Learning to Eat and Appreciate Wild Pawpaws

[Triloba Tracker]

I guess it was 2-3 years ago when I finally tasted my first wild pawpaws.

As I've commented here in various posts, those wild pawpaw experiences were kind of mixed.

I wanted to LOVE the fruit but the wild ones for the most part had an underlying "gamey" taste that was off-putting.

Now a few years and several wild pawpaws later, I wanted to share my tips for enjoying these fruits:

1) Let them get quite soft - recently the fruits I've eaten have been quite mushy and I think I like them best that way.

2) Keep eating them! - as with many foods, pawpaws have grown on me over time. Don't write them off if you aren't thrilled at first. I always found them intriguing, but now after eating many over a long period I CRAVE them...soooo good.

3) Chill them! - I read on the Ohio Pawpaw Festival website that George Washington's favorite dessert was a chilled pawpaw. So I have given it a try and I have to say it does enhance the experience in my opinion! mmmmmm

4) Stay away from the seeds (and somewhat from the skin) - the very first time I brought some pawpaws home, I cut them open and scooped EVERY last speck of flesh out of the skins and stripped the seeds bare. I made ice cream with that pulp, and later that night got horribly sick. Since then I've realized that the pulp that clings to the seeds is the source of the "gamey" taste and possibly my illness that night. Like other annona family fruits, pawpaw seeds are toxic, so it stands to reason to avoid them. Problem is, with small wild fruits, there is precious little flesh that's not adhered to the seed. But I still steer clear. The taste is much better the farther you get from the seeds.

I always liked pawpaws but now I am a certified addict. Hopefully this info will help further folks' enjoyment of this awesome fruit.

[googer]

That's very interesting that you got sick from the seed casings. There's a good chance that your sickness was your body's reaction to a potent secondary metabolites that A. triloba produce. Turns out pawpaws aren't just good for eating. Those metabolites have demonstrated some astounding cancer-fighting properties in human trials. A professor from Purdue gave a really interesting talk about how he's isolated a particular chemical from pawpaw stems and essentially used it to cure people's cancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD6MGd0Dz5o

[Triloba Tracker]

That's very interesting that you got sick from the seed casings. There's a good chance that your sickness was your body's reaction to a potent secondary metabolites that A. triloba produce. Turns out pawpaws aren't just good for eating. Those metabolites have demonstrated some astounding cancer-fighting properties in human trials. A professor from Purdue gave a really interesting talk about how he's isolated a particular chemical from pawpaw stems and essentially used it to cure people's cancer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD6MGd0Dz5o

Yep I've heard about that too. I am a firm believer in the healing power of the plant kingdom.

Ironically, The same substance (annonacin) has neurotoxic effects (of course quantity determines toxicitiy).
Studies have linked atypical Parkinson's disease to consumption of annonacin-rich sugar apples in the Caribbean.

As for getting sick - apparently it's not uncommon. I've read/heard more than one reference to adverse reactions. Bummer! Good news is I've never gotten ill since that one time.