Paw Paws / The Indiana Banana

The Paw Paw Trees of Indiana, the best kept secret for delicious fruit are worth the time spent looking. It happens each fall they ripen shortly after the first frost of the season. They are one of my very favorite fruits, mostly found in the wild, but some of us are bringing them into our lawns, and why not? They are a pretty tree with large elongated leaves and the purple blooms in the spring are always a welcome sight. The fruit is just delicious as you cut them in half and then spoon the fruit out and enjoy much like a cup of custard...The large flat seeds that come with it need to be delt with but if your smart you will save them, placing them into the freezer or refrigerator and planting them in the spring time.

They are not plentiful in Indiana usually found in semi wet areas of a woods, not swampy lets say "damp" areas....And they are not restricted to Indiana by any means, I believe I have read where they actually are located from central America all the way to Canada even. With some variatal changes as they progress northward...Indiana's version is probably as good as it gets or at least good enough for me and mine...I located one in a fence row behind my daughter Suzette's house. The whole family is now well aware of the "sacred tree" growing behind the house and up to speed on protecting it from any harm. I have about a half dozen growing in my land scaping at my home and thus the picture you see at the right.

My first experience with the Indiana Banana or Paw Paw was about 60 years ago when my sister Peg and hubby Charlie Ritchie lived along US 52 about 6 miles south of Lafayette...They told me I could come stay with them a few days and sell some Paw Paws that were in big numbers in a woods next to the house...Mom loaded me up with her fresh eggs to sell and dropped me off. I went into the woods and quickly picked a couple big buckets full of the delicasy that I knew nothing of only dollar signs for me...I placed some tables near the road in front of the house with a Paw Paw sign, also finding bitter sweet and added that to my array of goods to be turned into cash.

I was not there long and a little Crosley auto went whizzing by and applied the brakes and did a U turn and came back to my stand. He got out and said, "wow I have not had a paw paw for years can I eat one right now"? I said yeal if you pay for it when your done...He devoured a couple of them and then purchased just about all that I had picked. So back into the woods I went with new respect for this fruit that now had "demand" written all over it...Before the day was over I even got the nerve to try one of these myself...Can not say it was love at first taste, this is one of those things that have to kind of grow on you..But once it does, your hooked big time....for life....

As life went on I kind of forgot about paw paws, I guess until one day there was an article in the Lafayette Paper the Journal Courier, about a Mr. Paul Bauer close to Monitor that kind of was the Yule Gibbins of Paw Paw trees..Showed pictures of him and his trees and paw paws....Not long after that I met his son Bob and wife Cathy and asked about the paw paw man...they directed me over to meet him and he gave me some of the trees no doubt maybe the one that has the pics at the right here...I also sometimes dig them up in a woods if they are very small, as they quickly get long deep roots making it almost impossible if they have much size to them...Actually the very best way is just to save the seed placing them into a little nursery and then transplanting them when about a foot tall or so.

Anyway Mr. Bauer told me and it does work that if you are lucky enough to come onto say a hundred of these that you can wrap in newspaper and place in the freezer for a year or so, as the shelf life is short for these guys...I did it and they are as he said "wonderful" to thaw out and cut in half and spoon out the delicous custart thet they hold inside that ungly skin that with freezing has turned black....

Well that is my report on the most underrated little tree in Indiana, hope you will join me in adding them to your landscape, they are well worth the effort....