The do’s and definite don’ts of pawpaw, Pennsylvania’s ‘secret tropical fruit’

Editor’s note: This interview first appeared in Spotlight PA’s PA Local newsletter on Sept. 9, 2022.

Pennsylvania’s fleeting pawpaw season has arrived, and for the next few weeks the commonwealth’s native tropical fruit — nicknamed the “hillbilly mango” — is ripe for the picking, assuming you can find one.

We talked to Ohio chef, culinary educator, and author Sara Bir about The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, which includes an introduction by forager Alexis Nikole Nelson and recipes for everything from pawpaw cornbread to pawpaw ketchup.

Our conversation — touching on the do’s and definite don’ts of the fruit and why Bir says she’s yet to meet a bad person who likes them — has been edited for clarity and length.

Spotlight PA: Can you describe the taste of a pawpaw for anyone who hasn’t tried one?

Sara Bir: I like to say that it is most like a mango and a banana and yet something completely unfamiliar laughs>. It has a lot of tropical flavors. It is in the custard apple family. It’s the most northerly member of that fruit family. Its relatives are all down in the tropics.

What about texture?

When pawpaws are ripe they are very soft. They’re like baby food.

What’s your favorite pawpaw recipe? I thought your pawpaw lassi idea was genius.

That is my favorite. I use buttermilk instead of yogurt, but you could certainly use yogurt. And I garnish it with a little nutmeg or cumin on top, which is really the only authentic part of this lassi. (Find the full recipe in Columbus Monthly.)

What can’t a pawpaw do?

They don’t do well when heated. It has a lot of volatile flavor compounds that are destroyed when you heat them, leaving a bit of a funky aftertaste.

Got it. So best served cold. What about dried pawpaw?

Oh, Colin, that’s an excellent question. It does not work. When you dehydrate a pawpaw or cook it down enough, it will concentrate a naturally occurring compound that is the same thing that is found in ipecac syrup, which is used to induce vomiting.

So pawpaw lassi for my friends and fruit leather for my enemies. On that note: You once said, “I have yet to meet a person who is drawn to pawpaws who is not a good person.” What did you mean by that?

Sure. I think anybody who even hears about pawpaws is somebody who has their feelers out for something that’s outside of their daily existence. They’re people who are open-minded.

Does the pawpaw have a type?

When I go to the Ohio Pawpaw Festival you see people with all kinds of backgrounds — religious backgrounds, political beliefs, lifestyles — but the thing they have in common is this affinity for an atypical fruit. (Editor’s note: York County, Pennsylvania has a pawpaw festival happening in September too.)

Is the pawpaw countercultural? Or is that going too far?

I don’t think it’s going too far. It’s both countercultural and very, very traditional. It’s a seasonal thing that was passed down through generations by the people who settled in these areas. I’d almost say it’s an underground thing. This whole slow-burning pawpaw phenomenon has been from the ground up, and it had to be because you can’t get them in stores.

Will that change?

There is pawpaw ice cream, gelato, and beer. But the reason you don’t see the fresh fruit in stores is because the fruits ripen at different times on the same tree. You can’t just pick them and have them ripen off the tree. If you bring a hard pawpaw home, it’s gonna stay hard.

It would take years and years of [selective] breeding, and while plant people have been working on it, nobody’s been throwing money behind it.

What’s the best way to find them fresh then?

I mean this sounds ridiculous, but once you are identified as a pawpaw-curious person, there is somebody who’s eventually going to come up to you in person or on social media and be like, ‘Oh, hey, there’s a pawpaw tree growing on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.’

And that’s what’s so cool about the whole thing: This has happened not because some marketer thought it was a great idea. It’s not because an influencer is really into pawpaws and making smoothies that make your hair and skin beautiful. It’s just people talking to people about stuff they think is cool.

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