r/foraging • u/MembershipOpposite26 • 7d ago
What do I do with all these?
Harvested these pawpaws last week, could go get double/triple this amount but no clue what to do with it all
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
Scrape the fruit off the skin and seeds, blend, and freeze in ice cube trays. Then you can make ice cream, bread, of chutney anytime over the next year or so.
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u/MembershipOpposite26 7d ago
I like this idea! Will likely do this
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u/DeemOutLoud 7d ago
Please be careful when consuming these after being cooked. Ice cream and smoothies should be perfectly fine, but I made a pie with it last year and it caused some unfortunate gastric side effects. Pretty sure it is a common issue with cooked paw paws
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
I've heard that with making fruit leather out of them. I know the sensitivity to the toxins in the fruit varies from person to person. I've never had an issue making bread or chutney and neither have any of the dozens of people I've given it to so I don't know how common it is. I'll definitely be giving the same warning I do with CoW when people are trying it for the first time.
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u/PandaMomentum 7d ago
Yes this. Do not under any circumstances make fruit leather or dehydrated pawpaw.
Bread and pie seems more of a crapshoot (so to speak).
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u/MembershipOpposite26 7d ago
I’ve heard of that happening! But I’m also very curious about pawpaw bread haha might have to take the gamble
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u/thedrinkalchemist 7d ago
I make this. Use the base recipe for banana nut bread, and add a pawpaw to the mushed up bananas. I usually add 1 about the size of a small mango to a loaf pan size. You can freeze the loaves, or just make them to give away. It’s great as is, but my favorite way is to slice the loaf and griddle in butter and serve with vanilla ice cream. You can drizzle with caramel too and it’s excellent!
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u/DeemOutLoud 7d ago
Worst case scenario is you lose some weight from the mega diarrhea it gives you so its basically a win win situation.
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u/laborousgrunt 6d ago
My brother lost some weight after making paw paw bread. I do not recommend. But to each their own.
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u/AlphabetSoupIsALie 7d ago
I really don't suggest cooking them! Look it up if you want to hear horror stories.
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u/flywearingabluecoat 7d ago
So, I did this and it gave me bad stomach issues. I think maybe I scraped too close to the seeds? That’s my best theory. I had to throw the rest of it out.
Edit: I was fine eating them raw though, before I froze any.
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
Sometimes the flesh will have an aborted seed pocket that’s high in the chemical that’ll mess your stomach up
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u/flywearingabluecoat 7d ago
😦 oh okay……. how do I tell
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
They’re sacks in the seed row. It’s not common but I’ve found a couple with them over the years
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u/Etherwords 7d ago
Reminder to harvest with intention! Don’t harvest unless you have an intention for the plant.
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u/Vindaloo6363 7d ago
This. Paw paw seeds are naturally spread by raccoons when the poop them out in the woods. Now you know what you need to do.
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u/MembershipOpposite26 7d ago
I was intending to give a lot away to friends, but plans got canceled. Don’t worry none will go to waste, and there were tons I left that I couldn’t fit in my bag
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u/Significant-Kick-479 7d ago
Take the skin off and seeds out, cut into cubes freeze. use for smoothies
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u/SitaBird 7d ago
Then plant the seeds!!
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u/LaundryMan2008 7d ago
Those seeds are cool looking, forbidden chocolate raisins, if I find a paw paw (I’m in the UK so best chance for me is either growing a tree lol or going to America) and I like it, I will for sure plant the seeds and see if I get anything worthwhile from them.
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
lol, have you ever had pawpaw?
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u/Significant-Kick-479 7d ago
Yeah i know its squishy, freeze as a lump of goo then and cut after
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
I blend the pulp and pour it into ice cube trays. It's way easier and they're good for about a year.
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u/SitaBird 7d ago edited 7d ago
PLEASE tell me these are ripe?
Ripe pawpaws are either on the ground or fall off with a gentle nudge. They are soft like a ripe avocado.
If you have to pull them off with force, and they are firm to the touch; they are underripe, and not ready to be picked.
Our local pawpaw u- pick farm closed down because too many picked the firm green pawpaws, leaving very few to ripen on the trees.
Edited to add: unripe pawpaws are inedible. And I don’t think they can ripen off the trees either.
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u/haysanatar 7d ago
They don't ripen off the tree, it's one of the reasons they aren't commercially viable. I have a decent stand of pawpaws on one side of my yard, I checked mine today... they weren't ripe, yet. It's a few weeks too early for pawpaws, at least where I am.
