Good morning, it’s Thursday.
The harvest season is upon us. Farm stands and orchards are overflowing with all manner of fall bounty – from a wide range of colorful squashes and gourds – both edible and decorative – to apples, pears, cranberries, corn, and a variety of vegetables.
Here’s something you aren’t likely to see, however, unless you’re very lucky: Pawpaws.
I’m betting that a fair number of New Yorkers aren’t aware of the Asimina triloba that looks like a combination of a lumpy mango and/or a large green potato and is the largest edible fruit native to the U.S., featuring a custard-like flesh with a tropical flavor that tastes like a mix of banana, mango, and pineapple.
Sounds delicious, right? Why on earth are pawpaws not everywhere right now? This is their season, too, as they ripen through the late summer and into the early fall and parts of New York are arguably prime pawpaw territory – particularly in riverbank areas that can easily be found throughout the Hudson Valley, Southern Tier and Western regions of the state.
Referred to as “America’s forgotten tropical fruit“, the pawpaw once served as a staple foodstuff for indigenous people, who harvested and even cultivated it. The Shawnee loved pawpaws so much they named a whole month on their calendar after the fruit. European settlers took a cue from the native people and ate pawpaws – both fresh when they were in season and dried or preserved during the colder months.
The problem with pawpaws, and the main reason why you don’t see them on your grocery store shelves, is that they don’t last. They spoil within just a few days of ripening and also bruise very easily, which means they are poor candidates for our modern-day food system in which produce is routinely shipped very long distances.
So if you want to try one of the more than 60 varieties of pawpaws that exist, usually you have to go to a specialty market, forge for them, grow them yourself or make friends with a farmer who is willing to do so. Every few years, it seems, there’s a story about how the pawpaw is making a comeback, but that has yet to really take hold.
Some communities still celebrate the pawpaw. Ohio is about to kick of it’s 28th annual Pawpaw Festival, which will run tomorrow through Sunday, if you happen to be interested in making a pilgrimage to Nelsonville, about an hour’s drive outside of Columbus.
Closer to home, it turns out that there’s a Pawpaw Festival right here in New York, Sept. 26-27 at Magic Forest Farm in Coeymans Hollow, featuring live music, talks, workshops, and, of course, pawpaws. There are also a select few local farms that sell pawpaws in season, which you can learn more about here.
Today is National Pawpaw Day, celebrated annually on the third Thursday in September.
We’ll have a cloudy start to the day with periods of rain developing in the late afternoon and continuing through the evening. Temperatures will top out in the mid-70s.
In the headlines…
President Trump lashed out at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday over its decision to raise interest rates, as he reprised his earlier threats to cut off a broad swath of U.S. trade unless the central bank bows soon to his demands for lower borrowing costs.
Trump said that he still has confidence in Fed Chair Kevin Warsh — despite the central bank’s board voting unanimously to raise interest rates.
Trump praised Warsh, who did ultimately support the rate increase, even as he admonished other Fed governors for their vote.
White House adviser Peter Navarro blasted the Fed’s move to raise interest rates in several years, calling it “a bad decision.”
In what would be a seismic shift, the Trump administration is quietly moving to strip a core protection of the Endangered Species Act.
The House overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan bill that encourages state utility regulators to insulate consumers from rising energy costs tied to data centers, as members of Congress rush to address a voter outcry over the rapid advance of artificial intelligence.
OpenAI on Wednesday disclosed six new instances in which artificial intelligence systems hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission, amid an ongoing industrywide debate about A.I. safety.
The San Francisco company revealed what it said was the “unexpected or concerning” behavior of its A.I. models as part of a new framework for reporting “misalignment” – when the goals or actions of A.I. systems diverge from human intentions and values.
Opposing sides of the fight over an optional federal school choice tax credit are doubling down as Gov. Kathy Hochul weighs whether to officially participate in the first-of-its-kind program.
New York teachers unions and supporters in the labor movement and the Democratic party rallied Wednesday to urge Hochul to reject President Trump’s signature school voucher plan.
During a gathering at the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, top officials argued that the voucher-like program represents a threat to public education.
New York has been ranked the best state in the country for teen drivers for the third year running, according to a new traffic safety study.
Senator Pam Helming joined rural leaders and mental health advocates in the Bloomfield Central School District urging Hochul to sign a new bill, which would create a rural suicide prevention council.
