Near to me a farm that grows paw paw had hail-damage....I hope some fruit survived :)

Disappointing year for pawpaw - first too much rain, then too little. Still, there's a crop though smaller in number and size than what expected.

A few more. I've only had one ripen so far, but it's early- peak season here not for a few weeks.

Nice Creek those look so good! We also got a lot of rain early, then followed by a very hot June, it mad my tomatoes a month late. Keep us updated on which ones you like.

Do you know the Cultivars ? Overleese? Sunflower or what else?

My season is finished but I still have a few left in the fridge. My trees are named variety crosses, some of them have large fruit, some are small, all taste the same.

The photos are of varieties Rebecca's Gold, Shenandoah, NC-1, and Prolific though I didn't keep track of which photos are which, but the skins on the NC-1 and Shenandoah looked cleaner than that on the other varieties.

John that looks like a beauty !

Is the flavor very different among these cultivars? do they ripe in the same period?

I've found that there are differences in the cultivars with regard to flavor, size, productivity, fruit set, ripening period and other qualities. It's a mistake though to think that just by planting a particular variety that you'll be guaranteed tasty fruit - there's a lot more that goes into determining the quality of the fruit than the genetics. This goes with any fruit, but maybe more so with pawpaw.

Nothing new, but I really haven't seen any talk about the dumping of pawpaw research by academia. The last five years have been dry - nothing out there really. The only scholarly article that I saw for 2015 was something about feeding pawpaw leaves to rabbits! I trace this back to the acetogenin controversy and the lending of legitimacy to the concerns by the KSU research that determined 'low risk' pawpaw cultivars which had lower levels of acetogenins in the fruit. I can see how the funding for research into acknowledged potentially harmful fruit dried up after that.

But the pawpaw movement has picked up regardless - very trendy- with demand easily outstripping supply and prices skyrocketing. The present silence of academia must be welcomed - along the lines of the maxim 'if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all.'

Prima 1216 is an Italian cultivar with few seeds and very large fruit

I hope someone works on getting a seedless variety going.

I think it's difficult....but the seeds are big, not a big problem to eat Paw Paw

Found an octet with reasonable sized fruit on an NC-1. (The eighth fruit is visible on the bottom.) Also harvested some fruit today from a Shenandoah tree.

Looks like a Lynn's Favorite won the Ohio Pawpaw festival best pawpaw contest this year - by no means the definitive contest (and Jerry Lehman, who usually dominates this contest apparently forgot to bring his entries), but still an unlikely winner by a largely uncelebrated variety. This variety was selected by Corwin Davis supposedly because his wife liked it. (Davis himself had written that he didn't like pawpaws). I don't know of its inclusion in any trials or taste tests. I have a few of these trees and the standout quality that I've noticed is its lateness - here it is almost October and all the fruit on those trees are just still hanging without any signs that they will be ripening soon.

I still have some Sunflower hanging on in a cool part of the forest. From talking with people in Kentucky recently (including KSU), pawpaw production in that area is down about 40 to 50 percent from average this year.

Do you know to what they attributed the drop in production? I had lower than expected production ( though still higher than last year when I didn't augment pollination) with high fruit drop I believe because of waterlogged soil in May and June from excessive rain.

These pawpaws are destined to become pawpaw ice-cream. I really like using the fruit in ways that lets it live up to its potential, and additions to dairy desserts fit that bill.

I am so envious! I have only tasted the pawpaws from Integration Acres a few times, but have absolutely loved them.

My single attempt at growing two small grafted individuals failed after less than two years, and never seemed too promising. BUT, I have read more and more lately about people growing them successfully in arid high elevation climates similar to mine, so one of these days I will try again.

Thanks for posting all the pics on this thread...

We had a great crop in central NC zone 7 this year despite several months of drought.

There are a number of pawpaw ice cream recipes on line, but I wasn't able to find any reviews on them. I decided to go with the Kentucky State recipe www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/recipes.htm but with 1/4 cup more pawpaw pulp than the recipe called for. My comparisons were several professionally produced pawpaw ice creams. The ice cream made from this recipe wasn't the best overall, but compared favorably with the professional products, and I would recommend.

I have never met anyone that did not like pawpaw ice cream. Even those who do not like the fruit otherwise seem to like the fruit when made into ice cream. I guess one could say it is a match made in heaven.

