I few weeks ago I placed an order for Paw Paws with Integrated Acres in Ohio, because my Genotype Swami Explorer lists them as diamonds for me.

They arrived today   and the aroma filled the air as I opened the box.   Of course I had to try one right away and they were quite different then what I expected.  I do like it, it is just very different from any other fruit I have had.

They taste like citrusy melon custard.  Quite unique taste and texture I must say.  The texture can be compared with ripe avocado.  The taste was a bit sweet , a bit tart and it was juicy also.   I liked it, but I am a bit funny with textures.  It isn't a texture that I am used to in fruit (beside avocado - is that a fruit  ).

I put the ripe ones in the refrigerator and left out the ones that are not quite ripe.  

They are organic, which I really like and they are diamonds for me which I really like (Elderberry and Guava being the only other diamond fruits I have).  They are very reasonable priced for the fruit themselves, but have to be delivered overnight express so the delivery charge is expensive.  The company emailed me in advance to ask if I would be ready to receive the order in a few days, which I appreciated.

It will be a Paw Paw week for me!

Tea Rose  

Tea Rose,
Enjoy them, they are a wonderful fruit.  Not a diamond for us, but still a superfood.  We eat them all the time, due to the fact that here in subtropical australia, we grow them easily in our gardens.

I prefer the red pulp variety, they are sooooo much sweeter!!  The reder the pulp, the sweeter it is.  But all are superb!  

Cristina,

These ones are dark yellow on the inside.  They really smell wonderful.  Unfortunately all my diamond fruits are from other areas.  So this week I will enjoy my diamond fruit and the rest of the year it will be superfruits for me!

Tea Rose  

I have only seen yellow paw paw in the states.

I think what Australians call paw paw may be what in the US is called papaya.

I found a mention to red paw paw on this site:

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20pages/pawpaw.htm


American paw paws look like this:

That is exactly it C_Sharp!

yes C, the chirimoya you mentioned being called by hispanics up there....and down here as well!

those are never red inside......

must be papaya definitively


spoon the pulp out from the ripe ones, and freeze in zip lock bags so
pawpaws don t
come out your ears by the time the week is due!!!
this way you can enjoy your pawpaw inside a smoothie or make a frozen desert or whatever suits your fancy, throughout the year.

You are right guys,  Does that mean I have been not compliant with my Teacher diet?  Silly me, then, I have been eating Papayas like superfoods, but the teacher diet says Paw,paws and although similar texture (I think) the seeds of the papaya are many and small in the centre ...

I will have to search the internet on this ... two different fruits altogether  

Correction, Papaya is also in the Teacher's diet together with Paw Paw, all is well at Cristina's household  

The funny thing is that here they tend to call the Papaya, Paw Paw, I am sure we bought the seedlings as 'red pawpaws' from the nursery.  I do know the difference now!

I love papaya too and now it is a neutral on my SWAMI  

That photo of a paw paw looks ripe, but where I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains, we never ate them until the skins began to blacken.  Then they were considered fully ripe.  

We scraped the seeds with out teeth to get every last bit of fruit!

Victoria,

That is good to know.  They sent them in different stages of ripeness.  I ate the one today with the black spots on it and it was very good.  They said in the sheet that they sent with them,that close to the skin the fruit might be bitter, but I didn't find that at all.  It was nice right to the skin which I scaped along with the seeds.

Tea Rose

I have heard that paw paw can be a nickname for papaya, so it's interesting to know there is an American paw paw that is not a papaya. I've been meaning to get a papaya. It seems there are some enormous ones in the store.

I think the smaller papayas have a better, more concentrated flavor.

Tea Rose, glad you were able to get your Paw Paws. We get them from the farmer's market-- Chris (of Integration Acres) is usually there on Saturdays and Wednesdays, he also does really good goat's milk cheeses.

If you are in Western NY you may be able to get them to grow them where you are.

Here's a bit of info on them.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-220.pdf

If you decide you want to, the Integration Acres people can probably point you to a good source for trees. They may even be growing them for sale, I haven't checked. There are lots of them growing wild in our area.

I just noticed that paw paws are a diamond food for me too.  Will order some from
your source, Tea Rose if I can't find them locally in my Asian market.  They carry a lot of exotic fruits and vegetables from all over the world.  The papayas in the health food
store don't look like the photo C_sharp posted.  They are quite large and have lots of
little seeds inside.

Quoted from Chloe

  They are quite large and have lots of
little seeds inside.

Sounds like a papaya rather than a paw paw.

Quoted from Chloe

The papayas in the health food
store don't look like the photo C_sharp posted.  They are quite large and have lots of little seeds inside.

I noticed that small papayas seem to be available now as well. Stop and Shop carries the large and the small ones now.

Victoria, where exactly did you grow up?

Oh, that picture is making my mouth water! I can just taste that pawpaw . . . *sigh* Delicious! Wish we had some trees around here, I'd take all I could get my hands on Wonder if you could dry it?

I noticed how large the ones are in the grocery stores, they are huge!

Quoted from Brighid45

Oh, that picture is making my mouth water! I can just taste that pawpaw . . . *sigh* Delicious! Wish we had some trees around here, I'd take all I could get my hands on Wonder if you could dry it?

Brighid45,

When I ordered mine, they said that they would also be selling paw paw pulp (like for smoothies).  The name of the place is Integration Acres in Ohio http://www.integrationacres.com/products.html.  Look under Products, then Frozen and you will find it.  Maybe this will help your craving!

Tea Rose

Brighid45, do you have space for growing the trees, because you should be able to in southeast PA.

Thanks for the link TR, I'll definitely check it out!

Bekki--unfortunately we don't have any land to plant a tree, but I wouldn't mind doing some guerilla planting. We'll see what can be done.

So does anyone know for sure that Swami is referring to the Northa American version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimina_triloba#Biochemistry
and not Papaya?