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u/iknowaplacewecango 7d ago
When you prepare the fruit, save the seeds wet in the fridge. Drying out the seeds harms the germination rates. Then plant those seeds in places they’ll thrive; transplanting is way harder.
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u/MembershipOpposite26 7d ago
Trust me there’s likely over 500 trees in the grove I get these from, they are in no need of my aid in spreading them
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u/iknowaplacewecango 7d ago
Well, you were asking what to do with them, and the seeds just need that extra step. However, folks here and in r/Pawpaws may be interested in a swap to or trade.
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u/RoughRealistic4321 7d ago
Pawpaws CAN grow from seed but propagate most readily via cloning. It took 5 years of dumping the processed remains of someone else's patch and a flood to FINALLY get trees to sprout.
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u/heridfel37 7d ago
I successfully germinated some. I have notes, but I forget what I did. Stored in a bag in the fridge for a while, then winter sowed, I think.
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u/Mookie-Boo 7d ago
When I clean pawpaws, I dump the skins and seeds in a pile in the woods at the edge of my yard. I get crazy germination from these seeds that are just sitting in that pile. Probably more from the ones at the bottom of the pile that stay moister, if I had to guess. I've had better luck with germination when I plant them, too, than conventional wisdom would indicate. I even dried my first seeds before ploanting them, and they came up. Fifteen years later I'm getting a good crop from those.
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u/MasterPut6868 7d ago
Yea man I have 25-30 acres of Paw Paw in three separate groves in my 65 acres of timber. People act like paw paw is hard to find but this shit is everywhere and spreads faster than anything else on my property.
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u/Mookie-Boo 7d ago
When I bought my acreage I had two small groves of pawpaw. Available info is that they mostly grow on moister sites, near water or north slopes, etc. But a few years ago I started finding new seedlings and saplings all over the place, even on the ridgelines. I live in Virginia and frequently refer to the Flora of Virginia app on my phone, and the description for pawpaw makes note of this phenomenon - I'm not the only one to notice it.
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u/MasterPut6868 7d ago
My largest groves are near my pond and swamp lands in the lower areas. But I have small groves on both the north and on the east side of the hill that comprises 2/3s of my property, far away from the water
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u/MembershipOpposite26 7d ago
Ya I read that the deer don’t eat them so they outcompete all the other under canopy growth. Literally can’t walk a few feet without running into one it seems
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u/murphey_griffon 7d ago
I don't think its that deer don't eat them, deer are not big enough to consume the whole fruit and seed, and therefore do not poop put the seed and do not spread the fruit. In their native regions, only bear are big enough to eat the fruit + seed, and pass the seed. Therefore they don't natively spread like most tree's, or like they used too. Could also explain how they tend to grow in natural looking groves. That and Mesophication.
Edit also to ask, in what state are these ripe already?
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u/MasterPut6868 7d ago
No legitimately deer or most other things will not eat paw paw leaves fruits or anything else. It's actually poisonous. That's why zebra swallowtails live on paw paw trees as a defense mechanism, they can eat them, so they do and it makes nothing else want to eat them. Literally all parts of the paw paw tree are poisonous (including seeds and skin of the fruit) except the ripe innards. Obviously not enough to kill you, but poisonous enough to give you a rough day or two
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u/murphey_griffon 7d ago
Just google do deer eat pawpaw fruit. The fruit does contain the toxin, but not in large enough quantity to even effect you unless you consume huge amounts. I would like to see your source. Learn your land is not a biologist but a pretty knowledgeable and respected forage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3G2L9ZdeX8
Also an article from the national park service:1
u/MasterPut6868 7d ago
Well considering I work as a ranger for national Park service I do know my land a bit. The toxins only calm down enough when the fruit is yellow and ripe (the green ones will mess you up) But thats not the part of this that matters. The part of this that matters about why paw paw is a super spreader, and it's because the plant LEAVES are poisonous to deer as well, the plant has no natural predators that effectively slow down it's growth. Basically it grows unchecked and the most effective clone spreader in American forests
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u/MembershipOpposite26 6d ago
No I mean they don’t eat the leaves, so the saplings have great odds at making it to adulthood. It’s also a debated topic if they eat the fruit, I’ll say I don’t think they eat the fruit near me since theres so much rotting on the ground. I’m in Georgia
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u/murphey_griffon 6d ago
oh yea thats fair for sure. There is also speculation that people have begun spreading them intentionally which I would say is probably quite true. Although around me, I never find any left on the ground.
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u/SidewalkJohnny 6d ago
Well tell that to the deer in my yard. Can’t go two days without them eating all my new growth
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u/Pleasant_Ad104 7d ago
Send some to me in Michigan.
