In Kentucky and the southeastern United States, alternative and potentially high-value cash crops are being examined for their potential to help supplement the incomes of small farmers who are currently dependent upon growing and selling tobacco. Identifying alternative high-value crops would allow small farmers to diversify to these alternative crops and generate new sources of farm income. This plant is well adapted to the climate of the southeastern United States where tobacco is now commonly grown.
Pawpaw fruit have a unique tropical flavor and powerful aroma. There is commercial potential for use of pawpaw fruit in juices, ice creams, yogurts, and baby food. The fruit are very nutritious, being higher in some vitamins, minerals, and amino acids than apple, grape, and peach (Peterson, et al. 1982). Paw-paw trees are also attractive to the homeowner as an ornamental planting in edible landscapes. Natural compounds (annonaceous acetogenins) in leaf, bark, and twig tissue possess insecticidal and anti-cancer properties (Rupprecht et al. 1986; Zhao et al. 1994; McLaughlin 1997). Harvesting the leaves and twigs for the extraction of these compounds may also represent a lucrative opportunity for small farmers.
There is already a potentially profitable market for those interested in establishing pawpaw orchards. Most fruit for sale are currently collected from wild stands in the forest. Bray Orchards of Bedford, Kentucky has developed a pawpaw ice cream, in cooperation
Table 1. List of pawpaw selections in Regional Variety Trial (RVT).
| Clone | Orchard source | Genetic backgroundz |
|---|---|---|
| 1-7 | Wye, MD | ‘Overleese’ |
| 1-23 | Wye, MD | ‘Taytwo’ |
| 2-54 | Wye, MD | GAZ-VA |
| 8-58 | Wye, MD | BEF-30 |
| 9-47 | Wye, MD | BEF-49 |
| 9-58 | Wye, MD | BEF-50 |
| 10-35 | Wye, MD | BEF-49 |
| 11-5 | Wye, MD | BEF-53 |
| 11-13 | Wye, MD | BEF-53 |
| ‘Middletown’ | From Ohio | |
| ‘Mitchell’ | From Illinois | |
| ‘NC-1’ | ‘Davis’ × ‘Overleese’ | |
| ‘Overleese’ | From Indiana | |
| ‘PA-Golden’ | From Pennsylvania | |
| ‘Sunflower’ | From Kansas | |
| ‘Taylor’ | From Michigan | |
| ‘Taytwo’ | From Michigan | |
| ‘Wells’ | From Indiana | |
| ‘Wilson’ | From Kentucky | |
| 1-7 | Keedysville, MD | BEF-30 |
| 1-68 | Keedysville, MD | ‘Overleese’ |
| 2-10 | Keedysville, MD | BEF-30 |
| 3-11 | Keedysville, MD | BEF-33 |
| 3-21 | Keedysville, MD | BEF-43 |
| 4-2 | Keedysville, MD | BEF-53 |
| 5-5 | Keedysville, MD | BEF-54 |
| 7-90 | Keedysville, MD | RS-2 |
| 8-20 | Keedysville, MD | ‘Sunflower’ |
2BEF = Blandy Experimental Farm Collection, Boyce VA.
GAZ = George A. Zimmerman Collection., Linglestown, PA.
RS = Ray Schlaanstine Collection, West Chester, PA.
tion with the pawpaw project at Kentucky State University. The ice cream has been selling for $10.00 per gallon, and Bray Orchards has been paying up to $5.00 per lb. for pawpaw pulp. Pawpaws also show potential as fresh market fruit. Pawpaw fruit were sold at the Lexington Farmers Market this year (1998) for $1 each (or about $3.00 per pound) and sellers had a difficult time finding enough fruit to market.
Chefs at the Oakroom, a AAA five-diamond restaurant at Louisville’s Seelbach Hilton, have developed a menu of Appalachian cuisine, which includes pawpaw. The menu includes a pawpaw and green tomato relish on a French rib pork chop, pawpaw sorbet, and a Pawpaw Foster with pawpaw ice cream (made by Bray Orchards) for dessert. The Pawpaw Foster consists of flambéed pawpaw and banana using ginger liqueur (wild ginger is indigenous to Kentucky) over pawpaw ice cream. An Associated Press article was carried in newspapers across the country in the last week of September 1998 concerning the development of this menu and the use of pawpaws. Hopefully, this media coverage will continue to increase public awareness of the pawpaw fruit and its uses.