Well, the obvious answer when you are new to paw paw growing is to ask someone who has grown them before!    Enter the Pinterest search.    There is a lot of information out there about the paw paw.   It was both abundant and popular back in the day, with Native Americans, colonists, and European explorers.

Actually a tropical fruit, it has self-adapted to the more temperate climates of some of the Northern states.    It grows wild in 26 states.

We’re excited, because we have at least a dozen wild paw paw trees and they are all full of fruit.  They will make a wonderful addition to our fruit smoothie.  Apparently you have to be there when the fruit gets ripe,  ’cause if it falls off you’ll lose it.    This could get tricky.

Turns out that paw paws start off with hard shells like they are now.  When they are ripe, the skin softens a bit, like a pear.    We’re keeping a close eye.  Wish us luck.

So the answer to the original burning question, “How do you know when a paw paw is ripe?”  is that someone else can give you hints (“the skin softens, like a pear”), but you’ll never know if the paw paw is ripe until you  experience it yourself.  Lived experience, the only real way to learn.

Thanks for playin’

T.