They are tasty, but they are quite fragile and not well equipped for shipping which is why you don't see them for sale often. I know there are people in WV trying to see what they can do about that. I'd love to see a Pawpaw industry. WV desperately needs economic diversity and we Americans need more fruit in our diets so I say it's a win-win!
Now, to continue on Pawpaws, I can't grow Asimina triloba this far down in Florida. Instead, we have several other species of Asimina. While most people think of Pawpaw as a tree, the ones that grow down here in Florida are merely shrubs. They get pretty round, but I've never met one that was as tall as I am. They tend to top out at around five feet. I'm on a quest right now to get some fruits so I can get the seeds. It is very hard to find Pawpaws in cultivation because they grow very slowly, and they have enormous taproots. I've grown them from seed before, but they were on my neighbor's side of the right-of-way and despite my little flags, he kept mowing them down. I remember I started them in little 6-inch pots like you buy stuff at Home Depot in. The plant barely had its first true leaves and the taproot had already grown through the holes in the bottom!
Now, keep in mind I see Pawpaws at a preserve and so I can't pick the fruit or gather seeds. I can't collect caterpillars, either.
I can take pictures, though! I'm pretty sure what I see is A. reticulata, although I know there are other kinds, too. They have white flowers instead of red, but there are other Pawpaw species that have red flowers. The flowers show up first, then the leaves, then the caterpillars. I've never seen a caterpillar eat the fruit so it's not like they cause much harm. I like to think Pawpaw Ray would have had a "live and let live" system with them. I have fed them flower petals in captivity just to see if they would eat it (they did), but I doubt there's as much nutrition there as is in the leaves. Okay, here's some pics I took last month.
So today I wanted to see if those flowers set fruit yet. FYI, they bloomed pretty late this year. Once again, I blame El Nino. I did see some fruits today, but they're still tiny. I assume you could eat the fruits, but I've never tried it. I don't think they'd harm you, but I don't know that they'd taste good, either. They do have the same growth habit as their tree cousin. The fruits tend to grow in clusters. They're also shaped the same, but they only get to be 3-4 inches long.
You can see I've still got some waiting to do. I'll update you when I harvest some. Until then, I plead the Fifth on everything!
