August 31, 2011

    This is a whole paw-paw and a half of a paw paw with the seeds showing. There were two rows of seeds in this one, but I don't remember if there generally are. This one was extra large - over four inches long, over 2.25 inches wide and over seven ounces. That's big for a paw-paw or "custard apple". They grow wild in Virginia and elsewhere along the east coast and are just getting ripe and falling from the trees. They taste a bit like a mango but with a little touch of something else - persimmon? I believe they are what is known as "an acquired taste" but we had these with ice cream tonight and I'll make a milk, egg and cinnamon custard with some tomorrow. 
     You have to click on this one - even doing it twice helps - to blow it up to see what's going on with the shadow near the end of the left paw-paw. I have an unfortunate alignment of the shadow on the fruit and the shadow under the fruit... It's the kind of thing I somehow see so much better after I've scanned and posted a sketch. I can probably fix this one, but it's instructive to note (once again) just how much it helps to see something in a different way.