I used to laugh and laugh singing that song while my grandpa pushed me on the tire swing hanging from the mighty oak tree in his backyard. 

 

How on earth would my grandfather fit in my pocket?! 

 

He’d laugh too before explaining that a pawpaw was a fruit and you could pick and store them in your pocket. I’d still giggle. It sure sounded like you were putting your grandpa in there! 

 

National Pawpaw Day, never to be confused with National Grandparents Day earlier in the month, is celebrated on the third Thursday of September each year. It is a celebration of the tropical blend of banana, mango, and sometimes pineapple known as the pawpaw. 

 

There are over 60 varieties of pawpaws, causing the fruit’s character to change slightly in each one. Interestingly, the pawpaw is the largest edible fruit native to the United States.

 

Rumor has it that the pawpaw was George Washington’s favorite dessert.

 

Kentucky State University founded National Pawpaw Day in 2019 to celebrate this delicious fruit and raise awareness of its history in the United States. Through their one-of-a-kind pawpaw research program, the KSU Land Grant Program strives to improve growing methods, breed new improved cultivars, develop new pawpaw products, and gain a better understanding of the fruit.

 

Go pick some pawpaws and put ‘em in your pocket today!