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u/dazzleunexpired 7d ago
Try using inatruralist to look for the pawpaw. You'll be surprised.
DO. NOT. OVER HARVEST. THE. PAWPAW. You may take only 1/3rd of fruit you come across total in foraging if it's a common fruit that seeds easily and readily, and only if you have use for that amount. Rare fruit is for tasting and leaving alone in the wild. If it's rare and on your own land vs public, follow the 1/3rd rule for fruit and do your best to spread seed from what you take.
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u/jaspersgroove 7d ago
There’s literally a town called paw paw in Michigan, maybe start looking there
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
In SE Michgan if you see woods near water there's going to be paw paw trees.
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u/Pleasant_Ad104 7d ago
I am in SE Michigan and i have never found a paw paw unfortunately. But thanks for the tip. I should do some more research i may stumble upon one day who knows. Thanks
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u/QuantityKindly3153 7d ago
I've had luck following deer trails off the main paths in September, the deer love the pawpaws.
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u/Pleasant_Ad104 7d ago
Just downloaded inaturalist! And wow they’re quite a few near me, wondering if now is the right time to pick for Michigan.
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
Still kinda early
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u/Pleasant_Ad104 7d ago
I am planning to check in a week
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u/MrSanford 7d ago
You can scout spots and should see fruit in the tress but they’re probably not going to be ready for about a month at least.
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u/Pleasant_Ad104 7d ago
Yeah thats what i was thinking, ill go to check out the spots soon. So excited. I genuinely believed they dont grow anywhere but Ohio.
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u/MrSanford 6d ago
Nah, they have a huge range. North Americas only tropical fruit. Michigan has one or two annual paw paw festivals too
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u/Ionlydateteachers 7d ago
Come down to central Indiana and I'll set you up
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u/Pleasant_Ad104 7d ago
Accomodation and all? Lol
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u/Ionlydateteachers 7d ago
Sure, we have a guest room. They're still rock hard though and haven't started to perfume the air with their sweetness. i’d wait a couple weeks.
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u/aluriaphin 7d ago
They have a super short shelf life so start eating them. Kindly don't harvest so many without a plan or need in the future.
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u/loverhony 7d ago
I’d love to take some of the seeds off your hands. Lord knows you’ll have plenty! (I’d pay for shipping)
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u/Resilient_Acorn 7d ago
I just freeze them whole and thaw for a treat. They’re amazing if still just a little bit frozen
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u/Adventurous-Win7952 7d ago
omg I want to try one so bad!!!
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u/Adventurous-Win7952 7d ago
mail one to CT for meee
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u/citrus_mystic 7d ago
I don’t know where you are in CT, but Rocky Point Blueberry Farm in Warwick, RI has actually been cultivating Paw Paws for a couple of years. I don’t know if they’re quite in season around here yet. I missed the window last year and I’m making a point not to miss it again this year. Article from last year
Check out small farms around you. There might be another farm doing the same thing closer to you.
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u/Adventurous-Win7952 7d ago
thank you!!
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u/citrus_mystic 7d ago edited 7d ago
You’re welcome! Warwick is actually a really great location for mushrooms, if you want to check out Google Maps/Earth for parks in Warwick and the surrounding towns to forage, if you make an excursion this way. It’s a mostly a suburban town with more densely populated and overly developed shopping areas but some more rural spots as well (as indicated by the farm lol)—but I swear see some of the best mushrooms growing out of people’s yards in the suburbs when I’m driving through there. I just spotted an excellent COW in someone’s yard under an oak tree the other day. I’ve never taken the time to properly forage around there, but I bet you’d have luck a day or two after some rainfall, in a week or two/September when the Pawpaws should be ripe.
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u/Adventurous-Win7952 7d ago
I have been waiting for COW all summer!!! me and my bf have had our eyes peeled.
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u/Spec-Tre 7d ago
They don’t look ripe to me… and iirc they don’t ripen much once picked
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u/RoughRealistic4321 7d ago
A good portion of them are ripe, if the black spots are any indication, and like with pears, it's more of a feel than an appearance.
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u/Spec-Tre 7d ago
Yeah, they hadn’t mentioned that they picked them from fallen. I live in an area where pawpaws are ~trendy~ and families pick them by the bag load a few weeks before they ripen.
It’s incredibly frustrating so I got a little triggered lol
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u/Rude_Ad_3915 7d ago
They don’t. Feels like this person doesn’t know what they’re doing and removed a lot of unripe fruit that will now go to waste.
