In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:

Take care, though: as I understand it, in the US they often use
"paw-paw" for what I call a "custard apple". On the other hand, yet a
third thing may be in the air, as the picture at
http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plan...a_triloba.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/7eltx

doesn't look like either to me.

That's right. In the USA, the term pawpaw is used for something
native to the Americas, and they tend to use papaya for the original
pawpaw.

Whatever the truth of the matter, I don't think there's a snowball's of
ripening either paw-paws (in the sense of those rugby-ball-shaped fruit)
or custard-apples in Britain, and even fruiting would pleasantly
surprise me. Pity, as both are divine -- if you think the things at
Waitrose etc fairly represent paw-paws, I do hope you'll be able to take
a trip to warmer climes one day soon.

Pawpaws, possibly, in a stove house - but I wouldn't bother. The
plants are thoroughly undecorative (as David Poole said, like a
gargantuan brussel sprout), but can take both humidity and its
lack. Most of the Annona can't - they are true, humid tropicals.

I agree with you that pawpaws picked green (and they have to be
picked VERY green to travel) and artificially ripened are not worth
the effort of eating. I wouldn't call them divine, though they
are good with lime juice to cut their sickliness - and were the
traditional equivalent to melon in the Empah.

Custard apples, cherimoya, sour sop and sweet sop all have their
fans.

There was some recent nonsense about a radical new type of banana
(red skinned!), which made me fall about laughing. It was the
usual complete drivel.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.