Today, for the first time, I was able to find ripe paw paws - by foraging in the forest. Has anyone ever seem them available commerically... anywhere?

They are, by the way, tasty - like a custardy banana with that terpene-like tang that underripe mangoes get. And yes, I will be planting the seeds.

They had them at the DuPont Market last year.

yes, i found them for a couple of weeks last autumn at the dupont farmers market. the first week they were great, custardy definitely. the second week, not so good, maybe because they are more perishable than you would expect. i would love to try cooking with them, but am unsure of what would work and would be hesitant in substituting them for banana.

several years ago, hiking along the c+o canal above white's ferry, we found them growing in profusion, and black racers slumbering in the sun.

Where do you find them in the wild and what do they look like? I've this fascination with gathering things in the wild but knowing my luck I'd eat something that I wasn't supposed to!

they look like small bananas, a bit rounder. here's a picture i quickly found on the net:

http://www.gwf.org/pawpaw.htm

i know they grow along the upper potomac on the maryland side. ask a c+o ranger at great falls?

there is quite a bit of literature available on "edible" wild plants at the library, books stores, the net etc.

Neal Peterson, the local pawpaw grower who used to come to Dupont for a few weekends a year, when he had ripe fruit to sell, has apparently gone out of the fruit business and is now selling seedling trees. See this article for more information about commercially available pawpaws:
http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20030918pawpaw0918fnp2.asp

As far as finding them in the wild, they are an indigenous native plant and can be found throughout the mid-Atlantic. They are common along the C&O Canal towpath--however I haven't seen many trees with fruit hanging. The leaves are dark green, shiny and an elongated oval in shape. There is a butterfly, the Zebra Swallowtail, which is dependent completely on pawpaw trees--if you ever see a large black-and-white striped butterfly, look around-- there will be pawpaw trees nearby.

Check out: http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/ppf/about.htm
It helps to be taking slow nature hike with six year old boy. I just noticed a stand of the trees and started looking around for the fallen fruit while the boy tried to catch a toad. Sheer dumb luck, really. But the trees are quite distinctive, with obovate leaves up to one foot long; once you recognize them, they're easy to spot.

Thanks for the other tips, folks!

Riverbend Park on the VA side of the Potomac. Park by the visitor center and walk upstream on the trail closest to the river. They are shiny green and sort of potato shaped. You may need to use a stick to knock some down.

Honestly, I did not like them all that much, and will leave them for the raccoons in the future.

Wild persimmons, now, that's another story!

Please do tell!

I used to hunt wild persimmons on the W&OD bike path, just west of the Dulles Toll Road.

Until I noticed a wild persimmon tree right in the middle of Fairfax City.

They are very small, and the seeds are huge, but the fruit is very nice. This particular tree is quite tall, so there's no way to pick them, you have to pick up the ones that have fallen. And they're no good until after the first frost, but then they're very soft, and tend to split when they fall.

Short window of opportunity.

Wish I knew how to clone/graft a tree, this one seems worth replicating.

One of the venders at the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market was selling pawpaws last Sunday. It was the guy near Mass Ave. who sells blueberry scones every week, and has lots of preserves for sale. I didn't ask about the price--my family doesn't like pawpaws--but I rarely buy anything from him because I find his prices too high. I used to buy eggs from him when he was bringing blue Aracuna eggs, but he doesn't bring them anymore. The pawpaw season is very short, but last week was the first time he had them, so they may well be back this coming weekend.

Okay, weekend planned: Lankford Farm Saturday, Dupont market Sunday. Thanks for the tip!

Oops, I forgot to look for pawpaws this year. While Neal Peterson has stopped selling his harvest, it appears that Jim Davis (Deep Run Pawpaw Orchard, Westminster MD) is still expanding his business.

Last year I was able to catch the last of the pawpaw pudding at Mitsitam. Any remaining signs of the fruit at local markets?