Meet Neal Peterson, the Indiana Jones of pawpaws. He was so moved by the taste of pawpaw that it became his life’s work.
There were improved pawpaw varieties in the early 20th century—but the fruit fell into obscurity.
Peterson dug through the literature to uncover past pawpaw breeding work, and then set out to track down lost varieties for use in his own pawpaw breeding work.
About Pawpaw
Peterson says that in the wild, pawpaws are an “understorey” tree, often growing in shade of larger forest trees. When they are in shady locations they become lanky and do not produce a lot of fruit.
But given more light, they produce much more fruit.
Two genetically distinct trees are needed to produce fruit.
Pawpaws sucker extensively, which can give rise to groves of pawpaw that are all clones from a single parent tree.
Peterson says that in the wild, pawpaw fruit can be quite seedy, with up to 25% seed by weight. In his work he has bred varieties with more fruit and less seed. His best variety has 4% seed by weight.