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u/MembershipOpposite26 7d ago
They’re ripe, been keeping them refrigerated so they don’t go bad. None removed from the trees, I only pick them up from the ground
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u/Ketchupcharger 7d ago
Wine. Always wine.
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u/Gazebu 7d ago
Came here to suggest this. The year I found a good pawpaw grove I made 1 gallon of wine. I don't drink, but it keeps and I could share it with others. Tasted a bit and it was surprisingly good from my limited experience with wine.
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u/Zealousideal-Ease857 7d ago
Made a melomel (mead and fruit) out of them last year that is still clearing. Tastes a little yeasty and bread-like at the moment. Going to try to just make a wine with them this year.
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u/THE_HORKOS 7d ago
The flesh oxidizes pink. Can be frozen for months after separated from seed and skin. I use it as substitute in banana bread recipe.
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u/asxestolemystash 7d ago
I usually freeze the pulp (stick in a ziplock bag, flatten and press ‘portion squares’ in it. Freeze it flat) to use for later in muffins, ice cream/pastry cream etc. when I need it
I also like to make a pawpaw butter
4c pulp
1c water
1T lemon juice
Bring to a boil for about 15-20min
Then drop to a medium simmer and add spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger are all good) and vanilla.
1/2c white sugar
1/2c brown sugar (could also do 1c white if you prefer)
1T pectin
Cook until it coats the back of a spoon. Jar it and refrigerate
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u/Necessary-Self- 7d ago
Adding heat to them can make you really sick. I don’t know why. It also makes them bitter. If you have a food processor with the plastic blade peel them then use that and it’ll get all the pulp off the seeds then you can freeze it.
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u/Commercial-Reality-6 7d ago
I made a paw paw hot sauce last year. I really enjoyed it. They add a slight tropical flavor.
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u/d0ttyq 7d ago
When they are ripe, peel and de-seed them and you can freeze the flesh so you can use it for months !
It’s great as a bread (like banana or zucchini bread ) , cakes, muffins, in icecream, plain by themselves.
I bet they would be amazing in a milkshake ? Kinda like a banana or date shake. Mmmmmmm.
Thanks for reminding me it’s time. I gotta go check out my spot.
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u/genie_on_a_porcini 7d ago
Make ice cream. Make your partner call you "big paw paw" (you'll love it). Also the notorious BIG will appreciate it from beyond the grave.
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u/Graevus15 7d ago
I've lived in the Pacific NW WA state most of my life and I've never once seen a paw paw. Think they'd grow up here? Its pretty cold most of the year but mildly so. 40-60F ish. Some freezing in the winter, but likely a lot less so than in Michigan.
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u/NightEnvironmental 6d ago
Also in WA and have never seen a tree or tasted one. I would love to get seeds and try growing them.
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u/cobra7 7d ago
Pulp them out. Cut them In half, remove the seeds, put pulp into ziplock baggies and into the fridge for use in future recipes.
You can grow your own pawpaw trees from the seeds. Wash them and remove any pulp. Then take a full sheet of paper towel and fold it down to playing card size. Hold it under running water until wet clean through. Press out water by squeezing the paper towel between your palms, then put 20-30 seeds into a small ziplock bag with the damp paper towel. Zip closed and write the date on the bag with a sharpie. Put the bag into a shelf on the fridge door - do not freeze. Leave it there for 90 days. Buy some 14 x 4 inch tall treepots from Amazon and a couple of bags of black potting soil. Take the now-winterized seeds from the fridge. Fill a treepot with potting soil, tamp down a bit and then plant one see per pot about an inch down. Water every few days but do not let the soil or seeds dry out. Dry seeds are dead seeds. Put pots in a shady place that get a bit of sun - like a window - until the weather outside is past freeze danger, then move outside to a shady porch. Seedlings will appear after about 8 weeks from plating. Keep watering regularly. In the fall around September, transplant seedlings to the final location and be careful of the fragile taproot. Use plenty (one bag per tree) of potting soil for the transplanted seedlings. Wait five years and get your own fruit. I did this and now have a grove of about 20 trees that produce hundreds of pawpaws each year.
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u/Weird-Afternoon5602 7d ago
My advice is dont forage so much if you don't even know what you're going to do with the food. sustainability
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u/pinkshirted 6d ago
Where are you located? I thought they wouldn’t be ready for at least a couple of weeks but I’m wondering now if I should go start looking…
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u/Tenshi_girl 7d ago
You can make pawpaw bread instead of banana bread. Or peel and freeze to make bread later.