Hochul pushed back against GOP rival Bruce Blakeman’s charge that energy rebate checks arriving weeks before Election Day are an election-year gimmick, saying she won’t make New Yorkers wait until after the campaign for help with rising energy costs.
Nassau County Executive Blakeman took a break from the gubernatorial campaign trail to unveil his $4.6 billion budget proposal for 2027.
In attempting to become the first Republican governor of New York in 20 years, Blakeman must swim against a profound political tide.
Hochul announced a first-in-the-nation hydrologic monitoring network called FloodSafe NY, with the goal of giving local governments access to water data needed to identify flooding patterns to better prepare communities.
City Hall officials must cough up their emails and texts with the powerful Rent Guidelines Board that Mayor Zohran Mamdani allegedly bigfooted into fulfilling his promised rent freeze, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Lantry described his ruling granting limited discovery as “material and necessary” and acknowledged the “time sensitive nature” of the action.
A senior adviser to Mamdani pulling in a $185,000 salary repeatedly praised “gay communism” and called for abolishing the police in deleted social media posts.
Seventeen state-of-the art new public bathrooms will be open for business soon in neighborhoods across the city under a pilot project designed to bring relief to people in their time of need.
The robotoilets of tomorrow can be opened only by texting a number via a smartphone or by using special tap cards, which will be distributed by community partners. Once inside, users are put on a strict 10-minute time limit.
The supposedly pro-labor Democratic Socialists of America snubbed union workers on a $20,000 renovation of its Brooklyn headquarters — a move one leader said “tells you everything you need to know” about the lefty group.
With world leaders starting to arrive in New York City for next week’s United Nations General Assembly, Mamdani is toning down his rhetoric about the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The city Correction Department has suspended a top official and is seeking to fire him over allegations that he made inappropriate comments to a female subordinate.
NYC Comptroller Mark Levine warned the Mamdani administration that it should start planning to merge under-enrolled public schools — as an eye-opening map showed the depth of the city’s education crisis, with 219 schools having fewer than 200 students.
New York City is hiring dozens of sophisticated sleuths to sift companies’ own data for evidence that they might be ripping off consumers.
New York City’s Department of Transportation unveiled an updated vision for Park Avenue, releasing a new design that would remove more traffic lanes for cars than previously planned.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch decided not to punish officers who roughed up and threatened to run over a cyclist who was blocking other cops from parking on a sidewalk.
The NYPD’s top lawyer said the department needs to fix how police officers issue civil summonses, following a Gothamist report that showed nearly half the department’s 98,000 civil quality-of-life tickets were tossed out last fiscal year.
New York City is ratcheting up restrictions on students’ access to YouTube on school-issued devices, education officials told City Council members this week.
Two people were stabbed on Wednesday afternoon at a community college in Westchester County, N.Y., a spokesman for the county police said. Two people were in custody, a knife was recovered and there was no ongoing threat, the county police added.
Researchers at NY Creates’ Albany NanoTech complex on Fuller Road are helping the computer chip industry develop larger photomasks used to print atomic-scale chip designs onto silicon wafers.
Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs has named a close political ally with limited legal experience as the city’s top lawyer. John Reilly Jr., 31, who led her transition and had served as the city’s policy director, requires confirmation to the position by the Common Council.
OB-GYNs with CareNet Medical Group will become part of Ellis Medicine in an acquisition CareNet’s Dr. Hee-Joo Cheon-Schingo described as four decades in the making.
Mont Pleasant resident Vickash Sumair is seeking legal representation after he saw a Schenectady police officer looking through his mailbox.
The city of Albany is highlighting several initiatives it says are moving forward based on priorities identified by residents through the Activate Albany survey.
More than a year ago, an emergency housing development in Greenport was nearly scuttled after a town leader expressed reservations about building a new shelter there. But on Tuesday, a Columbia County committee gave its approval to the project.
The alleged burglar who smashed the front window of Clifton Park’s Dolce & Biscotti Fine Italian Bakery, took out a cake and cookies and left a cigar has been caught.
Some residents in East Greenbush are calling for stronger oversight and transparency as the town discusses its use of Flock license plate reader cameras.
A program run by the United Tenants of Albany has received $40,000 in funding to help displaced tenants find stable housing and support after their homes are deemed uninhabitable.
Ellis Medicine is working on the expansion of women’s healthcare services at the Bellevue Woman’s Center in Niskayuna.
An 18-year-old SUNY Adirondack student from Porters Corners who had been missing since Monday, September 14, was found dead in the Hudson River, according to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
