How to Select, Eat and Prepare Pawpaw Fruit from a Pawpaw Tree

Pawpaws have the creamy texture of tropical bananas and a flavor that resembles an assortment of other tropical fruits, including mangoes and pineapples. Despite their tropical taste, pawpaws thrive in temperate climates; the North American native tree grows throughout much of the eastern United States and into the southernmost portions of Canada. The speckled greenish to yellowish fruit contains rows of brown, inedible seeds and is related to the tropical custard apple.

Things You'll Need

• Knife
• Spoon
• Lemon juice (optional)
• Food processor or blender (optional)

Instructions

Picking Pawpaws

1. Find pawpaw trees in low-lying wooded areas throughout the eastern central United States. The fast-ripening fruits rarely find their way into supermarkets, but the same standards for choosing them apply.

2. Look for whole, relatively unblemished fruit. Pawpaws naturally have "freckles" as they ripen, but avoid fruit with nicks and punctures.

3. Choose yellowish fruit over bright green unless the pawpaws will spend some time on the kitchen counter or refrigerator before being eaten. Pawpaws' coloration compares to those of bananas: green pawpaws are unripe, yellow fruits with speckles are ripe and brown ones are close to becoming overripe. Brown fruits have the sweetest flavor.

4. Squeeze the fruit gently to find those with the softest flesh. Pawpaws have a banana-like texture and should have some give to them when pressed.

5. Pluck the pawpaws from the tree. Fully ripe pawpaws snap easily from the branch, while underripe fruit may require loosening with a knife.

Preparing Pawpaws

1. Slice the fresh pawpaw from stem end to flower end and separate the halves.

2. Scoop the flesh from the rind with a spoon, picking out the seeds in the process. Eat the flesh directly from the rind if desired or save the flesh to process for other dishes. Dispose of the inedible seeds.

3. Chop the pawpaw flesh into chunks. Sliced pawpaws discolor when exposed to air, but this browning does not affect the taste. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to sliced, chopped pawpaws to keep them from turning brown.

4. Puree the chunks of pawpaw fruit if desired. Pawpaw puree can serve as an ice cream topping, a sauce for desserts or a base for sorbet.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep fresh pawpaws at room temperature for eating within a day or two; for longer-term storage, refrigerate them for up to two weeks. Pawpaw aficionados disagree about the ripeness of pawpaws; some prefer them barely ripe and green, while others like them dark and sweet. While fresh pawpaws don't keep well, the fruits set well for preserves, jams and jellies.

• Pawpaw seeds contain a mild toxin, but as with peaches and apples, toxic seeds do not affect the fruit. Pawpaws require cross-pollination, so plant more than one tree to enjoy the fruit in a few years.

References

• "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette"; A Passion for Pawpaws; Suzanne Martinson; Sept. 18, 2003
• California Rare Fruit Growers: Pawpaw Fruit Facts
• Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products; Pawpaw; Desmond R. Layne; 1995
• Kentucky State University: Pawpaw Recipes and Uses