I picked about twenty pounds of paw paws earlier this week from the wild, not 20 minutes from my house. They are just going to waste. Why? They are awesome fresh, they make great ice cream, strawberry paw paw smoothies are refreshing and delicious, and if you haven't had them yet, paw paw muffins with peanut butter icing-an amazing treat. They are nutritious, historical ( they were used as a motivational treat during the Lewis and Clark expedition), and are currently being used for cancer research. They aren't bothered by most insects and pests due to a natural pesticide within the leaves. I know they don't ship well, but should be able to be processed quickly for paw paw pulp and frozen. They have the same esters as juicyfruit gum so the smell is very nostalgic and reminiscent of that. If you like jackfruit, soursop, or cherimoya, you'll love these. I know they aren't plentiful outside the east coast and Midwest, but even within theses areas they seem to be ignored. That is my rant. If you are local, feel free to help yourself to what I have. See pics below.

Agree fully Bill.  I believe mostly because they don't ship or handle well and when you get outside of fruit growing folks most would not even recognize them.

I've never met a paw paw. Would love to try them, but...Where? (I'm in ny-they're just the stuff of legend)

would love to find some growing wild, not sure where to start looking in the area 

There are only a couple small groves of wild pawpaw remaining here in southern Ontario. I see trees for sale more and more though at local nurseries.

I look for them growing wild all the time now but I have never found a wild one.  They were native here, growing mainly in river and stream valleys, I have read.  I am sure that some people in rural areas of Western PA know where there are still some growing.  If there was a patch within easy driving distance I would take advantage of it, for sure.  They are a great fruit.

Can paw paws be grown from cuttings? Would seeds produce nice trees? Can they be grafted on a pear tree or an apple tree?

I hear about them a lot on the forum, but have never eaten one.

The nursery by my house had 6, 3' seedling trees in the spring at the beginning of the season. They still had all 6 when I was there yesterday :/ It's too bad, they were great looking trees, people just don't know how tasty they are!

Will plant a couple as soon as I can find some trees. 
I have tried growing from seeds and none germinated. 

Kristin,  would love to know that nursery name? Thanks 

Looks great bill. I'm also in western pa, I'm sure there are plenty of pawpaws around, just don't know where they are. I've toyed with the idea of planting seeds johnny appleseed style in some local parks though.

Joe,

Rhora's Nursery (Nuttrees.com) is in that area and has several pawpaws varieties.

and so does Grimonut.com

Tyler

Thanks Tyler they are not too far from me.  I will check out their Paw Paws.

Paw Paw propagation and other info...

http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/ppg.htm

Had a few today for lunch.  They were a gift from our local natural foods market guy.

   

Paw paws can be grown from seeds. I just went to a paw paw festival in Montgomery County Maryland. Neal Peterson who is an expert on the trees gave a talk. He has researched and grafted his own varieties. He claims the seeds dry out very quickly, so keep them in the fridge in moist peat until spring. Our largest native fruit.

I'm 41 and just tried paw paw for the first time over the weekend (thanks Bill). I've always heard that it tastes like banana custard. Well ... Not so much. Closer to jack fruit which I love. I would say it would probably be an acquired taste. Like Bill mentioned, used in baking or mixed in smoothies, I'm sure would be great. For me, I'm not running out to buy a tree. If you've never tried it, look for it and give it a try. You may love it.

Bill, I completely agree with you!  I think one of the main reason many farmers don't grow them is because it takes 6+ years before you can taste the fruit.  We want that "instant gratification" when we plant something!  But some things just take time.  But mark my word...one day they will be the next best fruit to get but hard to find.  And they will be $20 dollars a pound by then.  I am slowly leaning to growing more Pawpaws than figs.   The fruit is just that intoxicating!!!!!!

After eating my first Pawpaw, I was hooked!  To me, the best way to eat a pawpaw is when it turns brown in the refrigerator.  They ripen too fast on the counter.  Here in NC, they are on the rise.  I know a guy that owns a blueberry nursery.  Over the years, he has researched and grew a lot of pawpaws.  He and I have discussed Pawpaws in depth quite a bit.  I made a visit to his place last week.  And what a beautiful place he has!  He has the largest Pawpaw patch I've ever seen.  BUT it is the first Pawpaw patch I've ever seen too!  How did he start growing Pawpaws?  He obtained famous "best tasting" Pawpaw seeds from the NC Dept of Arg 10 years ago.  He said, they gave him a large bag of rotten fruit for free.  From those Pawpaws, he extracted the seeds, numbered them, and planted them.  He said his tree took 6 years to fruit.  Today, his trees are 15+ feet tall.  To me, it looked like he has 50+ trees planted in one spot in rows and columns.  I'm going back to visit him real soon.

What do they taste like?  To me they don't taste like bananas.  They just have the firm texture and feel of bananas especially when brown and fully ripe.  When they are soft and green, they have a texture of fat green mangos, not the long yellow mango---but the green ones with red spots.  To me, they do have a vanilla custard flavor---when fully ripe and brown in color.  To me, when eaten soft green and ripe, they do have a bitter after taste that lingers on your palate.  When they turn brown, the white flesh turns yellow and the flavors are more relaxed and very sweet.  To me, this is when they taste their best.

To me each one is different.  Some taste like banana custard, others have hints of mango, pineapple or a vague tropicalness.

Pawpaw sound amazing; I already love jackfruit and sugar apples (I have currently successfully germinated both for fun) but haven't had access to try fresh pawpaws in my area. Its great to hear that they grow well from seeds. Does anyone know how true to form my are to the mother trees. I understand that they won't be exact copies due hybridization, but are worth the time to raise them from seeds? Also does any know cold hardy varieties of pawpaw?

If anyone has extra seeds they are not using, let me know I would pay for shipping. It would be a fun over the winter project :).

Bob, I hope you're right because all the pawpaws I've tasted were from seedling.  I tried to get some know varieties to taste at the Ohio Pawpaw festival but all they had were from seedlings.  But I tell you what!  If named varieties taste anything close or better than wild seedlings, then man I may have to stop growing figs and focus my attention to just pawpaws.  Right now, I'm collecting seeds from those eaten this year.  Heck I've got pawpaw seeds from Ohio, Indiana, Pennsyavania, and North Carolina now.  I got mine in damp Pro-Mix in the fridge labeled by state.  I plan starting them March 1st.

I just think it's amazing how they repopulate the earth all by themselves.  There's a guy on youtube that talks about that.  The fruit just falls to the ground, decays, leave fall and covers it.  Then snow comes and covers it, then Spring comes and more debris comes.  Then when it get warm, the seed sprouts a long tap root and starts growing.

Come March of 2016, I will plant all of my Pawpaws in the ground and start about 50 to 60 from seeds.

Pino- Bad news ;) after writing yesterday I kept thinking about those loney paws so I took some off their hands lol And I just planted 3 grafted ones from Grimo a couple weeks ago! Brings my grand total to 8, but I couldn't stand the thought of them going to the nursery compost pile....anyhoo good news is there's still 3 left if you're interested! They're at Stevensville Nursery, they were 39.99 but everything's 40% off. Next week it's 50% off, week after, 60%, you get the idea :)
Oh and at grimo they're 35 bucks for a grafted tree, 24 for a seeding

6 years?  I planted in full sun (no shade tents etc)  and got fruit the 3rd summer.  The ones planted in semi shade no fruit going on 5 years now. 

Ed, that's what he told me. I'm new to pawpaws and one of my tree had blooms on but the others didn't. Hopefully, a few of my others will bloom b/c cross pollination in required for what I've heard. Ed what variteies do you have? How far apart are they?