The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-15
THE PApAW
A Beautiful Fruit and Heathfu-A Gus.
tard that Furnishes Its Own
Indianapolis Journal.

Cup.
Indianapolis Journal.
Find me a gentleman Of the old school
and I'll find you man who likes papaws,"
said citizen who had been lounging
through the October markets. "This is a
great year for papaWs, the country people
say: Papaws are not quoted in the mar
ket reports, but they are now exposed for
sale on barrel lids in every grocery in
every small town in the state. Although
the papaw, like the love apple or tomato,
is said to be cultivated TASTE it Is highly
popular with men generally-especially
professional men. or men who were coun-
try boys. Dozens Of elderly lawyers will
wax eloquent and their eyes will glisten
when the papaw is brought up for dis
cussion, and numbers Of judges of my ac-
.quaintance tell wonderful stories Of the
fine papaws they eat when they go to hold
court in the smaller towns.
- After ALL though, the elderly doctor
is tn papaw's best friend. He keeps
them in his office when in season, and is
always ready to distribute them to Illus
trate his enthusiasm. They are excellent
for the health, he will tell you, and a
valuable medicine: - 'papoid' 49, Is now
manufactured from their juices PapaWs
are really beautiful fruit, from a color
standpoint. They hang on the tree a live
ly pale gray green, then turn yellow, and
they become rich soft notified brown or
black. AS table fruit the papaw Is
never heard Of in this country. Unless
papaw spoons were brought forward 1t
would probably be more trouble on
civilized plate than the treacherous
orange. Papaws, to be we'll enjoyed, the
doctor says, should be eaten in the open.
Break one in two under the sky and
sip natures custard from the cups, letting
the large brown seeds fall where they
will
"The papaw is a native of South Amer
lea, and all old agricultural reports re-
commend it for culture in Florida. The
South American papaw grows to be the
size of a melon, and is cooked and favored
with wine or lemon juice, as substitute
for apple sauce or other tart fruit 1t Is
also served as a dessert, pared ana sllceo'
like the banana.
1.-THE Juice of the papaw is said to be
an excellent cosmetic, an infallible freckle
remover, and papaw skin food could PROB
ably drive cucumber cream out OF pres
tige with the beauty makers. Its pest
property, however, is its important quality
as a vermifuge, one dose of, the juice OF
the unripe papaw being sufficient to cure
the worst case. We have towns named In
honor of the papaw-sucl1 as Pawpaw,
Ind. Pawpaw, ILL.,, and Pawpaw, Mich
These towns spell the word with two
VS. but, as the original old French West
India spelling is 'papays, the insertion OF
the first w Is, perhaps, an unlicensed IN
novation.
1.-THE milky juices of the papaW tree
have the wonderful property of rendering
tender the toughest meat If STEPPED IN the
liquid for ten minutes, and in the island
of Barbados it is the custom OF natives
to prepare their meals and poultry for
cooking by suspending them, to soften, in
the upper branches Of the papaw tree
Yes, the papaw, foreign or native is an
old-school fruit, and should be cherished
in the affections Of the true nature lover
with the persimmon, the wild grape the
wild crab apple and the wild plum" ..