Paw Paw is a fruit that is native the Appalachian region while not seeming to be known by main stream fruit sellers for a variety of reasons. In fact, Lewis and Clark were fed pawpaws by the American Indians on their expeditions. While you can walk through our vineyard and locate the trees (as well as nearly any Appalachian forest), you are extremely unlikely to ever see one inside a grocery store. Why? Paw Paw's are a delicacy in that they are three days from ripe to ruin, they simply do not allow for grocers to pick them up as an offering to its customers, though you may occasionally find them inside a Farmer's Market. For this and a few other reasons, you will find Wildside's Paw Paw wine on our Exotic list.
So what is a Paw Paw? It is a North American fruit with green skin filled with a mango/banana flavored, pale yellow center and abundance of almond sized seeds. In order to process this Paw Paw's into wine, each has to be hand cut open and pressed through a screen to filter the custard like, fleshy fruit through to the other side.
Paw Paw trees can be found in the wild in twenty six states west of the Mississippi. They are often referred to as the 'Poor Man's Banana'. According to Kentucky State University's Cooperative Extension Program, pawpaws are sky-high in vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese. They are also a good source of potassium and several essential amino acids, and they also contain significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc. All of this adds up to a great source of nutritional value.
To bring it full circle, Paw Paw's are pretty obscure outside the regions where they grow. This makes our Paw Paw Wine one of our most popular options. Nostalgic to folks from the areas where they grow wild, exotic to the folks who have never heard of it. Click the link below to order a bottle of Paw Paw wine from our website today or stop into our tasting room and see what all the fuss is about!
https://www.wildsidewinery.com/product-page/pawpaw-wine