Paw paw

[rgruby]

I've actually eaten paw paw. Once.

As a biology student at the University of Western Ontario (in London - just about exactly halfway between Toronto and Detroit) I took a course in the native trees of the region. Paw paw was one of them, and the university had planted a tree - which actually bore fruit at this location at the very northern tip of its range. we're going back almost 20 years now (forgive my digression, but yiiiikes!), but I actually tried some of the fruit. My recollection was that it was sort of like a cross between a melon and banana in taste and texture, well more texture, as I also recall it being bitter.

Very strange that I have retained the memory of eating this when I can barely remember what I had for breakfast!

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[hillvalley]

Paw paw's are available in DC right now. They were at local farmer's markets this weekend.

Picked up one to try it. If I liked papaya I think I would be thrilled to have found paw paws. Oh well. Great name though.

[sparrowgrass]

Paw paws (the asimina triloba kind) are greenish yellow when ripe, soft like a peach and quite fragrant. (Actually, I think they stink, and taste just like they smell, but some folks like em.)

Your trees will not fruit every year, and when they do fruit, you will have to fight the squirrels for them. I would rather eat the squirrels.

[tryska]

*bump*

also - found an interesting pawpaw article and recipe whilst googling today:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/Dail...wpaw010316.html

[torakris]

*bump*

also - found an interesting pawpaw article and recipe whilst googling today:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/Dail...wpaw010316.html

Great article from a great university!

I spent 6 years of my life at Ohio University...

[Jaymes]

Great name though.

Not to mention having one of the best "fruit songs" ever.

Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.

[curlywurlyfi]

ripe (yellow/orange flesh) pawpaws (papayas) are delicious sliced in crescents like a melon, then squeeze lime juice over and top with crumbled crispy bacon. The seeds are allegedly edible but I used to eat pawpaw every day when I was little (lived in West Africa where they quite literally grow on trees) and never did. If you eat too much they have an, um, loosening effect. You can occasionally get little ones in UK supermarkets where they are stickered saying 'ripe and ready to eat' which is just such a bloomin' LIE - we buy them and leave them for 4-5 days till they are soft and perfumed and the skin, now more yellow than green, is just about beginning to wrinkle. Then slice and serve as above. Or if less ripe, they are very good in chicken + curried mayonnaise type salads.

[helenjp]

Interesting...

In Australia, pawpaw/papaya refers to the larger, more tropical carica varieties. In New Zealand, we also grow a more cold-hardy and less fragrant type called Mountain Pawpaw...see link below. The bigger ones seem to attract the name papaya. especially over the past 10-15 years, but the mountain pawpaw always seems to be called pawpaw, maybe because they are grown and the name is passed from parent to child, whereas the more tropical varieties are bought, and get named by the vendors!

http://www.wineoftheweek.com/food/0305autumn.html

Ripe, carica papaya is a lush tropical fruit. Green it is refreshingly juicy and a little sour.

As for the asimina types which seem to be best known in the US, I think I've seen them growing in Singapore, but don't recall ever seeing them for sale in NZ or in Brisbane (but I'm not familiar with Australian tropical fruits).

[tedwin]

My friend Neal has been growing and experimenting with pawpaws (Asimina triloba) for years. If you're interested, he now has young trees on the market at http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/.

[Jaymes]

My friend Neal has been growing and experimenting with pawpaws (Asimina triloba) for years. If you're interested, he now has young trees on the market at http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/.

That is absolutely wonderful information. I did search the site to see if I could find any information on what zones the pawpaws would grow in, but found nothing. Does your friend Neal have any information on that?

[Jaymes]

My friend Neal has been growing and experimenting with pawpaws (Asimina triloba) for years.  If you're interested, he now has young trees on the market at http://www.petersonpawpaws.com/.

That is absolutely wonderful information. I did search the site to see if I could find any information on what zones the pawpaws would grow in, but found nothing. Does your friend Neal have any information on that?

Nevermind. I answered my own question by looking it up in my garden book:

"The pawpaw (sometimes known as the 'Michigan banana') is the only hardy representative of a tropical family that has given us the cherimoya. It grows to 30 ft., generally broad and spreading when grown alone, but often narrow and erect in thickets that arise from suckering. In hot-summer climates, pawpaw suffers in full sun while very young and should have some shade in the first years. Leaves are oval, somewhat drooping, 4-10 inches long, medium green, turning bright yellow in fall. Foliage has an unpleasant odor when crushed. Flowers are large but not showy, purplish or brownish, sometimes green, with three prominent petals. Fruits are roughly oval, yellowish green turning brown, 3-5 inches long. The soft, custardlike flesh has a flavor somewhat like that of a banana, and a number of large brown seeds. Zones 2-9, 14, 18-21, 28-41."

So there you go. I think I may order one from your friend. Thanks again for the information.

