Early yesterday morning Granny called and told me to come by when I got off work-her and Pap had a surprise for me. It was something I had never seen before-have you ever seen it before? Do you know what the green thing in the photo is?
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
56 Comments
lc barn
February 16, 2019 at 11:24 amgollynut
Chef E Stelling
September 17, 2011 at 12:09 pmHeh! Lisa and I used to throw them into the woods and her dad would yell, because every year they would grow more from the seeds we were throwing!
Pawpaws bring back memories…
I am here catching up my friend…
Ethel
September 12, 2011 at 3:04 pmIt might have been an alien life-form, for all I knew! I guess these grow a bit farther south. Thanks for the ongoing education Tipper! 🙂
Judy
September 11, 2011 at 10:28 amI love pawpaws. My father did, too. He could not wait for them to get ripe every year. This one looks like the ones I remember from my childhood that dad would bring to the house for us. He knew where there was some wild trees growing in a woods and would go to those trees every year to get their fruit. They looked just like this one. Great memories. Thanks for sharing this.
Becky
September 10, 2011 at 1:07 pmMh my gosh! It’s a pawpaw. Most of the people here don’t know them either.
My grandmother loved them.
Douglas
September 10, 2011 at 10:42 amClearly a pawpaw but Tipper, I ate them off trees in the wild grassy alley ways on my way home from school in small town Kentucky and from yards in Florida. I am surprised you are surprised.
lynn
September 10, 2011 at 1:57 amwell i have never heard of pawpaws.. except when they call a grandfather that lol .. but it does look like a potato to me.
im anxious as all the others to see what it is..
love these pictures
brenda s 'okie in colorado'
September 10, 2011 at 1:12 amI have no clue what this is. But, if it is a paw paw, I always wanted to know what one looked like. I remember as a child singing the paw paw song. Pickin’ up paw paws, put ’em in a basket, pickin’ up paw paws put ’em in a basket….
Also enjoying Gloryland Way. Brings back memories as a child singing it in church. Love the old hymns.
Mary Rutherford
September 9, 2011 at 10:02 pmI have heard my daddy talk about how good they were and have seen the plant but not the fruit. My guess:
Where, oh where is dear old Tipper?
Where, oh where is dear old Tipper?
Where, oh where is dear old Tipper?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on boys, let’s go find her,
Come on boys, let’s go find her,
Come on boys, let’s go find her,
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Thomas Gulledge
April 8, 2020 at 6:26 amMy Grandmother sang that song to me. When I first saw the picture, I thought of that song, and here it is.
RB
September 9, 2011 at 9:20 pmAnd a merliton has a pucker in one end, so it’s not one of those.
Hmmm…
God bless.
RB
<><
RB
September 9, 2011 at 9:18 pmHi Sue – Wayyy too smooth for a sugar apple, but could be a paw-paw.
God bless.
RB
<><
RB
September 9, 2011 at 9:16 pmLooks like an unripened papaya, but I think it’s probably not cause that’s too easy and is rather citified. ;o)
God bless.
RB
<><
Gary Powell
September 9, 2011 at 7:15 pmI think it is a pawpaw. They grow along a creek not far from my house. My wife said that she and her sister made hats out of the leaves.
Wanda in NoAla
September 9, 2011 at 7:01 pmA type of small gourd.
Judith
September 9, 2011 at 7:00 pmI think it is a paw-paw. Daddy loved them; they taste like rotten bananas to me. Makes me think of the song “Where, oh where is dear little Susie? Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.”
It isn’t as brown as I remember them!
Ron Banks
September 9, 2011 at 3:51 pmTough one! My guess is a gourd.
Charlotte
September 9, 2011 at 2:53 pmIt’s difficult to tell the size of this thing. At first I wanted to say a nest egg gourd, but it may be too large. I’ve never seen a paw-paw, so I guess I’m stumped!
Larry Proffitt
September 9, 2011 at 2:39 pmextra big paw paw .Larry Proffitt
BOB
September 9, 2011 at 2:09 pmLooks like a CITRON(forerunner to the watermelon) to me.Great for making preserves.
Carol Isler
September 9, 2011 at 1:44 pmGot one before the coons got to it, huh? If that’s a paw paw, it’s a bigun.
Wanda Devers
September 9, 2011 at 1:35 pmGiant Maypop? But you’ve seen a zillion of them! I have no idea. Looking forward to finding out what it is.
Ken
September 9, 2011 at 12:47 pmTipper,
It looks like a Paw paw fruit, but
it appears bigger than I’ve seen.
Also most are bananna shaped.
Sure is a healthy looking fruit,
where in the world did Pap find it? I had two trees a growing and
both got mowed off even with the
ground…Ken
Robin Naneix
September 9, 2011 at 12:46 pmIt’s a pawpaw fer sure…got em on my tree in Georgia right now!!!
Robin …Appalachian gurl livin in utah
David Templeton
September 9, 2011 at 12:13 pmFrom here, it looks like a pawpaw. Now, I have some very big Roma tomatoes that, from a particular angle, look like that. Still, it looks much like a pawpaw, except that pawpaws would, by this time of the year, be starting to turn yellow with splotches of black, kind of like a banana gets.
Cee
September 9, 2011 at 12:03 pmI think it is a paw-paw. I never liked them but it was one of my Dads favorite things! I haven’t seen one in years.
Bill Burnett
September 9, 2011 at 11:59 amI concur with the Pawpaw group but if it is indeed a Pawpaw it’s a nice’un.
