Hello!

We are in the thick of pawpaw season now, and excited to once again share these sweet fruits with you. This year’s harvest is small- the late freeze in May damaged the fruit set, and this summer’s drought also affected the size and quality of the fruit. Fortunately, we’ll still have plenty of pawpaws to bring to market, and they are delicious! We’ve been surprised by the massive market response to pawpaws. They’ve exploded in popularity over the past decade, and as more and more people attempt to cultivate the pawpaw, the fruit’s popularity continues to grow. We love pawpaws and we’re happy that we get to share them with you. We also think it’s important to know the history of the pawpaw, because there’s a lot more to it than the often-stated “it was never cultivated because it doesn’t store well.”

Pawpaws are found growing wild throughout the mid-Atlantic and beyond. The pawpaw belt stretches from West Texas to Ontario and throughout the East Coast. The pawpaw trees at Two Boots are not wild trees; they were planted by the farm’s previous owners and we tend to them much as one would tend to any other cultivated fruit tree. The pawpaws enormous native range suggests that indigenous peoples may have brought seeds on their travels, planting pawpaws along the way.

In his forward to Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, by Andrew Moore, culinary historian Michael Twitty writes, “As I explored the landscapes left by Black communities, I saw these treasure trees growing outside the dwellings of enslaved people and cluttering close to their settlements. It was the pawpaw, cognate to species known to their ancestors in West Africa, that along with the persimmon, honey locust, and others gave them diversity in a diet built on nutritional monotony, and enabled them to nourish themselves on trails North to freedom.”

Colonizers considered the pawpaw unfit for consumption, despite its delectable flavor and dense nutrition, and this is likely one of the reasons that the pawpaw has never been introduced for mainstream cultivation and consumption.

Pawpaws have a unique flavor, unlike anything else found in the deciduous forests of the Eastern U.S. The flavor is often described as a cross between a mango and a banana, and it has a custard-like texture. Pawpaws are members of the custard apple family, which includes cherimoya and soursop. They are the only member of this family that does not grow in a tropical climate.

Our pawpaw pop-ups begin on Sunday! We are accepting pre-orders for pawpaw pickups at all of the popups, and for pickup Thursdays on the farm and at Motzi Bread. Place pre-orders through our online store. Please be sure to order for the correct date and pickup location.

Here’s where you can find us with an abundance of pawpaws in the coming weeks:

September 13th, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm: Takoma Park Farmers Market

September 20th, 8:30 am -1:30 pm: Dupont Circle Farmers Market

September 27th, 8:30 am - 1:30 pm: Dupont Circle Farmers Market

We will continue to attend the market at Johnny’s each Sunday from 8:00-11:00 am.

We’ll just be bringing pawpaws to the Takoma Park Market, but at Johnny’s we will also have basil, chard, collard greens, eggplant, kale, potatoes, shishito peppers, sweet peppers, and bouquets.

Wishing you well,

Amelia and the rest of the Two Boots Farm crew

Our cooler was filled to the brim with flowers by the end of the day on Monday! We’re staying quite busy these days.

Pawpaws are Here!