In June, I took an incredible opportunity to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. I have much to say about that experience. But this blog post will be in brief and about pawpaws.
Pawpaws are currently available at at least one Croatian nursery, Exotic King. (A current article about the nursery and co-owners Ivan Šulog and Martina Perešin Šulog: here).
One of the many great people we met in Sarajevo was Fedja Krivosič. Fedja recently planted a pawpaw tree on his family’s land, a beautiful property that also hosts community farming and agricultural research projects. Depending on this pawpaw’s success, and the success of a few soon-to-be-planted trees, Fedja has plans for an exciting new pawpaw-related project involving a local school.
The young tree appears to be grafted, and I assume the variety is called “Gent bloom 2” or “mud’oul trojlaločný”.
We toured Fedja’s property, and talked pawpaws for a while. Towards the end of the evening Fedja invited us to pick cherries from one of his large and loaded trees. So Boris and Cornelius climbed on the roof with a fruit picker and set to work gathering cherries until the sun set.
***
My friends told me that in Bosnia, much fruit is grown for alcohol production. Rakia, the umbrella term for fruit brandies, are quite popular (and delicious!). I’m hoping Fedja and his colleagues do find success with the pawpaw, and that I might someday return and sample a homemade pawpaw rakia.
Pawpaw 