Pawpaws!

Saw these beauties and many others today at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival in Albany, Ohio!  What's a pawpaw?  Pawpaws are Ohio's state native fruit and the largest fruit native to North America.  Kenneth and I spotted pawpaw at Battelle Darby Creek, Sharon Woods and even at the Columbus Zoo - they grow all over Ohio!  The fruit is edible (but not the seeds!) and tastes like a combination of banana, mango and vanilla.  The texture is soft, like custard.  I will be posting a review of the 15th annual Pawpaw Festival very soon!

While you wait, check out the Ohio Pawpaw Festival website (or get yourself to Albany, the festival continues tomorrow!) and this NPR story The Pawpaw: Foraging For America's Forgotten Fruit by Allison Aubrey (a segment of the story is about the Ohio Pawpaw Fest!).  Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for pawpaws in the Capital City - they grow in patches in wooded areas, the fruit is ripe when it falls from the tree (you can give a tree a gentle shake to knock high hanging fruit to the ground).  Enjoy!