Paw paw season skin#

In Andrew Moore’s book Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, Jim Davis of Deep Run Pawpaw Orchard says that pawpaws can be emetic when underripe or overripe. Some have reported that illness ensued immediately, while others say it took eating a second pawpaw some time later. The texture is somewhat like a mango without all of the stringiness, often referred to as “custardy”.Ī bit of caution, though: Pawpaws make some people nauseated after eating them. It’s been compared with bananas, mangos, pineapple, and any combination thereof. The flavor reportedly varies from tree to tree and even fruit to fruit. Or scoop it all into a bowl and then separate the seeds. I believe the best way to eat a pawpaw is to just suck it out of the skin. The fruit is also loaded with largish dark brown, toxic seeds that get in the way of spooning out the good stuff. Simply scrape away that layer to avoid the bitterness.

Paw paw season skin#

Pawpaws sometimes have a slight bitterness about them that’s caused by a thin layer of phenolic compounds that lies between the skin and the sweet flesh. It’s not a fruit that you just take a bite of. The light yellow flesh inside is mushy and tends to ooze out of the skin when you cut a pawpaw open. The skin, which is not eaten, is thin but tough and bruises easily - it’s a quality that usually gets blamed for the pawpaw’s failure to achieve commercial status in modern markets. Pawpaws have a distinct floral or fruity smell which alludes to the sweet flesh that lies beneath the skin. They get super-soft and fall off the tree when they’re fully ripe but they can be shaken off when they’re close to being ripe. They start off green (often with black spots) and turn yellow, brown, and then purplish black. Pawpaws are normally three to six inches long, sort of kidney-shaped, and they grow in clusters like bananas. Depending on region, pawpaws are ready from the end of August through October and the season lasts about 30 days.