Pawpaws

Way back in the spring, when the green leaves were just coming out, I saw some dark purplish-brown flowers on the little pawpaw trees. The flowers hung upside down like bells.

This is the first year that the pawpaw tree has bloomed.In the summer a green fruit began to grow. Finally in the Fall the pawpaws were ripe! They get pretty ugly before they are ready to eat.
We opened them up.
They are sweet and soft inside like custard. (In fact the pioneers used to call them "custard apples". Sometimes they are aso called "Indiana Banana" which is fun to say.) We scooped out the insides with a spoon. They taste sort of like banana and sort of like mango and a little bit like pineapple.

Granddad saved the big black seeds. He planted some in his garden. Maybe we will have lots of pawpaw trees - and lots of pawpaws to eat!