There are a number of active PawPaw breeding programs working to improve the fruit's production, size, and suitability for shipping. Some of the named varieties are even more incredible tasting than the standard wild ones.

Kentucky State:

http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/

http://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/pawpaw/

http://ppserver.pawpaw.kysu.edu/KSUstory.htm

Purdue:

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/nexus/Asimina_triloba_ne...

(I grew up around the trees and my father now grows and sells Pawpaw trees commercially.)

That makes me very happy to hear, and I wish your father the best of luck in making our native fruit better known.

Does he sell to individuals? Or if not, do you know of a nursery where I could buy one of the improved cultivars? I wouldn't mind planting one or two more. :)

Thanks!

He does. Here's his site: http://blossomnursery.com/ I'm not sure if it's the right time of year for transplanting, but he should be able to tell you if you contact him.

Thanks for the link! It looks like web ordering isn't working, but I see contact info, so I'm going to give it a shot. Some great pics, too. Cheers!

This should make them even more attractive as DIY foraging or backyard arboriculture.

A fruit that is delicious and exotic, but doesn't lend to industrial/agricultural production & marketing. That's kind of what truffles and morels are.

It definitely does: here in the DC area you’ll hear and see pawpaws from people’s foraging spots which are in public locations and are carefully never discussed in detail.

I get why they aren't in supermarkets but it's so sad that they've dropped out of food culture almost entirely. They're so abundant in the woods around Cincinnati that they are hard to miss. I remember seeing one on the ground while camping as a kid, but had no idea what it was and neither did anyone around me.

Make sure to do your part, and introduce as many people as you can! They're still very uncommon here in California, but they grow well in much of the state. I managed to get one of my neighbors to plant a pair a few years back. This year may be the first we both get fruit. :)

Are you in a wetter area? I mentally associate them with river valleys so naively I wouldn't think they'd be drought tolerant at all.

I'm in the bay area of California, so while we do get rain, it's highly seasonal. My pawpaws do need watering in the summer, but it isn't as bad as you might think. They have a pretty deep taproot once established, so a slow drip system just to keep the soil column from drying out can be all you need, which is pretty water-efficient. I'd say they use about as much water as an equivalent-sized stonefruit tree, like a peach or plum, maybe even a little less.

Couldn't they be canned to overcome these instabilities? It would reduce flavour, I'm sure, but still

It would be like canning a pudding. They're quite mushy when ready to eat.

Which may work out just fine! I've never tried, simply because there are never any leftover pawpaws in my house. :D