Pawpaws beginning to ripen

Early this year, a few pawpaws are softening. Most are still like flint. My dog had one and I thought he picked it himself. It had already fallen off the tree and was beginning to ripen. Found another on the ground and one on the tree that was ripening. Usually it is mid August here.

It IS mid August???? LOL Mine are still hard a rocks, with a few dropped on the ground.

BigBob, I should have said 15 August.
It is odd how some trees ripen early and all the fruit is gone by Sept.Some trees have fruit that ripens a month later. I have several wild trees that grew from seed and all of them are like a random mix of genes (which is what they are). Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. Some have small round fruit, some long and banana like, some have no fruit, some little scrawny trees are loaded down. The green color of the leaves varies from tree to tree, and the fall color varies too.

Do you do anything with them? We have a lot of paw paws on the farm I rent and we don't really do anything with them.

Good to eat, cut in 1/2 and scoop it out like pudding. Excellent animal feed. Lot's of variables with early/late spring, bad spring storms, amount of rain, late frost etc.

I eat them fresh, my wife bakes pawpaw cakes and cup cakes with them. They are supposedly a great health food with lots of beneficial vitamins and minerals. They claim they are one of the foods that help prevent cancer. Pawpaw ice cream is delicious I hear, I've never tried it. They sell it in some groceries.

If you know what a pawpaw tastes like you would be surprised that pawpaw cake has any in it. It is one of the best cakes I've ever eaten, but tastes NOTHING like pawpaw.

You can find recipes on line for baking with them.

I just wished that they had a longer shelf life. I am eating them as fast as they are falling on the ground. I keep checking my ears to see if yellow puddin is squeezing out.

52Carl, For cooking with them you can scoop out the pulp and freeze it. I suppose you could do the same to preserve them to eat, but the texture wouldn't be the greatest. I'm going to try to mix some of the pulp in vanilla ice cream this year. I've read pawpaw dishes are best if they are not heated.

Can the fruit be shipped slightly green to ripened after they are received?

Come on guys! Make some paw paw wine.

gryhkl, Some commercial growers pick them just as they begin to ripen and ship them to customers in boxes designed to protect them in transit. They soften slightly as they start to ripen. If you're careful you can determine if they are ready without bruising them.

I remember years ago taking a wrapped shoe box to the post office to mail to my aunt in Washington state. The post master, as he was putting postage on it, said, "so they like pawpaws in Tacoma?" He could smell them, because I didn't tell him what was in the box.