Pawpaw Fruit
Range of Common Pawpaw
© USDA
Pawpaw season will arrive soon in the Eastern US.
So just what is a pawpaw, other than something many of us sang about as children?
And what the heck does one taste like?
It’s actually an interesting story…
The Common Pawpaw is the northernmost New World representative of a chiefly tropical family, which includes the popular tropical fruits Annona, Custard-apple, Sugar-apple, and Soursop. It produces the largest edible fruit indigenous to North America.
The plant has large oblong leaves and many observers think it looks like a tropical plant, although it is native to over 25 states in the eastern U.S. It’s generally found in patches in well-drained, deep, fertile bottom-land and hilly upland habitat.
The wild fruit was once harvested, but the supply has now decreased greatly due to the clearing of forests. The small crop is generally consumed only by wildlife, such as opossums, squirrels, raccoons, and birds. Attempts have been made to cultivate Common Pawpaw as a fruit tree but it’s not commonly found under cultivation.
The pawpaw is an understory tree, often appearing more like a bush than a tree, with fruit found singly or more often in clusters much like bananas. It doesn’t self-polinate, so other pawpaw plants need to be in the vicinity for it to produce fruit.
And from all reports, the fruit is quite tasty to humans with a sweet-smelling, creamy flesh that tastes like a blend of papaya, banana, mango and pineapple.
One other interesting fact about the Pawpaw is that it’s the host plant for the caterpillar of the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly, which eats its leaves.
The name Common Pawpaw is from the Arawakan name of Papaya, an unrelated tropical American fruit. The plant was first recorded by the DeSoto expedition in the lower Mississippi Valley in 1541.
Ever encountered a pawpaw? How did it taste to you?
Please share your stories below— we always love to hear them.
My sister Christine bought me two paw paw trees as a present many years ago. I later bought 100 more from the South Carolina Department of Forestry. How do they taste to me? Citrus with pineapple with a custard after taste. My wife has not eaten any since I eat them as soon as I find them. They are not large, but tasty. When some of the 100 ones start developing fruit, my wife may get to eat some. The fruit hides well since it is the same color as the leaves. The leaves are large compared to the fruit. The fruit can develop up to four in a tight group.