Check it out. Angelica found this strange fruit while we were walking thru the woods today (illegally might I add on the Christendom trails--which according to their new sign is off limits to alumnae??????--what the heck. . . . )
Well they smelled so yummy that we harvested a bunch of them by shaking the trees and brought them home. When I showed them to my most knowlegable husband, He said, "hmmmmm, looks like pawpaws." Which is exactly what they are. They apparently were a staple in the Indian and early American colonial diet, being George Washington's favorite dessert--(chilled pawpaw). Unlike their wild friends, the blueberry, cranberry, etc they never were domesticized because they don't keep well enough to make it to markets and grocers. But that doesn't stop them from being the largest native north American fruit.
Did I mention they smell like mangos? (I'm sold. )
So tonight the patriotic Hatkes are following George washington's lead and haveing chilled pawpaw for dessert.
4 comments:
Oh my goodness, we just went for a hike yesterday on the Paw-Paw trail at the Shenandoah Park and those were all over the place. We thought they smelled wonderful, but we did not realize they were edible, so we totally missed out on chilled paw-paw.
It's like that song from The Jungle Book -
"When you pick a pawpaw,
or a prickly pear,
and you use the wrong paw,
well next time, beware!
don't pick the prickly pear with the paw,
when you pick the pear,
better use your claw!.."
...well, at least, that's what I thought of.
Guess what I saw today? A lady with FOUR little girls. The oldest looked about Angelica's age, the youngest was a new baby in very pink clothes. But it seemed like a good piece of proof for that statistic from the comment in your last post.
I'm beginning to think I'm another Mrs. Whittaker.
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