Pickin' Up Pawpaws? You've got fo find the trees first.

I've sung about pawpaws far more than I've ever eaten them. Like me, you may remember that summercamp ditty, "Picking Up Pawpaws"?

It's regarded as America's largest native fruit, with some of the larger varieties producing pawpaws that weigh in at over a pound. Ohio recently declared the pawpawits official state fruit.

One thing that goes against pawpaws is their flower. There's nothing wrong with the way it looks. It's a rich, reddish-purple color and measures about two inches across, but it smells like rotted meat. Some pawpaw producers actually hang road kill in their trees to draw more pollinators. Not surprisingly, blowflies are a major mover of pollin.

The fruit itself -- best harvested after it's ripened and fallen on the ground -- tastes much like a banana.

Kentucky State University has had a pawpaw breeding program in place for the last 20 years, the only full-time pawpaw research project in the world. One goal is to improve the species and position it as an alternative to tobacco production.

A handful of companies produce pawpaw trees, but available planting stock is sometimes as hard to find as pawpaws in the grocery store. Peterson Pawpaws, a leading pawpaw tree producer, is already sold out of its 2009 inventory.

-- Owen Taylor