Edible and Available in Ontario

 The Pawpaw or Paw-Paw

   During my childhood (which extended into my 30s) I was incurious, or at least not curious about the things that counted. Those 'things' included just about anything not directly related to goofing off, playing around or drinking. In fact, I didn't even bother to learn much about the things required during those activities. If, like me, you were making spitballs during biology classes or aimlessly shooting your BB gun while walking through the woods, you may not know about the pawpaw tree. 

   I am trying to pay more attention now, and in doing so read this article which is why you are now reading about the pawpaw: "The Forgotten Fruit: Few People Have Heard of It. Fewer Still Have Tasted It. The Pawpaw, Ontario's Mango, Has A Rich Indigenous History, But a Vulnerable Future in the Province," Jade Prevost-Manuel, On Nature, Summer, 2022. The only thing I knew about the pawpaw was this lyric, which I probably remember from playing and goofing off: 

"Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?

Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch

Pickin’ up pawpaws, puttin’ ’em in your pocket."

   Did you know that a tropical mango-like fruit grew in Ontario and that it has been described as tasting like a custard made from a combination of mangos, bananas and pears - "nature's Creamsicle"? Did you know that a 'patch' of them could more properly be referred to as a 'grove', since the pawpaw grows on pawpaw trees and another grove of them has just been discovered in the Chatham-Kent area and you can find the PawPaw Woods near Wallaceburg. 

   Given that we have only recently noticed that most of our food comes from far away and may stop arriving, perhaps we should be paying more attention to things that can be harvested here (I will avoid for now the related subject which has to do with the fact that we have to hire people from far away to come and do the harvesting.) To assist you in learning more about our 'tropical' fruit, I will provide sources since most of what I know was revealed in the lyrics provided above.

Cricket Chow
  It was announced yesterday that our food security has been enhanced and that soon thirteen million kilograms of crickets will be processed annually here in London. The Federal government just provided $8.5 in assistance. You should know all about cricket eating because the subject was thoroughly covered in my post on ENTOMOPHAGY. I even mentioned the possibilities presented by the byproduct "Kricket Krap." Perhaps someone in the company or the government actually read it since I noticed in the article that: "Some of the byproducts from the Aspire operation processing will be sold back to area farmers as fertilizer..." ("By Jiminy! Feds Put $8.5M Into London Cricket Farm," Dan Brown, London Free Press, June 27, 2022.)

Sources:

   I skipped horticulture classes as well, but I have learned from my research that you need a couple of trees to start, the shelf life of the pawpaw is short and in Ontario they can only be grown in our "carolinian area." These sources will suffice:

   You can start, as usual with the Wikipedia entry. Then just go to Kentucky State. Cornell is also good - "Pawpaw - A "Tropical" Fruit for Temperate Climates," Guy K. Ames. Closer to home there is the Arboretum at Guelph and there is an Ontario Tree Atlas. If you want to grow your own see "Care and Stewardship of Pawpaw Trees," Ben Porchuk, Carolinian Canada. 

   There are many articles in sources close by. For example: “New Guide To Growing Forgotten Pawpaw Tree,” Sharon Hill, Windsor Star, May 29, 2020 and 

"Why an Ontario naturalist wants to Make Pawpaws Great Again: The once-popular fruit faded into obscurity in the 20th century. Now Dan Bissonnette is trying to bring it back, Daniel Sellers, Feb. 9, 2017, TVO Today. There is even interest among the Torontonians and this piece is quite good: "The Native Tropical-Tasting Fruit Can Be Foraged, But It's Easy to Grow Yourself," Edible Toronto.
Forage On!

   For Food History, see my magnum postus.