Have You Ever Tried a Pawpaw? Here's How They Taste

Have you ever tried a pawpaw? They're right at the end of their growing season, but in some parts of the Midwest you can still find them at farmers markets. They are a fruit native to the United States, but they don't ship well and they're quite different than the more familiar Midwest crops of apples and pumpkins. We have been so curious about these Ohio fruits, hidden in plain sight, so we finally tracked some down.

The pawpaw is a rather ugly fruit. It's about the size of a fist, with mottled green skin. It looks and feels a bit like a small green mango, and, like a mango, it needs to ripen almost to the point of disintegration before it is ready to eat.

The pawpaw is related to several tropical fruits, like the cherimoya, soursop, and custard apple. Like those fruits, it has a rich, creamy flesh, like the most smooth and well-cooked pudding you've ever had. It also has huge seeds that look like kidney beans. After these are removed you can scoop out the flesh with a spoon.

And how do they taste? Well, they have a sweet, tangy flavor, with the mellowness of a banana and the slight tang of a sweet kiwi. They're completely delicious, but with a lingering bitter aftertaste. That may have just been the fault of the late-season fruit we had, though we did some research on this and the bitterness seems to be present in many wild pawpaws. Some people make up for this by making the pawpaws into ice cream; this is a popular treat in parts of southwestern Ohio.

Pawpaws are not widely cultivated; they ripen very quickly once picked, so distribution is difficult. If you do get the chance to try it from a tree in your area, do it! It's delicious, with the creaminess you will usually only find in tropical fruit. It's always a little amazing what can be growing in your own backyard.

Related: Ingredient Spotlight: Pawpaws

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (18)

My favorite fruit!

They are great with champagne.

Save the seeds! As the Asian pear/paw paw lady says around here, "the seeds are worth more than the fruit!"
http://skyfullofbacon.com/blog/?p=160

Hmmm, I never knew Pawpaw was a fruit. I have just known it as a town I have driven through in Michigan.

And a This American Life segment mentioning the town.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1189

Isn't the pawpaw green with orange flesh and lots of small black seeds?

RosieGreene - you might be thinking of the papaya? I think in the Caribbean it too is called a pawpaw. See Dani's comment here.

Haha. I used to sit on my friend's rooftop as a child in KY and we used to launch these onto the pavement to make fun "splats". If only we'd known to sit around munching them instead....

Athens, Ohio has an annual Paw Paw festival. This year the Paw Paw was named the official state fruit of Ohio.

Ruby

I'm not a huge fan of paw paws--too banana-y both in taste and in texture for me--but I find them sort of fascinating (I attribute that to the cute name).

They're not Ohio's state fruit, though (the tomato lobby won that argument). They're the state indigenous fruit.

I'm originally from Ohio, spent most of my life there but I now live in NYC. I have never even heard of these fruits! Guess I'm missing out.

what? athens has a paw paw festival? i lived near there for years. never knew paw paws were real.

my aunt gave me a book when i was little: "beyond the paw paw trees" about a girl who takes some jars of paw paw jelly to her aunt's house.

It's in Albany, which is basically Athens. Despite my aforementioned dislike of paw paws, I have a weakness for food-related festivals and keep meaning to go.

We had a couple pawpaw trees growing up. It was always a race to get to ripe fruit before the critters - I don't think we ever got more than one or two a year... I would love to have one again some time, but I've never seen them int eh markets around here.

There are pawpaw trees in the woods at my parents' house. We've picked the fruit before, but not at the right time because they never ripened.

I think next time I go back there I will look for some!

You can pick them under ripe and let them ripen (until they are black and soft all around) in a cool place.

I want to find Paw Paw. I'd like some seeds, so I can plant them in my yard. We live in Southwest Ohio but I've never seen any before.

I really love banana- so I think this could be the fruit for me!

They're from the midwest, really? The only time I've heard about one referenced is in the "Bear Necessities." :)

My dad has a grove on his land, and I tried them last year... ew!!! Maybe I had (several) bad examples but I did NOT like them! I like lots of other strange things tho...

i love paw paws, but i've never seen them so brown like in the picture. they are delicious, like strawberry-banana pudding. they are a native fruit in the midwest, and can be typically found near creek and river bottoms.

RosieGreen- I too know papaya as pawpaw. And it is disgusting (the smell alone puts me off). Would be interested to try this paw paw