The pop off route was in the spotlight recently when Elliott released a limited edition Ron of Paul Paul Flavor Ginger ale.

But Kentucky State University has been studying the fruit for 25 years.

This week, the school hosted the fifth International Paul Paul Conference, bringing together farmers and scientists from around the world to share their knowledge on this unique Kentucky native fruit.

Kentucky State University has been working with Popeyes, kind of an alternative fruit crop for Kentucky growers, for a long time, but has gotten much larger, and it's growing across the United States and even internationally now.

And so there are many people growing it.

It's a very interesting kind of tropical like fruit with a kind of a mango, banana, pineapple flavor.

And so it's really captured, I think, the interest of a lot of people.

This conference has been held to really bring together folks from around the industry, nurserymen growers, entrepreneurs and scientists so we can all meet together and exchange information and ideas about Papa.

There's a lot that's happened to pop up over the last nine years, since our last meeting.

And so it's it's been a great opportunity for folks to talk about those advancements in pop up.

Just like an apples, whether there's different named varieties or cultivars of apples.

We have different cultivars of Papa.

And so Kentucky State University is actually releasing two new varieties, cultivars this year.

Farmers are always looking for that next crop that they can grow and make money on.

And so we're really here at Kentucky State.

We're trying to come up with new crops, new, production systems, other things.

So the farmers can have something to make money on because it's an ever changing market out there or the grower base.

Right now, we've got about 93 growers or commercial farmers are actually growing papaya, but most of them are very, very small and they're just growing a few pawpaws.

So as we continue to build that grower base and build the acreage for Papa, we'll probably see more and more products come online.

As the supply of pop thirsty increase.

It really enjoyed that relationship with the only one, and I think that has gotten a lot of interest from people who had not heard about Papa before.

So they get to taste that flavor and realize how good it is.

And, and I do think the last few years we've seen kind of an explosion in social media for saying Papa wine, Papa beer and Papa brandy all being sold across Kentucky and across the southeast.

So there's some real new opportunities out there for folks to get into this.

And then the pulp itself could be used on, dessert items.

Makes a great ice cream.

So it's a really versatile fruit.

I think that's what people are looking at for those new opportunities.

And that's why we want to make sure that we can provide them the best varieties and the best information on how to grow them.

And that's what our role is.

That's probably why.

Hip hip hooray for the Papa.

Kentucky State University is home to the only full time PA research program in the world.