# What are paw paw's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386 "2013-06-07T15:26:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/1 "2013-06-07T15:26:37Z")
You know like in the children’s song, “Picking up paw paw’s and putting them in the pan” I have considered that it means cotton balls to pecans, but I really don’t know who else to ask … Thank you in advance for your consideration in this matter … Mr Quatro ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/2 "2013-06-07T15:28:22Z")
[Paw paws](http://www.google.ch/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1397&bih=936&q=paw+paw+fruit&oq=Paw+paw&gs_l=img.1.2.0l10.1623.4984.0.7253.7.6.0.1.1.0.114.463.5j1.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.16.img.YxF6f6plQEc) are fruit ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/3 "2013-06-07T15:28:51Z")
Here ya go- > **[Asimina triloba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_pawpaw)** > > Asimina triloba, the American papaw, pawpaw, paw paw, or paw-paw, among many regional names, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and Canada, producing a large, yellowish-green to brown fruit. Asimina is the only temperate genus in the tropical and subtropical flowering plant family Annonaceae, and Asimina triloba has the most northern range of all. Well-known tropical fruits of different genera in family Annonaceae include the custard-apple, cherimoya, sweets The pawp... I have never tasted one, but I want to. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/4 "2013-06-07T15:34:40Z")
Looks like a mango, tastes like banana pudding. The riper they are the better they taste, but there’s a short time period between optimum flavor and seeds completely taking over the interior making them frustrating to eat. Racoons get pretty mean about protecting “their” Paw paw trees, so be careful. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/5 "2013-06-07T16:00:24Z")
This is a bit eerie - getting off the subway today I was singing the pawpaw song. Specifically the line “pickin’ up pawpaws, puttin’ 'em in your pocket” ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/6 "2013-06-07T16:02:27Z")
Yummy - we buy them in our local supermarket. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, add a squeeze of lemon and eat with a teaspoon. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/7 "2013-06-07T16:04:25Z")
Just don’t confuse them with prickly pears. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/8 "2013-06-07T16:07:19Z")
> [@Anaglyph](#): > > [Paw paws](http://www.google.ch/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1397&bih=936&q=paw+paw+fruit&oq=Paw+paw&gs_l=img.1.2.0l10.1623.4984.0.7253.7.6.0.1.1.0.114.463.5j1.6.0...0.0...1ac.1.16.img.YxF6f6plQEc) are fruit That Google image search is potentially confusing since it shows fruits of both the North American pawpaw _Asimina triloba_, and the tropical Papaya _Carica papaya_, which is often called pawpaw as well (especially outside the US). > [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Here ya go- > [Asimina triloba - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_pawpaw) This is what is commonly called pawpaw in the southern US, and is the subject of the “pawpaw song.” You wouldn’t ever want to pick up papayas and put them in your pocket. First of all, they wouldn’t fit; second, by the time a papaya fell it would be so overripe your pocket would be full of mush.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/9 "2013-06-07T16:08:37Z")
A Hoosier banana, because they taste like bananas, sort of. Or, as we say when my friend offers them, “Who’s your banana?” ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/10 "2013-06-07T16:08:59Z")
My first thought was “It’s a granddad.” (pa - papa - add a southern accent “paw paw”) Then I read “Picking up paw paw’s and putting them in the pan” and I was like “Yikes - guess not!” ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/11 "2013-06-07T16:09:37Z")
We just planted a pair (you need two different types to cross-pollinate to get fruit). Right now, they’re little 2-foot tall sticks. From what I hear, it’s several years to get any fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/12 "2013-06-07T16:15:21Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > You know like in the children’s song, > > “Picking up paw paw’s and putting them in the pan” > > I have considered that it means cotton balls to pecans, but I really don’t know who else to ask … > > Thank you in advance for your consideration in this matter … > > Mr Quatro [Alternatively](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=paw+paw). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/13 "2013-06-07T20:11:39Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Yummy - we buy them in our local supermarket. Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, add a squeeze of lemon and eat with a teaspoon. The North American ones or the S. American? The North American ones, in my experience, aren’t really commercially viable. They have a very short window where they’re good and look progressively uglier and more spoiled on the outside as they ripen (mottled skin & black spots). The don’t ripen well off the tree either. My wife was raised in S. America and the first time she had a NA paw paw, she was delighted at how much it reminded her of the SA fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/14 "2013-06-07T20:13:44Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > Just don’t confuse them with prickly pears. I’ve had prickly pears and they’re pretty good - even if the seeds are a bit like little rocks. I DO want to try paw-paw but haven’t been able to locate a source. Anyone in Northwest Indiana have a paw-paw tree and willing to donate a paw-paw to the cause? ---
**Author:** ![\_Olive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/4af34b/32.png) [@\_Olive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Olive)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/15 "2013-06-07T22:58:39Z")
Unripened they can be used like squash. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/16 "2013-06-08T00:11:18Z")
Paw paws grow in the wild near here, and approximately over Labor Day Weekend they get ripe enough to eat, and then quickly spoil. I’m surprised North American paw paws would be able to survive grocery stores. And, around here, I see them written with space between the paws, like cats sit when they’re fat. They’re milder and have a less specific flavor than bananas or papayas or mangoes. Perhaps they could be imitated by mixing those other fruits. They sort of look like green sweet potatoes that grow in smallish trees with big leaves. The seeds are huge inside, like large lima beans but almost black. ---
**Author:** ![applebetty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@applebetty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/applebetty)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/17 "2013-06-08T04:51:03Z")
The paw paws I saw were in a Kansas woods, growing on a thin vine. They looked like little fat single bananas, but thinner on the ends, with 2-4 big brown seeds, and tasted faintly of banana. Very mushy and not much flesh, but they were half brown. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/18 "2013-06-09T03:27:23Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ve had prickly pears and they’re pretty good - even if the seeds are a bit like little rocks. > > I DO want to try paw-paw but haven’t been able to locate a source. Anyone in Northwest Indiana have a paw-paw tree and willing to donate a paw-paw to the cause? I have mail ordered numerous paw paw saplings from several suppliers over the years. About half have survived. I tried grafted paw paws once - they died. I think I ordered some named variety paw paws once - they might have survived. Most recently I ordered some “just dug out of the woods” samplings - they died. The nice thing is, once you get a plant growing, saplings spring from its roots to form a thicket. The best sapling I ever bought was from a local nursery that happened to have one. I suggest calling local nurseries and then mail ordering from a couple of places in the late fall or early spring and crossing your fingers. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/19 "2013-06-09T14:16:09Z")
We bought ours from Stark Brothers, and both have leafed out. So far, so good. They’re tap-root trees, so they’re harder to transplant. Ours came in narrow, tall pots with soil, rather than as bare root. My wife says they are understory trees, and don’t like a lot of direct sunlight their first couple years, but after that they are OK with full Sun. We put cages around ours, with a couple strips of white tree wrap weaved through the cages, to block the Sun during the hottest part of the day. (Although I think **Broomstick** was looking for a fruit, not a whole tree.) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386/20 "2013-06-09T15:49:19Z")
Our supermarkets call them papayas - apparently the same fruit [Papaya - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-paw-paws/660386.md?page=2)