Pawpaw means different fruits, depending on where one is located. In the tropics, it’s another word for Papaya, Carica papaya. Here in the USA, it usually means the fruit of Asimina triloba. Asimina are the only winter-hardy members (here) of a mostly tropical family Annonaceae. This family includes such luscious fruits like Cherimoya, Guanabana, Soursop and various custard apples.
While I planted many seedlings I raised years ago, a friend traded me shiitake mushrooms I grew for some special pawpaws he developed.
As they soften, ripen, I’m using a thin knife to cut around the fruits, often poking through, to halve them. Sometimes, two knives make prying the soft halves apart easier and less messy.
The slippery seeds are then grabbed with some small pliers and removed. The small knife holds back any clumps of pulp. I’m saving seeds to plant, so they went into a small bowl. Scooping out the pulp from the skins is easily done with a spoon, like a soft avacado. So far, this has proven the fastest way to process even very soft fruits. Plus, it’s likely a safer method.
Pawpaws have toxins in the seeds and skin. Peeling from the outside or freezing-peeling is likely to expose more toxins from the skin, onto the fruit. The toxins usually just cause nausea, GI upset or vomiting. These symptoms also happen frequently if pawpaws are cooked or dehydrated. Even freeze drying does not appear safe, as I found missing information or negative reports from the few who have tried freeze drying. I personally know a couple folks who got sick from pawpaw fruit leather.
This toxicity is not unique to pawpaws. Apparently, other members of the family have similar issues. The fresh fruit and frozen fruit is fine, and has a long history of being eaten. The exact chemical changes with heat and drying are obscure. I’m freezing the processed pulp, in freezer bags, after squeezing out as much air as possible. Once frozen, the bags can be vacuum-sealed for longer storage life.
Describing their flavors is challenging. There are many different kinds and variability in the wild. I ate quite a few while selecting which seeds to grow out from a large, wild colony, and only the best flavored fruits had their seeds used. A meld of banana and pear, mango and banana, or custard ice cream have all been used to describe the taste. They are yummy!
Just don’t cook them or dehydrate them. At some point, once the toxic mechanisms are known, it should be easy to breed out these. Genetic “deletions” are not that hard to produce using conventional plant breeding techniques.
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