Pawpaws to the people: The 2006 Ohio Pawpaw Festival
By Liz Gray, Assistant Managing Editor
September 18, 2006 | 5:12 p.m.
A surprising lack of pawpaws and a slow-paced, friendly atmosphere marked the 8th Annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival, held Saturday and Sunday near Albany at Lake Snowden.
On Saturday at about 4 p.m., the festival was in full swing. Some attendees lounged in the grass near the lake, while others geared up for the pawpaw-eating contest. But where were all the paw paws? And, more importantly, what is a pawpaw?
"Some people thought that a pawpaw was an animal," said Terry Powell, secretary of the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association. In reality, a pawpaw is a fruit native to the Southeastern U.S. Also called a "prairie banana," it is similar in taste and texture to a domestic banana, though it is often juicy like a ripe peach.
"It tastes similar to a tropical fruit, especially the guanabana, which I ate in Brazil," said Jessie Hacock, who traveled from Massachusetts to come to the festival after he ordered pawpaws online.
Liz Gray/Video
For those of you who have tried a backyard or wild variety of pawpaw, don't cross it off your list until you've tried one of more than 50 semi-domesticated pawpaws. Wild pawpaws have a wider variety of flavors (good and bad) than the cultivated fruits, which are usually larger, more uniformly shaped and much milder.
My experience with pawpaws (until today) started and ended with the small, misshapen fruit that grows in my parents' yard. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that all pawpaws don't have the same metallic taste or soggy texture that is the downfall of the home-grown variety. I tried a few semi-domesticated varieties, and each had a smooth skin and a pleasant flavor.
"Each variety has a distinct flavor," explained Dick Glaser, the Vice President of the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association and winner of the "Best Bread" in the baking contest.
"I introduced the 'Shawnee Trail' variety that I used in the bread, and it has a banana-y flavor," said Glaser.
Though there were many pawpaw-related food booths, many vendors had run out of their wares early in the festival.
"I brought 150 pounds of fruit, and it was all gone within two hours of opening," said Matt Dominish, a nurseryman who was also selling pawpaw seedlings. "The people who really wanted pawpaws came out early."
The seedlings Dominish was selling were about three years old, and he said it takes about seven years before the trees begin bearing fruit.
Though there were no fresh pawpaws left for sale, Snowville Creamery still had a few servings of its pawpaw ice cream sandwiches and ice cream. The rich ice cream had a subtle, banana-like taste, and was sandwiched between two spicy ginger cookies. Warren Taylor, self-proclaimed "dairy evangelist" and owner of the Creamery, thought the lack of remaining food was a good sign for the festival.
"This is my seventh year attending the festival, and I have to say, this is the biggest and best year ever," said Taylor.
Luckily for the many patrons of the festival, the beer garden, equipped with pawpaw beer from the Marietta Brewing Company, still had plenty of cups to go around.
"The beer this year doesn't taste that much like pawpaws," admitted Dawn Holliday, who was attending her second pawpaw festival, "but it is still really good."
"I think the intensity of the pawpaw taste varies from keg to keg," said Casey Holliday as he drank his brew. "Last year, we had beer from the bottom of the barrel, and it tasted very fruity."
The brew was a light wheat beer that tasted like Natural Light to one patron, but most seemed satisfied with their brew, drinking it leisurely and taking in the afternoon sun and the main stage events from the roped-off beer garden.
The most anticipated of such events was the pawpaw-eating contest, where 10 contestants battled to be the first to eat one pound of pulp with their arms tied behind their back. Each contestant's pulp also had 30 large, black pawpaw seeds that they had to completely clean off and return to their plate to win the contest.
While many eating contests involve inhaling large quantities of food at a heart-pumping pace, the contest, like the festival, was quite leisurely. The winner, Bethany Filipow, won in about five minutes, with several other contestants tied in a close second.
"You have to eat as much pulp as you can, then focus on cleaning off the seeds," advised Filipow. This was her first time winning the contest, and her fourth year participating.
There was also a wide variety of musical performers, ranging from folk-rocker Megan Cameron to Greg O'Brien & the Spoodoo Cadillacs, a gospel and blues group.
If you've ever wondered what the bumper sticker "I'm Pro Pawpaw-and I vote" meant, Powell demystified the saying.
"It's an initiative to make the pawpaw the state fruit," she explained. "It's competing against the tomato and the apple. Oregon's state drink is already apple juice, so I think the apple is out of the running."
Chris Chmiel, one of the founders of the festival, agreed.
"There are more antioxidants in half of a pawpaw than a whole apple or an orange," he said as he made an announcement on the main stage. "So why don't they just make it the state fruit already?"