Melissa P (misplaced Southerner)
September 9, 2011 at 11:44 amWell, Tipper, I’d throw my guess toward Paw Paw. Right shape. Course it could be a giant green mater or a weird tater, but I’m guessing paw paw.
Courtney Haynes
September 9, 2011 at 11:07 amI’d say it’s a paw-paw fruit. I’ve never seen one in real life.
Will Dixon
September 9, 2011 at 11:04 amTater!
Jim Casada
September 9, 2011 at 11:01 amTipper–I suspect it is a pawpaw, although I’d be much more comfortable in saying that if the photograph had offered additional perspective on size. The bowl in the background helps a bit, but your lens is probably a wide-angle one and that can skew size appreciably when one item is in the foreground and one isn’t (such as making fairly ordinary fish look monstrous). Also, the bowl could be one for cereal or a really big serving bowl.
So I’ll go with pawpaw but have some residual doubts.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
P. S. The fact that you mentioned, a few days back, that you had never seen a pawpaw adds to my feeling this is what it is. After all you indicate it was a surprise, as something you had never seen would be.
Ed Myers
September 9, 2011 at 11:00 amUnless your granny is funning you, as mine used to, I’d say it’s a wild potato, the vines of which grow everywhere, and thoughtfully so, in wild and beautiful profusion.
georgie
September 9, 2011 at 10:53 amIt is a green potato. I haven’t the faintest idea what a pawpaw looks like or tastes like.
mary
September 9, 2011 at 10:44 amA sunburned potato.
Steve in Florence Ky
September 9, 2011 at 10:05 amWhat a teaser, this is not fair, I can’t wait till you post the answer.
Kimberly Burnette-Dean
September 9, 2011 at 10:04 amA paw-paw! I love paw-paws!!!
Laura @ Laura Williams Musings
September 9, 2011 at 9:52 amLooks like a Paw-Paw to me. A neighbor growing up had a tree in their front yard. Great tasting fruit but boy howdy do they stick somethin awful when they are rotting. Nasty!
Pat in east TN
September 9, 2011 at 9:28 amI have NO clue … anxious for the answer.
B. Ruth
September 9, 2011 at 9:12 amTipper,
Looks like a Paw-paw!
As usual great post!
Thanks Tipper,
dolores
September 9, 2011 at 9:08 amAt first I thought it was a giant spud, then maybe a mango due to its shape. I have to admit I had seen this fruit before, so I did a bit of research after my first two guesses. If I researched correctly, I would say it is a paw paw, not seen very often. I have never tasted one.
Shirla
September 9, 2011 at 9:05 amIt looks like a pawpaw. It sure is a big one! I have lots of pawpaw trees on my farm, but rarely ever get any of them as the squirrels camp out and wait for them to ripen. If they fall on the ground, the deer come running.
Stacey
September 9, 2011 at 9:05 amI’m gonna say that it’s some kind of potato.
Stacey
Miss Cindy
September 9, 2011 at 9:02 amLooks like a not quite ripe mango…but the shape seems a little off. If course mangoes don’t grow round here.
Tipper, I don’t have any idea. That’s tow out of three that I didn’t know. That makes me one embarrassed country girl!
PinnacleCreek
September 9, 2011 at 8:43 amLet me pull out my collection of memories. I remember the Merlitons in LA mentioned by Kathryn, but seemed the shape was different. those grew along a fence and were deliciois stuffed. Alligator pear? Nah, Granny was digging taters, and that may be one left out in the sun and turned green. Green taters should not be eaten. But, you would have seen one of those growing up in the country. I give up!
Kim @ Stuff could....
September 9, 2011 at 8:32 amIt looks like a pear, green tomato?
sandra
September 9, 2011 at 8:23 amno clue at all, a very big potato, a very small watermelon, i read all the comments so it could be anything at all. I have never had a word verification here, but I use google, so maybe it is on something else
Wayne Newton
September 9, 2011 at 8:21 amTipper, you cheated. Why didn’t you let us see the stem-end?
This one has me stymied.
SUE CRANE
September 9, 2011 at 8:09 amI was going to say paw-paw or sugar apple but it looks too big.
Jeff
September 9, 2011 at 8:03 amIs it a quince?
Tamela
September 9, 2011 at 7:48 am– – a loufa fruit (becomes a loufa sponge)picked green?
– – a mutated / malformed gourd?
– – a less than ripe spaghetti squash?
This image is ripe (or not so ripe) with possibilities!
Tipper
September 9, 2011 at 7:45 amKathryn-there shouldn’t be any word verification-maybe its a temporary glitch-but I’ll check it out : ) Your comments always make it through : )
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
Bill Dotson
September 9, 2011 at 7:39 amTipper it looks like a pawpaw to me.
kathryn magendie
September 9, 2011 at 7:36 amPS -I never noticed or remember noticing the word verfication before . . . so! I wonder if the word verification is new? otherwise, I wonder how many times I’m commented and thought it “took” and it didn’t because I didn’t do the word verification – oops! lawd! 😀
kathryn magendie
September 9, 2011 at 7:35 amThat’s not a vegetable pear is it? In Louisiana, where I spent many years, they are called “merlitons” – although, that may be too big and too smooth to be one.
Can’t wait to find out!
kat
September 9, 2011 at 7:24 amHave no idea but will be interested in knowing.
Jo
September 9, 2011 at 7:04 amIt’s a green Irish Potato. Right? But I don’t know what makes them green.