Pawpaw Fruit Makes Its Campus Debut

A rare fruit may eventually be a common sight on The Masters School campus thanks to upper school history teacher Eric Shapiro.

On Tuesday, September 17, a group of upper school students in Shapiro’s AP U.S. History class had the opportunity to taste pawpaws, the United States’ largest native tree fruit. This unique opportunity came about after Shapiro attended the Ohio Pawpaw Festival, now in its 21st year, and brought some of the large, oval fruit back for the class to try.
 
While a deciduous tree fruit may not, at first, seem a likely pairing for the study of U.S. history, Shapiro begs to differ: “Lewis and Clark wrote about eating them. The fruit also provided important nutrients for slaves, as well as for armies during the French and Indian, and other American wars.” A pamphlet from the festival also highlighted that, prior to World War II, there were many pawpaw orchards in the United States. The reason for the drop-off in popularity lies with the advent of refrigerated shipping and the ensuing availability of other fruits.
 
Shapiro also brought back seedlings, which were planted on campus. But, if you were hoping to get a taste of the pawpaw from the campus trees, you will be in for a bit of a wait: It takes between three and seven years for the tree to bear fruit.

SHARE Article