What the heck is a pawpaw?
By Cindy O. Herman
Go ahead and laugh - everyone does - at the funny-looking fruit with the funny-sounding name and the weird, custard-like insides. If there was such a thing as a comedian in the fruit world, the pawpaw would be it. But like any good comedian, it does have its fans and followers, and even a festival - the annual Pawpaw Festival near Albany, Ohio. Eat your heart out, apples and oranges. The pawpaw (asimina triloba), a sweet, banana-like fruit, grows wild on the islands and shores of the Susquehanna River. Few people know of it, but the ones who do seem to develop a protective, jovial attitude toward the little guy."Actually, it's a big interest of mine," said Tyler Carl, of Herndon, who grew up canoeing on the river with his grandfather, the late Herman Kerstetter, of Selinsgrove.
Through him, Tyler learned how to find and eat pawpaws (also spelled papaws and paw paws), which he said taste like a cross between a banana and a melon. "Now, since my grandfather unfortunately passed away, my father, John Carl, and some friends of mine, Shannon Erdman (Klingerstown) and Brad Reigle (Trevorton), they all go with on the Pawpaw Adventure," Carl explained, smiling broadly. "Every year, we make it a regular thing." Central Pennsylvania is among the northernmost places pawpaws will grow. Also called Poor Man's Bananas and Hoosier Bananas, they have a certain "ick" factor that must be overcome for them to be enjoyed.
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