A couple weeks ago at work, one of my colleagues who grew up in West Virginia was talking about this amazing fruit that he grew up eating – the pawpaw. Obviously, I consider myself a foodie, so I was somewhat ashamed of myself that I had never heard of such a thing.
According to my co-worker, this was a cross between a banana and a mango, at least in looks and flavor. It is a tropical fruit that somehow grows in the mid west US. Apparently, it is also the largest fruit that grows in North America. My colleague was a wealth of pawpaw information; so much so that I began to think that he was making things up.
“Did you know Lewis and Clark survived their journey by eating pawpaws?”
“The pawpaw isn’t pollinated by birds or bees, but by flies.”
I was growing more and more suspicious as the conversation went by. He said that you can’t find pawpaws up here in the northeast because they don’t grow here and they don’t hold up well to shipping. He promised that he would mail order some (as he does every year) and bring them in. I wasn’t about to pass up a new culinary experience. As soon as the conversation was over, I jumped on my computer and headed over to wikipedia to look up the pawpaw. Indeed, it does exist and every pawpaw fact he had was true.
The fruit is not very attractive. It is green/brown and sorta looks like a giant soybean. It is very fragrant, smelling sweet and slightly of apple or banana. When cut open the inside is almost like an avocado — the skin is thin but tough and the flesh is very soft, even softer than an avocado. It is yellow and custard like. There are large seeds, about the size of almonds, sprinkled through the soft flesh. The fragrance is even stronger when the pawpaw is opened.
The correct method of eating a pawpaw, as I was instructed, consists of spooning the super sweet flesh out with a spoon and eating it like a bowl of pudding. The flavor is reminiscent of banana, but much sweeter. I was reminded of banana scratch-and-sniff stickers and banana-flavored candy. I thought it was very good. Others trying it thought it was too sweet.
Any pawpaw fans out there?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Jan 02, 2009 @ 16:40 EST5EDT
