COLUMBUS, Ohio — Producers large and small are always on the lookout for the next best thing. Any grower will tell you if the public wants it, they will grow and sell it.

 

 Very well, some experts say – why not look into growing the pawpaw? While it’s no secret the pawpaw was popular with the nation’s early settlers, the fruit has followed tricorn hats and quill pens into relative cultural obscurity. Even as local and foraged foods have risen in popularity, the pawpaw has managed to keep a low profile.

 

But some say it should be front and center. “Pawpaws are gaining in popularity, not only with processors, but with produce buyers and brewers,” said Brad Bergefurd, an extension educator and horticulture specialist with The Ohio State University. “It’s a big demand item with their seeds.”

 

Often referred to as the “poor man’s banana,” the pawpaw grows wild in Ohio and can be cultivated as well. Bergefurd frequently gives talks about the fruit. “In southern Ohio we have all these wild pawpaw ‘plantations’ and we could manage the wild plantations to increase their publicity,” he said. “Our next step is to grow pawpaws in an orchard setting.” According to Bergefurd, there are thousands of acres of pawpaws growing in the wild in Ohio. The pawpaw tree is a cold hardy fruit tree that, while native to Atlantic coastal states, also grows northward into Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. The fruit of this tree is soft and tasty like banana custard, with the aroma of ripe bananas.

 

The fruit can weigh as much as two pounds apiece. Pawpaw trees require a second pollinator tree for fruit production and can be harvested around September or October.

 

“Right now we don’t have enough cultivated pawpaws, but wild ones will do,” Bergefurd said. “They require a lot of work, but they’re money just sitting there.”

 

Integration Acres, located in Albany, has been in business selling pawpaws for more than a decade. Owner Chris Chmiel doesn’t seem concerned that they aren’t more popular, adding business has been growing slowly and steadily since he started his company in 1996. Chmiel said the pawpaw faces challenges to being on a grocery store shelf anytime soon – and he’s not convinced the fruit will ever be available year-round. “I think pawpaws lend themselves to farmers’ markets and are basically to be eaten seasonally,” he noted.

 

Integration Acres has found a niche market, too, as microbreweries are making pawpaw pulp purchases. “That industry is always looking for new things to try, and pawpaws provide an opportunity for brewers to create something that is different and satisfying.”

 

Each September in rural southeastern Ohio, thousands gather for the annual Ohio Pawpaw festival. Kelly Sauber, who runs a micro-distillery in the area, coordinates beer sales for that festival. He also was a brewmaster at the Marietta Brewing Co., where he created the world’s first pawpaw beer in 2002. Sauber said the pawpaw was coveted. “Pawpaw is a wonderful fruit in beer and it is surprisingly subtle, considering how strong the flavor and aroma are when eaten straight,” he explained. “The tropical flavor blends very well with both wheat malt and esters produced by yeast during fermentation.”

 

Outside Ohio there are indications pawpaws are being embraced, as well. Integration Acres has shipped the fruit to breweries in Indiana, Michigan and North Carolina. “I would like to see this continue on its path of growth,” Sauber said. But it all begins with growers of the pawpaw, and Bergefurd is hoping producers take notice and give it the acreage it so deserves.

 

“The market’s just sitting there, waiting for all this,” he said “There is enough wild pawpaw acreage there, but (they) just need to manage it.”

 

There are health benefits to the pawpaw. According to nutritional information provided by Kentucky State University extension, the fruit has a higher amount of protein than the banana, apple or orange. It also has higher concentrations of most minerals

and essential amino acids.