as they ripen in the fall.
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on, boys [or girls, or kids], let's go find her,
Come on, boys, let's go find her,
Come on, boys, let's go find her,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin' up paw-paws, puttin' 'em in her pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, puttin' 'em in her pockets,
Pickin' up paw-paws, puttin' 'em in her pockets,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
---The Paw Paw Patch
Traditional folk song
Paw-paw fruits are rich in minerals such as magnesium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, potassium, and phosphorus. The fruit also contains abundant concentrations of Vitamin C, proteins, and their derivative amino acids. The Peterson Field Guide mentions that the seeds, along with being an emetic, have narcotic properties.
The paw-paw pulp may be eaten raw, made into ice cream, baked, or used as a pie filling. Some Appalachian cooks make a custard out of "Poppaws." Seed them, mash them, add milk, a little sugar, an egg and some allspice. Pour the batter into custard cups and set those in a bread pan with some water in the bottom of the pan. Bake at a medium heat. Stick a broom straw or toothpick in, and when it comes up clean it’s done. Paw-paw also makes an excellent dry, white wine. It can be made from fresh or canned fruit. The paw-paw is sensitive to ultraviolet light, thus, paw paw seedlings may not grow back after forests have been clear cut, and there are very few virgin forests left in the United States. Paw-paws can be found growing there abundantly, but once the forests are harvested, the paw paw will not usually re-establish.
sources:www.fred.net/kathy/pawpaws.html
http://kentuckyhighlands.net/agriculture/trees/history-of-the-pawpaw-tree.html
American+custard+apple West+Virginia+banana paw+paw appalachia +appalachian+culture appalachian+history
Dave, Thanks for this interesting post about Paw-paw trees. Near where I lived in Cumberland County, Tennessee [north of Crossville on Highway 27]was a gentleman who propagated Paw-paw trees and sold various sized trees growing in buckets for transplanting elsewhere. He, at one time, was doing much to education folks about this wonderful old plant which we sing about but which most folks have never seen. Thanks for a good read.
Terry Thornton
Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi
Terry Thornton said...
8:44 PM
Dave-
We have a paw-paw tree in our front yard, and have not known until right now what it was. It's quite lovely and produces weird looking fruit that we didn't even think to eat. But how great that we now know; and we can sing about parking our car "way down yonder" by the paw paw tree.
Thanks for the information.
Teri Lussier said...
9:11 PM
Teri, I believe you may on to the beginnings of some lyrics for a NEW old timey song. Tune up your vocal chords and get to it! ;-)
Dave Tabler said...
8:32 AM
Great post. It is sad that pawpaws go unnoticed these days.
For anyone wanting to grow them I find many wild-type pawpaws to have a metallic aftertaste. Many do not though. But if you look at growing cultivars, be sure to include a variety by Neal Petersen called Susquehanna. They grow large...but not many of them. It is the finest pawpaw flesh I've ever had. Petersen has a website:
http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/
All of the cultivars I've had from there were good...but Susquehanna was fantastic.
BTW, you might also give the folks at the Pawpaw Foundation a look here:
http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/ppf/default.htm
persimmonpudding said...
1:59 PM
I went to the Paw-Paw Festival over in Athens, Ohio, last fall. Not much of a festival but I did get to sample some of the fruit, and I brought a few home to eat. I saved a couple of the seeds (they're being kept moist in my fridge right now) and I'll try planting them this spring.
I was born in WV and I've heard the paw-paw song all my life but until the festival last year, I had never eaten paw-paws or seen paw-paw trees.
Corey Wilde said...
10:13 AM
Paw Paws; “The Forbidden Fruit”
By: Thomas haverland
On The Old Fence-line by the Paw Paw tree,
Where sometimes we boys used to go to take a ’pee’;
We’d pause to pick up their fruit;
And if your partook of too much fruit;
You would secume to the dreaded
PawPaw “routie- toot-toot “!
So beware; if you find a Paw Paw Now-a-days,
You can regret it in many ways !
The moral of this poem is if you pass a paw paw tree;
Do-Not pee near this digenesis tree or pick up &eat the ’forbiden fruit”
Big Tom said...
1:32 PM
Paw Paws; “The Forbidden Fruit”
By: Thomas haverland
On The Old Fence-line by the Paw Paw trees,
Where sometimes we boys used to go to take a ’pee’;
We’d pause to pick up their fruit;
And if your partook of too much fruit;
You would secume to the dreaded
PawPaw “routie- toot-toot “!
So beware; if you find a Paw Paw Now-a-days,
You can regret it in many ways !
The moral of this poem is if you pass a paw paw tree;
Do-Not pee near this digenesis tree or pick up &eat the ’forbiden fruit”
Big Tom said...
1:34 PM