Pickin’ Up Pawpaws—

Rediscovering America’s Native Fruit Tree

By Nancy K. Crevier

“Where oh where is pretty little Sally? Where oh where is pretty little Sally? Where oh where is pretty little Sally? ’Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch. Pickin’ up pawpaws, put ’em in your pocket, pickin’ up pawpaws, put ’em in your pocket, pickin’ up pawpaws, put ’em in your pocket, ’Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.” — American folk song

 

It is the element of surprise that Newtown resident Carm O’Neill loves best about her fruit-bearing trees. “Everybody is surprised when I tell them that I grow pawpaws — everybody!” she exclaimed. It is equally surprising to her, though, she said, that more people do not grow the indigenous fruit, nor even seem to realize that it truly exists.

“Everyone knows the song, ‘Pickin’ up pawpaws, put ‘em in your pocket,’ but they have never seen or eaten one,” she said.

She first read about pawpaws in a gardening magazine about ten years ago, and realized right away that this was something different than the papaya of her native Australia, known there as a pawpaw. “There was a man up in Michigan, Corwin Davis, who was growing them, so I called him up and ordered two trees.”

The two trees have thrived in her backyard, impervious to the cold, ice, heat, and humidity that Connecticut throws at them throughout the seasons. “Even deer do not bother the pawpaw trees,” said Ms O’Neill. The trees began to bear fruit about four years after she planted them, and along with two other pawpaw trees from Florida that she planted eight years ago, she now harvests nearly four bushels of ripe fruit every September to October.

Asimina triloba, the Latin name for the native North American edible fruit, was enjoyed by Native Americans from the Gulf for Mexico and as far north as New York, and west to Michigan and Oklahoma for hundreds of years prior to the country’s exploration by Europeans. Pawpaws were first documented by the explorer Hernando de Soto in 1540 during his expedition to the Mississippi Valley, and Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their westward trek nearly 300 years later relied upon pawpaws to keep from starving, probably counting the pawpaw among the more than 100 species of plants that they recorded.

Although the PawPaw Foundation states that in the wild, the pawpaw grows as an understory tree beneath the tall broadleafs of the eastern United States, Ms O’Neill said she could not ever recall seeing any growing in the region. It is a variety of tree that would probably stand out among the other trees. The large, deep green leaves that turn to a golden yellow in autumn are tropical in appearance, not surprisingly since, according to the PawPaw Foundation, it is related to Central and South American tropicals such as the cherimoya and guanabana. These fruits are known for the custardy consistency of the flesh, sweet flavor, and large seeds, all traits of the pawpaw.

“The tree is so easy to grow. Nothing bothers it and it is a beautiful thing,” said Ms O’Neill. Her largest is about 25 feet tall, and that is as tall as it will get, she said. “It has a pyramid shape when it is in leaf, so it doesn’t spread out real wide, and the leaves are large and dark green, very tropical looking. It gets pretty flowers in the spring, too, before the leaves,” she said. The oblong green fruits form in small clusters at the end of the long branches, ripening slowly over a period of about five months.

Pawpaw festivals are not uncommon in parts of Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and Kentucky, but for the most part, the chubby, four-inch-long fruit has fallen into oblivion, and very few people now are pickin’ up pawpaws and putting them anywhere.

 

Packed With Nutrition

This native fruit is chock full of nutrition, said Ms O’Neill. “It is very high in vitamin C and potassium, and even though it is high in fat, it is the good, monounsaturated fat, I think.” Nutritional information from Kentucky State University Cooperative Extension Program supports Ms O’Neill’s assertions. Not only is the pawpaw an excellent source of vitamin C and potassium, it is also high in magnesium, copper, and manganese. Pawpaws contain significant amounts of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, phosphorus, and zinc, in amounts that rival apples, bananas, or oranges. In addition, the KSU Cooperative Extension Program information notes that the protein in pawpaws contains all of the essential amino acids, an uncommon virtue for a plant. The fatty acid content of a pawpaw is 32 percent saturated, 40 percent monounsaturated, and 28 percent polyunsaturated. For comparison, a banana has 52 percent saturated fatty acids, 15 percent monounsaturated, and 34 percent polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Admittedly, the pawpaw does have some horticultural flaws, and these may be the reasons that the pawpaw is not found in every back yard, surmised Ms O’Neill. “The big flaw of the pawpaw is that you have to be willing to clip back the hundreds of suckers each tree sends up, or you will end up with a pawpaw patch,” she said. If the sucker plants are allowed to grow unheeded, a person can end up with a lot of trees that produce very little fruit. But with a few snips of a sharp pruner, the suckers can be easily cut back.

