“When you pick a pear, try to use the claw. But you don’t need to use the claw when you pick a pear of the big pawpaw.”

These words of advice were given by Baloo the Bear in the Disney movie “The Jungle Book.”

Now, thanks to Patrick O’Malley, Iowans too can use Baloo’s advice.

O’Malley, extension field specialist in commercial horticulture, said pawpaw trees can be grown in Iowa and bear a “tropical-tasting” fruit. Generally these trees are between 15 and 20 feet tall at maturity and have long leaves much like a magnolia tree.

The pawpaw is the largest tree fruit native to the United States.

The fruit is often called the “poor man’s banana” and tastes like a banana with richer flavors combined with mango, pineapple, melon or berries.

The fruit grows to be three to five inches long, and a good pawpaw is the size of a large mango and contains a small number of seeds. The seeds are located in the middle of the fruit and are approximately the size of a thick penny.

O’Malley is currently evaluating the potential for growing pawpaw trees as a fruit crop in Iowa.

“It is a possible commercial fruit crop for people to grow,” O’Malley said. “People can either sell it as fresh fruit or as processed fruit.”

Tom Wahl, a Practical Farmers of Iowa farmer cooperator, is working alongside O’Malley and said he believes pawpaw trees can and will become a cash crop in Iowa.

These trees produce a high value crop that does not need a lot of input for it to grow, he said. They are not prone to disease or serious insect infestations and do not need to be pruned or sprayed.

“Compared to conventional fruit tree crops, they’re very low maintenance, and the potential profit margin is very high,” Wahl said.

“They could be sold for $5 a pound compared to the 14 to 17 cents you would get for a pound of apples.”

In 1999, O’Malley and Wahl planted pawpaw trees in southeastern Iowa in Louisa County. Twenty-eight varieties and selections are being grown at that site. The project is part of a long-term effort to evaluate pawpaw’s ability to become a tree fruit crop in Iowa. This is the first year the pawpaw trees have produced fruit.