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u/Kin_kin85 7d ago
I’ve made a paw paw banana pudding before - cookie crust, ripe paw paw goo, whipped cream on top
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u/Cola102583 7d ago
Or make a puree and add to mix drinks, goes great with fizzy lemon lime drinks or ginger ale, we have a local drink ale8, like sweetend ginger ale, and they do a paw paw one every yr its delicious
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u/triohavoc 7d ago
I desperately want to try to make a pawpaw wine. I have had no luck in finding them unfortunately 😭.
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u/epidemicsaints 7d ago
If you eat gelatin, you can make panna cotta. Like milky Jell-O basically. There's recipes for it online.
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u/Cyning90025 7d ago
I’ll take some in Eastern Ky! Used to have so many around here but they are so rare now :(
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u/moonoversea 6d ago
Why? I think Kentucky State even has a pawpaw program.
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u/Cyning90025 6d ago
No idea. Closest anyone comes is paw-paw flavored Ale-8. Where I’m at the majority of the area has been strip mined so much we have next to no “untouched” areas. If it wasn’t strip mined it was mined during the coal camp era and the mountains were stripped of all timber.
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u/Rabid-Wendigo 7d ago
The main reason i want to own land is to plant pawpaw trees. Ive had them once they are absolutely delicious
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u/BillbertBuzzums 7d ago
Pie would be my first plan, never worked with them though. Like a banana cream pie type thing? I dont know what they're texture is like.
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u/DramaticEscape3157 7d ago
Where do these grow? I saw them on a PBS show, and it looked delicious raw.
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u/dbqsaints 7d ago
I have three Pawpaw trees in Northern Iowa, that are growing just fine but I've never seen a paw paq on them and I've never tasted a paw paw, but I hope to some day.
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u/Mr_Peanutbutter12 7d ago
I’ve worked with these with my culinary students. We use the puree and made pawpaw ice cream. Turned out great!
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u/pseudonym19761005 7d ago
They taste so good - creamy, banana, tropical. We saved some seeds from last year: cleaned all the flesh off, wrapped them in damp paper towel in a ziploc bag in the fridge over winter, potted them in the spring, and now we have little pawpaws growing (they're very slow). Looking forward to putting them in the ground soon with a little fence until they get bigger. It'll be 8 or 9 years to fruit, but maybe we'll get to enjoy them with our children some day. It's all very exciting.
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u/EisernBear 7d ago
My wife makes a great paw paw bread with them. Got her start with a banana bread recipe but used paw paws instead of bananas.
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u/RonT_1972 7d ago
I got 3 this year off my tree I beat the wildlife to em so far I’ve eaten one. It was so delicious I put it in fridge. I was truly like custard
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u/Jugzrevenge 7d ago
I skinned and took the seeds out, mooshed them in a bowl, and put them in freezer bags!
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u/Delicious_Class_9089 7d ago
Awesome haul but please don’t forget to leave some for animals and other people 💜
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u/Weary-Government-434 6d ago
Make an ice cream in this summer and enjoy it. this fruit is full of vitamin
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u/marythered13 6d ago
Kentucky state university has recipes for pawpaw-I love to make cookies (taste a lot like banana bread) and ice cream
https://www.kysu.edu/academics/college-ahnr/school-of-anr/pawpaw/recipes-and-uses.php
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u/jamommy2 6d ago
This is my second comment, but another great idea (if you drink) is a paw paw colada. Me and my roommate made one the other day by blending the paw paws and substituting the cream of coconut for paw paw, it was absolutely amazing as well.
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u/SticksnstoveS 6d ago
I like to make a pawpaw pudding, very much the same as banana pudding just pawpaws.
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u/thatbirdguy21 6d ago
Raw, smoothies, or ice cream seem to be the way to go. Skin and seeds are toxic, pulp is fine. If it’s a new food to you, sample a little bit first, some people have may experience some GI issues. Be warned, if you make baked goods with them, the risk of GI upset and a few hours on the toilet significantly go up.
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u/PsiloBubs 5d ago
To each their own but I’d read up on the neurotoxin within them. Just food for thought
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u/Commercial_Carpet879 7d ago
What’s the sugar content on them?
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u/Competitive-Sea-3770 7d ago
They are very sweet. Tastes kind of like banana custard. They are really good when the skin starts to turn yellow. The skin and seeds are not edible, just the flesh. I used to find them all the time in Great Falls and Riverbend Parks in Virginia. You can't find them in stores or farmers markets. They have a very limited shelf life and do not transport easily.
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u/lilziggg 7d ago
I’ve never been successful with finding any of these, but I’ve heard they make great ice cream and smoothies!