The long tap root of the pawpaw makes it sensitive to transplanting, Ms O’Neill said, and while professional growers have mastered a technique for potting the plants they ship, pulling up suckers and moving them has not been successful for her. “Even one of the trees I had shipped from Florida I moved the day after I put it in, and it has never thrived like the others,” she said. But trees can be grown from seed. Ms O’Neill quoted an article she had read that suggested the simplest method of all for growing a new pawpaw tree: just squish the ripe fruit into the ground, cover it with a little soil, and let it grow. “But because they really don’t like to be moved, I imagine you had better squash it into the ground right where you want it to grow,” warned Ms O’Neill. The pawpaw tree does not bear fruit for the first four or five years of its life, so growers must be patient.

Putrid Pollination

Pollination of the pawpaw may be what is truly off-putting to some backyard gardeners, said Ms O’Neill. Two of the trees are needed for pollination, but that is not the tricky part of getting a tree to bear fruit. “Corwin Davis, the Michigan farmer who I bought my trees from, had discovered that pawpaws are pollinated only by the carrion fly, what we call the blow fly or bluebottle fly. Those are those big, black nasty flies. So I asked him, how do I attract these flies?” Ms O’Neill recalled. What Mr Davis told her was a little unsettling. “He told me he used road kill next to the tree. Well, I didn’t think that sounded so good. So then he suggested hanging raw hamburger up in the tree. But what do you suppose happened? A raccoon went up the tree and stole the hamburger.”

Left to her own devices, Ms O’Neill came up with an idea that she has found to be very successful. “I use fresh chicken manure. The flies are attracted to something very smelly.” The reddish flower of the pawpaw is actually similar in color to raw meat, and has a very faint, spoiled meat smell, said Ms O’Neill. “I get the manure from a farm, put it in a tall plastic kitchen bag, poke holes in the bag, and lay it under the tree. The flies come, I guess, because I get plenty of pawpaws every year,” she said.

Her manure pollinating trick is doubly good, in that the manure eventually dries out in the bag and she can then dump it into her garden. “So I get two uses from the manure.”

Commercially, pawpaws are not profitable, so consumers will not see the fruit in the produce section. The delicate skin tears easily, even when unripe, and once it is ripe, a pawpaw must be eaten within two or three days. Most commercial growers are not willing to take on the expensive and difficulties of shipping a rather unfamiliar fruit.

Another characteristic of the pawpaw that gardeners and consumers find unappealing, said Ms O’Neill, is that the ripened fruit is rather unattractive. “Pawpaws do not look pretty when they are ripe. They get black all over and look quite ugly. People can’t believe that the beautiful yellow pulp can come out of those ugly looking things,” she laughed.

Last but not least among the pawpaws’ flaws, said Ms O’Neill, is that “to get the pulp you need patience. The fruit has several big seeds in it, and the good pulp is tight around those seeds.”

Eating a fresh pawpaw is a messy undertaking, she said. “You can squeeze it open and eat the pulp off of the huge seeds with a spoon. Or just cut off the bottom of the pawpaw and squish it into your mouth. Very messy, but delicious.” The flavor is commonly said to be like a combination of banana, mango, and papaya.

It takes at least six large pawpaws to get two cups of pulp. “It takes forever, but I’m willing to do it because they’re worth it,” said Ms O’Neill.

When harvest time arrives, she gives away the fruit to friends and family, and spends hours separating the flesh from the seed. Sometimes unripe fruit is knocked off the trees, but Ms O’Neill gathers even these. Unlike many other fruits, the pawpaw will ripen off of the tree. To slow down the ripening process, Ms O’Neill has stuck excess fruit in the cool garage or in the refrigerator, and has read that the whole fruit can be frozen, although she has never tried to do so.

When pawpaws are in season, Ms O’Neill eats plenty of the fruit, but she does not worry about having too much of the pulp. It freezes beautifully for several months, she said, allowing her to use it year around in cakes, smoothies, custard pies, and other treats. “Anything that you can make with bananas or mangoes, you can make with pawpaws,” she said.

Since she first ordered her trees from Michigan, Ms O’Neill has noticed pawpaws being offered by numerous seed companies. With springtime right around the corner, now is the time to order pawpaw trees from seed companies, she suggested. The trees are comparable in cost to other fruit trees and bushes, running approximately $18 to $20 a tree. Some of the companies offer reduced prices for purchasing more than one at a time. Ms O’Neill emphasized again, though, that to get fruit, two trees must be planted.

Ms O’Neill is curious if anyone else in Newtown is growing pawpaws. “I can’t imagine I’m the only one,” she said. “They give me a lot of pleasure, the pawpaws — especially that surprise factor.”

Carm’s Pawpaw Cake

based on a zucchini cake recipe from the Los Angeles Times California Cookbook

1½ c sugar

1 c oil

3 eggs

Beat together with an electric beater for four minutes.

Sift together:

2 c flour

1 ts baking soda

1 ts salt

2 ts cinnamon

Set aside.

Fold into sugar mixture:

2 c pawpaw puree

1 c chopped walnuts

1 T vanilla

Fold in the flour mixture and pour into a 10-inch tube pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes.

Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes.

Turn out cake and cool thoroughly on the rack.

Enjoy! This cake freezes well, if it is not eaten up right away.