Chorizo and Pawpaws and Greens, Oh My!

In addition to our usual offerings of whole chickens, chicken pieces, and chicken chorizo, Frijolito Farm will have some produce at the Clintonville Farmers Market tomorrow. Seeing as that’s happened so infrequently this year, I figure it’s worth making a big deal about.

I’ll be bringing Swiss chard, kale, collards, and mustard greens. I have turnips, too, but I want to let them get a little bigger first. And also, for the first time ever, I’ll have pawpaws! I picked a couple earlier in the week and tried one. It was a little sweet, but still very starchy, and with a texture closer to mango than custard. They needed more time. But I only tried one of the two. Today, I tried the other one, and it was perfect, so I’ll be going out today to pick them. You might have to let them sit on your counter or in the fridge for a day or two, but if I wait until next week, we’ll probably miss them.

What’s a pawpaw? It’s the largest native fruit in Ohio, with a flavor some have described as a cross between bananas and mangos. One man I recently talked with described them as being similar to sweet potatoes, but I think he must have been picking them too early. His grandfather used to cook them in a campfire and they’d eat them like sweet potatoes. A ripe pawpaw is nowhere near that starchy, but there’s seemingly no end to ways to prepare them. Contact the Ohio Pawpaw Growers Association about buying a cookbook.