[edsel]

Ok, for clarification and educational purposes, I'm posting the following for everyone in an attempt to prevent any further confusion.

.....

Hope this helps clarify... from your resident gardener.

Thanks, mudbug! Highly informative and well researched!

The confusion between North-American "paw-paw" and the various international "Paw-Paw" interpretations crops up occasionally. I'm familiar with the custard apple (fruta do conde) in Brazil. The banana-like paw-paw strikes me as highly intriguing. I'm interested in planting some native American paw-paw trees here in Ohio.

Kristin, when Aussies use the term "paw-paw", I think they're referring to something like green papaya (amchur).

[Cynthia G]

There's even a kids' song called "Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch". The heroine is one Susie, and that is where she is, "pickin' up paw-paws and puttin' 'em in her pocket." Later in the song it is revealed that -- incredibly -- Susie is "a queen of old Hawaii" and that "she can teach you how to hula."

The version my family (western Pennsylvania) knew did not include the Hawaii reference. Interesting. I love folk songs.

[misgabi]

This is the fruit Donna Hay has in mind for her recipies.

pawpaws

Obviously, when she calls for green pawpaw - it is the unripened version of the orange one. We tend to call the red fleshed fruit papaya (and it is generally not grown in Australia but imported).

Edited to add the observation that the site also has some really interesting tropical fruits, their characteristics, taste and uses.

Edited February 9, 2004 by misgabi (log)

[tryska]

Ok, for clarification and educational purposes, I'm posting the following for everyone in an attempt to prevent any further confusion.

.....

Hope this helps clarify... from your resident gardener.

Thanks, mudbug! Highly informative and well researched!

The confusion between North-American "paw-paw" and the various international "Paw-Paw" interpretations crops up occasionally. I'm familiar with the custard apple (fruta do conde) in Brazil. The banana-like paw-paw strikes me as highly intriguing. I'm interested in planting some native American paw-paw trees here in Ohio.

Kristin, when Aussies use the term "paw-paw", I think they're referring to something like green papaya (amchur).

wait - i thought amchur was green mango?

[Adam Balic]

See misgabi's post above. Basically, in Australia the yellow fleshed type was the variety first introduced and this is known as a paw-paw. Later the red fleshed type was introduced and this tends to be calles a papaya.

[edsel]

wait - i thought amchur was green mango?

You're right, tryska. Brainfart on my part.

[tryska]

hee hee - it's okay edsel - i thought maybe i had it wrong. amchur is not part of my arsenal.

Edited February 9, 2004 by tryska (log)

[babka]

they're baaaack!! (custard apples, not papayas).

first pawpaws at the farmers market today. slurped the ripe one straight away and left the others to ripen on the table.

If you've got 'em (and apparently most folks are deprived, judging from the upthread discussion), what do you do with them (besides eat them straight)?

[KatieLoeb]

*bump*

Wow. Has it really been seven whole years since a single soul on eGullet has come across a paw paw? I have about 5 of them in a bag as well as a small ziplock baggie of paw paw "innards" from my good friends at Green Meadow Farm. They eat them out of hand I think, but I want to find a recipe to use them in. Anyone have some ideas?

[FrogPrincesse]

Katie,

I assume that you are referring to a cherimoya/custard apple, not a papaya, right?

You could make Audrey Saunders' Soursop Sour! It's delicious.

[KatieLoeb]

Yes. American Paw Paw native to Eastern parts of North America. Not a papaya. I'll take a picture and post it later.

Soursop Sour looks yummy! Might have one at the end of my night. I have a bit too much work to do for the next couple of hours to have one now. But it's a nice light at the end of the tunnel...

I was thinking it might make for a tasty Margarita too. Might be easier to use the frozen pulp I have and make it like a blended drink...

[Peter the eater]

Great name though.

Not to mention having one of the best "fruit songs" ever.

Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.

And The Jungle Books' The Bare Necessities. That must be the papaya type from Asia.

The other kind from North American were around growing up in Southern Ontario but nobody ate them.

[rlibkind]

I've made ice cream, custard pie and bread (think zucchini bread) with them. The Kentucky State University website has recipes.

http://www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/Recipes.htm

[KatieLoeb]

So I peeled and seeded two of these and added tequila, Cointreau, fresh lime juice and a tiny bit of agave nectar along with three ice cubes and buzzed it up in my Magic Bullet. It made for a very creamy/custardy textured Margarita. It's tasty, but the texture is definitely a little weird. Not what you'd expect, even for a "frozen" drink. Flavor is what I'd imagine a banana/canteloupe margarita would taste like. I suspect there's an enormous amount of pectin in these. There's something about the gelatinous texture that is so different from other fruits I've had before. I definitely like paw paws, but I think I need to work on using them in cocktails due to their chemical make up and texture. I might stick with using them in more conventional ways in the future...

Edited September 16, 2011 by KatieLoeb (log)