There's an ice cream addict in my family around whom ice cream is usually not safe, but a recently purchased container of pawpaw ice cream has remained mostly untouched. The pawpaw flavor in some preparations can just be somewhat overpowering, especially to those who are sensitive to the bitter off-flavors. Others say they like the pawpaw ice cream, but after all, ice cream is pretty tasty stuff to start with, and I'm not entirely convinced that adding the pawpaw flavor is an improvement over the base flavor. Now with an alternative dairy dessert, the pawpaw smoothie, which is still my favorite use for pawpaws, I can honestly say that the pawpaw makes the drink.

I have tasted pawpaw ice cream in places where pawpaw flavor was not detectable, obviously they were not adding enough pulp or using other flavors such as vanilla with too heavy a hand.

I do get the sense that to some degree pawpaws are being exploited for their trendy marketing value without regard to putting out a product that even vaguely introduces the consumer to the flavor of pawpaw. I've tried pawpaw beer at the Ohio Pawpaw festival and then more recently from a local brewer, and while I enjoyed the beer, I and others could detect no hint of pawpaw in either concoction.

Now with ice cream, having made a few batches I am gaining an understanding about how easy it is to go from undetectable pawpaw flavor to overpowering pawpaw flavor by adding just a small amount of extra pulp. It reminds me of one of those awful hotel showers where the water goes from scalding hot to freezing cold with a tiny turn of the knob.

I had never heard that Corwin Davis was not that big a fan of pawpaws. Interesting.

He had written this in his elder years more in an offhand way than as a revelation, so take it as you will. Another pawpaw Davis, Jim Davis, who is surrounded by the tastiest pawpaws around at his pawpaw orchard in Md, only eats one or two a year according to the author Andy Moore.

I bark grafted the variety Mango, known for its vigor, onto a butchered 6 inch caliper seedling tree and grew the most massive first year graft I'd seen, 3 feet long with 18 inch laterals and many sublaterals. Unfortunately, I was supporting this monster with only rubber bands, and the whole thing broke off during a rainstorm. I did make two other grafts on the tree, so it's not that big a loss. Here it is on the ground.

Occasionally I see as many as eight fruits in a cluster, but this year I noticed that one of my seedling trees is actually averaging eight fruits per cluster with many in the 8 - 11 range. This tree which is about 10 years in the ground and 12 feet by 8 feet had not been on my radar until this year, just a seedling tree that I had been planning to use as rootstock when I finally got around to it. That plan has changed. Usually I like to keep less than 4 fruits per cluster, as having more results in smaller fruit and a higher skin + seed to pulp ratio. But in this case the aesthetics and the rarity of these large clusters (if they don't self thin) trumps the other consideration. Would make a nice eye catching display when harvested.

I am convinced that one of the main reasons pawpaw has not hit more mainstream is the fact that too many are planting and/or utilizing fruit from inferior varieties or seedlings with questionable quality. Many clones are known to carry a bitter quality which is offputting to many. Even some named varieties (sadly) will carry bitter notes. It is imperative that only high quality fruit are introduced to the public if pawpaw is to become well received.

That circumstance unfortunately is inevitable since the demand for the fruit is so much higher than the supply of good quality fruit, and the deficit is filled by wild gathered fruit, which is often of inferior genetics and I would guess likely to be picked too early or too late. The fruit is often small, ugly and bitter. I've seen it for sale around town sometimes at pretty high prices. But it's cool and trendy, so people buy them - it's sad that many opinions about pawpaws will be based on these specimens.

Some of my trees will make the super clusters of fruit. They never ripen all at once, one or two will ripen first and then one or two different ones, so on and so on. Usually the super clusters will drop a few early on. The most I've ever started with was 10 (that I could see) and the most I've seen hold together was a cluster of 6. As far as bitterness or flavors, I pick my fruit up off the ground rather than off the tree. They are always perfectly ripe that way. I pile up dry leaves around the base of the trees to soften the landing. Sometimes the fruit gets bruised but it is rare. I do the same thing with passionfruit - guaranteed peak flavor.

That is a good way to select fruit at peak ripeness. I try to harvest a day or two before that so as to extend their shelf life. As soon as I feel that one of the fruits in a cluster is starting to become ripe - if it gives a little to slight finger pressure, has the characteristic fragrance or color change - then I will harvest the whole cluster intact. Keeping the cluster intact makes storage a bit challenging but I believe will also extend shelf life.

Still have a number of pawpaw fruit anthe trees that have not yet ripened. This year the usual ripening order of pawpaws according to variety did not hold and many ripened at the same time during a heatwave in early September. If anything, it seems that the more shaded trees have ripened later this year than those with more sun.

I found that keeping the fruit at around 38°F works much better than at 33°F when trying to extend the season by refrigerating the fruit in the fridge. The fruit kept at the coldest temperature seem to have had some damage, even though it was kept above freezing.