There is a man in the woods around Athens County searching for the fruit of the 21st century.

"That's pretty much my job," said Chris Chmiel one afternoon, standing on his 18-acre property of hill and field on the county's southern edge.

Chmiel's foot trails are visible, pressing down the stems of goldenrod and ubiquitous grasses, disappearing where the hill dips down.

Rob Osermaier/THE POST
Athens County resident Chris Chmiel regularly searches for isolated patches of pawpaw trees to learn more about their ideal growing conditions. He hopes to one day start a grove for large scale production of the sweet fruit

Chris envisions the fruit becoming as common as the apple or banana, appearing in produce markets everywhere.

"The pawpaw is nutritionally superior...It helped Louis and Clark when they explored the region," he said.

The pawpaw is grown in 25 states, including Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

Chmiel is looking for a fruit that, despite its oddity and historical significance, has largely been forgotten. He is looking for pawpaws, or Asimina Triloba. It is a banana-mango fusion fruit related to tropical families and even stranger, is native to Ohio.

Chmiel tags trees and records data on the fruit during the short September-to-mid-October season.

"I'm just now learning what a good pawpaw is," he said.

Color, size, softness, texture, aroma, fleshiness and taste are among the variables Chmiel tinkers with.

Chmiel, who spent time on a macadamia nut ranch in Mexico, said he is exploring Third World crop-growth methods. Downed trees, he explained, catch and hold water, providing a nourishing water source for nearby pawpaw trees.

Chmiel explained that one reason pawpaw trees flourish in the area is because local cattle ranches provide manure and flies that cross pollinate the trees' red flowers.

"My neighbor lets cows wander and there's hundreds of pawpaws there," he said.

Chmiel said he is trying to learn in what micro-climate these trees produce the best fruit.

"It's so complex," he said. "We can fly to the moon, but we really don't understand pawpaws."

Pawpaw trees are native to 25 states, from Georgia to Maine and Nebraska to Oregon. Chmiel said the states with the best pawpaws are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. He speculates that pawpaws were significant to the Hopewell Indians that lived in this region.

"The pawpaw is nutritionally superior," he said. "It's high in protein. It helped Louis and Clark when they explored the region. They survived on pawpaws."

The fruit's high protein content makes it a delicacy for animals.

"My neighbor told me she watched a group of cows tumble down a hill chasing one," he said.

Perhaps Chmiel is following Louis and Clark's path, but he is looking for something different.

Chmiel is, for the first time, extracting seeds from the fruit's skin and pulp. He said he hopes soon to market the first pawpaw product, a frozen pulp for mixed drinks, milk shakes and ice cream.

"I want to start the pawpaw colada craze," he laughed. "It's the fruit of the 21st century."

He is even thinking about selling pawpaws to Ben and Jerry's.

Mike McKniff, a chef at Casa Nueva, is working with Chmiel to develop a market for pawpaws. Early in October, McKniff will debut a new seasonal salsa, Pawpanero, a sweet blend of the fruit with habaneros. McKniff has plans to bottle the salsa for retail sale.

Chmiel and McKniff said they also hope to start an annual pawpaw festival with various pawpaw competitions.

Right now though, Chmiel said, he needs more pawpaws. He recruits people to help him search.

"I get a lot of young kids interested in making extra cash and a lot of old ladies who just like pawpaws," he said.

The search for pawpaws is a search of rediscovery.

In 1916, the Journal of Heredity chose a pawpaw from Gallia County, Ohio, as winner of a best pawpaw contest. In 1997, though, most people don't know what a pawpaw is.

Art Gish, a local farmer who brings pawpaws to the Athens Farmers' Market, said most customers at the market are hesitant to try pawpaws. "Customers either say, 'What is it?' or 'Oh, pawpaws!"

McKniff imagines that in early Athens, modest living forced people to scrounge, to forage in the woods and to eat things like pawpaws.

"It's the thing in the backyard you never noticed before," McKniff said. "And, wow, it's been here all along."