What are Paw Paws? An Exotic Fruit Called PawPaws or Paw Paws at Aquia Creek Landing and Canterbury Estates Stafford VA. See Below for a Tutorial on the Paw Paw

PAW-PAW's or PAWPAWs - Yes, PawPaws! Now what are pawpaw's you ask?

Well, they are the largest indigenous fruit found in North America and grow to be about the size of a large mango.

They originally were a tropical fruit but acclimated themselves over the eons of time to survive in more temperate climates like here in Virginia and they are to be found as far north as Michigan and Maine.

You can't find them in stores or even in farmers markets since the shelf life is only about 3 or 4 days once they fall from the trees they grow on. They can't be shipped or transported because the slightest bruise will make them begin to turn. And MOST people dont even know what they are or where to find them, not even the "old timers". And they only grow in very specific well-defined areas!

But WHAT DO THEY TASTE LIKE, you ask. Well depending on the locale where they are found the taste is a cross between a mango, banana, and pineapple and they are sweet as sweet can be with the fruit when ripe being the consistency of a custard or a creme brulee. They have a VERY distinct and sweet scent when ripe. They are also known as West Virginia Bananas or Custard Apples.

You cant pick them from the pawpaw tree as they will never ever ripen, you have to wait until they fall from the tree and then get them before the birds, squirrels, bear, deer, whatever get them. In fact when they ripen and you go to pick them the squirrels will jump from tree to tree angrily screaming at you. They begin to ripen right around Labor Day and thereafter to sometimes well into October depending on the amount of sunshine and rain they get.

The skin is a light green to brown when they are ripe. They also have large black seeds which you have to suck the fruit from and then just spit them out, there is no elegant way to eat a pawpaw, but that is just part of the fun.

Now they are hard to find since in the wild they only grow below a larger canopy of trees and are typically between 10 and 20 feet tall, on the side of a well drained hill, near a river or large creek. In fact pawpaws are typically named after the river or creek they grow near.

While they grow from seeds the major way they proliferate is thru their root system which turns them into pawpaw patches. If you find one pawpaw tree you will invariably find many more very close by in varying stages of growth.

To bear fruit they need to be pollinated and they flower in March when there aren't any bees, hummingbirds, or butterflies around, so their flowers are small, black or dark purple and sometimes smell fetid so as to attract flies, beetles, and other carrion type insects which due the pollination.

It takes between 7 to 10 years for a new pawpaw tree to begin producing fruit and at best each pawpaw tree only produces about 5 or 6 pawpaws a season. Back in the day the pawpaw was a staple fruit for the colonists and the native American Indians and they used to hang and place dead fish and animal carcasses in the pawpaw patches so as to attract as many carrion insects as possible to pollinate the flowers to try and ensure a great harvest 6 months later.

We found 2 large and 3 smaller ones pawpaw patches on our property on both sides of a 100' ridge which was part of the Conferate defenses during the Civil War overlooking and protecting Aquia Creek Landing. We have been cultivating and caring for these paw paw patches over the past 12 years and have encouraged their expansion. We give many seedlings and ripe paw paws away to our clients and friends as special treats and to 'spread the word' about this fantastic fruit.

So far this year (2018) we've been getting some ripe pawpaw's since about Labor Day and yesterday we picked up about 25lbs of them as the season is now beginning to peak.

Anyhow, go out in the woods and see if you can find them, you won't be disappointed. I've attached some photos from our pawpaw picking at our pawpaw patch and putting them in our pocket (yes that is a nursery rhyme about pawpaws)

NEWLY FOUND PHOTO! Aquia Creek Landing December 1862The Pirate's Lair front yard and neighborhood ca 1862-1863 shortly after abandonment by Conferate Navy Forces and captured by the Union Army which used it as a Federal Supply Station until burning it down in 1863. Six months later they rebuilt the entire landing and substantially upgraded a dock and pier known by the Union troops as Burnsides Wharf or YuBaDam Landing.

The Pirate's Lair Ca 1862 - Click

Note in the background the raised train tracks running past the wooden structure and tents that are in our front yard, along with all the sailing ships ready to tie up to our pier. We had lot's of visitors in those days!

The Pirate's Lair (Aquia Creek Landing sometimes spelled Acquia Creek) was at the terminating end-point of a maritime and railroad network which stretched from Richmond, Va in the south to Aquia Landing in the north. This was a critical and strategic logistical and supply point here in Northern Virginia for the Union and certainly for the Confederate Armies.

There was also quite the naval gun battle here at The Pirate's Lair in June 1861 between four Union Gun Boats and three Confederate Navy gun batteries and emplacements ashore, one of which was located on a peak right here quite literally in our backyard. The peak's current inhabitants and occupiers are now a family of Bald Eagles which stand morning and evening guard in a huge old oak tree.

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The Pirate's Lair
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78 Canterbury Drive
Stafford, Virginia 22554
Phone: 540-659-6209
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