Flavors of coconuts, mango, and banana probably make you think of tropical locales like the Hawaiian and Caribbean islands.  Depending on where you live in North America, you might be surprised to learn that these flavors can all be found in one wild edible; the paw paw.  Serving as a food source for Native peoples for centuries, paw paws are the largest wild tree fruit in North America.  So for this month, Asiminikisathwa (pawpaw moon in Shawnee) we're focusing on this unique wild North American fruit and how you can forage for it yourself!

Paw paws (Asimina triloba) have long been used by Native North Americans for food.  Paw paws (or custard apple, Indian banana, Ozark banana, and many others).  If you live in the eastern half of the United States, it’s highly likely that paw paws grow in your area.  Their range reaches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the eastern portion of Kansas in the west and from the Great Lakes region in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. 

There are 26 known varieties that have been cultivated domestically along with those that exist in the wild.  Despite this diversity, there are some characteristics that can help you identify these plants.  They can frequently be found near waterways like creeks and streams.  As part of the Annonaceae family, that also includes other tropical fruits like soursop, paw paws are a tropical looking plant with broad obviate (widest just below the tip) leaves that are smooth on the edges. They resemble those of a hickory tree (another wild edible) except paw paw leaves alternate instead of being opposite one another. If you are in doubt break off a leaf and smell it.  Paw paw leaves smell slightly of green pepper.

Paw paw fruits ripen around the beginning of September, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go find yourself a grove of them around July to start monitoring their progress. You can check their ripeness in the same way you check avocados.  When they are ripe the flesh of the fruit will soften.  Additionally, the skin will start to bruise much like a banana when it is ready for eating.  The skin and seeds are inedible; however you can save the paw paw seeds for cultivation later (although they take about seven years to fruit)!  Keep the seeds moist in a plastic bag with a small amount of soil and place in the refrigerator for three months.  This process, called moist stratification, simulates the overwintering a seed would undergo in the wild.  After stratification, you can plant the seeds.  They may take a few months to sprout, so don’t give up on them! 

Part of the reason they haven’t taken off as marketable fruit is because they don’t travel well and have a short shelf life, so make sure you use them soon after picking!  You can enjoy them raw or in baked goods.  There are many recipes for everything from puddings to bread online.

Not only are paw paws tasty, but they also have many nutritional benefits as well!  A single paw paw has approximately 80 calories, 18.8g of carbohydrates, 2.6g of fiber, 1.2g of fat, and 1.2g of protein. Each fruit contains as much Vitamin A and twice the Vitamin C as banana. While bananas have more potassium, paw paws still contain 345mg. They top the charts over all other fruits in Calcium (63mg), Phosphorus (47mg), Magnesium (113mg), Iron (7mg), Zinc (.9mg), Copper (.5mg), and Manganese (2.6mg).

References:
www.pawpaw.kysu.edu/pawpaw/cooking.htm

Photo credits:

1. By Elbert L. Little, Jr., of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and others - USGS Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center: Digital Representations of Tree Species Range Maps from "Atlas of United States Trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr. (and other publications), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29451138