Season alert: Pawpaw!

"Pawpaw is a kind of food. Pawpaw is a kind of food. Sweet like sugar, yellow like Fanta. Everybody likes pawpaw. Pawpaw!" No, I didn't sing that song in Nursery school but I hear children of these days enjoy singing the nursery song like they were actually eating the fruit.


Season alert! is an opportunity for me to inform the general public of what I consider the season of agricultural produce. I live in the rural area and I have my way of detecting what I consider the season. One metric is a sure fire way of telling the seasons - abundance. Do you see pawpaw in abundance now? I do. I see a lot of the petty traders bearing their wares to city markets. In Aba, the people usually in this business are Ngwa women who shop for fruits and vegetables in the hinterlands and transport such on their bicycles to the cities - some go as far as Port Harcourt (in motor vehicles, of course) to sell the produce. Non native women in the fruit business also engage in the commerce of farm produce. This set of women travel quite far to what are termed "bush markets" (thank God for rural economics) to purchase these goods and sell same either wholesale in town markets or retail such at fruit stands in the cities.

It's pawpaw! The fruit is called papaya (carica papaya) in many quarters. It is a tropical fruit tree, which means that it does well in the tropics. Hello, Africa. I don't know the origin of pawpaw, but some say it originated from North America. I do know that I have seen pawpaw all of my cognitive life. So, what can you do with the fruit?

1. You can eat it all. Go ahead and peel off the skin on the fruit and enjoy the delicious fruit meal.
2. Add it as a combo to any fruit salad with cucumber, banana, water melon, apple, et cetera.
3. Blend it up into a nice smoothie. I love pawpaw smoothie. You are welcome to add vanilla, chocolate or whatever flavour to make your smoothie more yummy. 
4. The leaves, roots, seeds, bark are considered medicinal in some cultures. A word of caution: don't go cooking up any concoctions without medical guidance. The medicinal value of pawpaw is said to cure malaria and other infections.

That's it...go now for your pawpaw, which is in season. This means that it's up for a good bargain.  And the nutritional value is better since it's fresh and and in season.