I first heard about pawpaws in the movie “The Jungle Book,” in the song called “Bare Necessities.” Baloo sings this verse:
Now when you pick a pawpaw
Or a prickly pear
And you prick a raw paw
Next time beware
Don’t pick the prickly pear by the paw
When you pick a pear
Try to use the claw
But you don’t need to use the claw
When you pick a pear of the big pawpaw
Have I given you a clue?
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They’ll come to you!
I have to say, the whole prickly pear association confused me and I had never seen a pawpaw until I moved to the Ozarks of Missouri. This fruit is indigenous to the Ozarks, and actually can be found from Texas, sweeping upward and eastward (stopping at the South Dakota/Minnesota borders) to Ontario. Native Americans used the fruit of the pawpaw to make dried cakes, and they used the inner bark for ropes and string.
A pawpaw looks like a big shrub or a small tree, and grows in groups and includes a few species. It flowers from March through May and then, you may collect the fruits from the end of August and October, depending on the zone you live in; there’s usually about a 30-day season.
In my neck of the woods, at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station, in Mountain Grove, Missouri, you may purchase refrigerated pawpaws. The fruit looks like an overripe, short, fat kidney-shaped banana of sorts and measures between three- and five-inches long at harvest. They go from being green to purplish brown.
You can find pawpaws in the wild, as well, but you will have competition from raccoons, possums, deer and other animals that love them.
To remove the fruit, you slice the pawpaw open with a paring knife the long way, all around. Peel off the thin skin, and you’ll be met with oozing yellow flesh. Unfortunately, pawpaws overcompensate in the department of reproduction by making oodles of big dark brown (purportedly toxic) seeds. For this reason, it is recommended that you suck the pawpaw out of the skins. Many people think it tastes almost tropical, and custard-like. Note: Some people have reported nausea after eating raw pawpaws.
Supposedly, any recipe that you use for persimmons, you may use and substitute in pawpaws.
I found a recipe at “Farmhouse on Boone” that I used to make the pawpaw bread. I liked it because it called for ingredients I had in my kitchen, such as butter, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and flour.
I donned some gloves and got to work – slicing, dicing, squeezing and removing loads of brown seeds. I’d bought enough pawpaws to make a double batch, because I needed three cups of pulp. My local pawpaws cost about $5 per pound. I am wondering, though, if I should have planted them instead of putting them in the composter bin?
Upon further research, I found that you need to stratify pawpaw seeds before planting, using a cool, wet place, for 70- to 100-days. This means I could put the seeds into a Ziploc bag with moist sphagnum moss and put them at the back of the fridge in the basement. Actually, when I was at the fruit station, an elderly woman bought one pawpaw so that she could plant the seeds. I wish her well. It sounds like a process that takes years to see the results from, so I’m not sure I am willing to invest the time and trouble and … fencing to keep the deer away.
I tried Lisa’s method of mashing the pulp with a fork for a while, but then just said … let’s roll a bit with this and put the glob of pawpaw, along with the vanilla, eggs, melted butter and sugar, into my mighty Ninja blender. Then, I poured the creamy mixture into a mixing bowl and stirred in the dry goods – flour, baking soda and salt.
Oh my, the odor emanating from the oven filled the house with hints of fall like you’d smell at Kirkland’s (home décor store) when they unleash the festive fall potpourri. And the taste? I think it almost tasted like I’d thrown a little top-shelf bourbon in there, for some reason. Kind of woody, and fruity and sweet. And … good! Some people might like walnuts or pecans in their bread. Leslie, who works at the station, said someone brought in a load with mini M&M’s and that got me thinking that the chocolate might be a nice complement to the bread, so you could add mini chocolate chips.
I’ll be picking up more pawpaws this week, and freezing the pulp for future bread recipes.
If there’s a produce stand or college research facility near you that offers fresh fruits and veggies, now’s the time to collect, can and freeze.
More information about pawpaws can be found at Wild Edible.
Find out what else we’ve made from the Fruit Experiment Station:
Culled peaches, combined with other fruits to make breadmaker jam – where Jackie Richardson throws a bunch of fruit into her bread maker and the results are lip-smacking good, and oh-so easy to achieve.
Apple Butter in the crockpot – where I gather a bunch of apples (several varieties) grown and even developed at the station, and don’t even bother to peel them, but make mouthwatering apple butter in my crockpot. I discovered that you don’t need the same type of apple, and that using a variety makes the apple butter sweet and tart.
Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird
Leslie,
I always appreciate your help and service when I show up to the station! Thank you for the tip about the chocolate, too! And, thanks for all the other tips you’ve given me throughout the years on how to best prepare the tasty fruits from this place! You all do such great work there!
Loved the article and shared with everyone here at the station. Thanks,