Medicinal Monday...the largest indigenous fruit in America - PawPaw

You might be surprised to find out that the largest fruit native to America could be in your very own backyard. It is called the pawpaw which has a large range that extends from Canada to Florida. Native Americans used this tree for medicinal purposes and encouraged its growth. Its scientific name, Asimina is derived from the Algonquin name for the tree. Native American cultivation of pawpaw is responsible for the tree's range today.  For a video on the Pawpaw produced by the Institute for American Indian Studies click here.

About the Pawpaw
This tree is in the Annonaceae family and is related to African custard apples, soursop, and cherimoya. In the wild, pawpaws are found as understory trees in humus-rich soil, along rivers and stream banks. Pawpaws flower in mid.-May and are purple in color. The unusual upturned appearance of the flowers that resemble trillium blossoms. Their scent, which is often described as "fetid" attracts beetles and blowflies that help with pollination. The fruit that this tree bears is mango shaped and greenish-brown when ripe. In Connecticut, pawpaws ripen from mid-September through mid-October. The fruit can weigh up to a pound and has a taste that is a cross between a mango, banana, and pineapple.

Culinary and Other Uses
The fruit of the pawpaw tree was enjoyed by many Native American tribes in Connecticut and New York, west to Oklahoma and south to Florida. Lewis and Clarke depended on them on their westward trek nearly 300 years ago. Many Native American communities cultivated pawpaws and looked forward to eating them raw and cooked. The Shawnee have a "pawpaw" month dedicated to this fruit in their calendar in August.

One popular way used by many Native American communities is to mash the fruit and dry it into small cakes that could be reconstituted later for cooking. Pawpaws are packed with nutrition. They are very high in vitamin C, B, and potassium, and are high in fat. Native Americans used the tough, fibrous inner bark of the pawpaw tree to make rope, fishing nets, and mats.  Native American communities would also grind the seeds into a powder to deter head lice.

Did You Know...
Insects and deer show a natural aversion to pawpaws. The leaves, bark and unripe fruit contain a natural insecticide called Annonaceous acetogenins that may also be useful in fighting drug-resistant cancer.

Pawpaws do not bear fruit until they are six to eight years old.

Pawpaws were a favorite of Thomas Jefferson and a beautiful pawpaw tree can be found at his home in Monticello.

The largest pawpaw tree in Connecticut is located in the lawn between the Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe houses in Hartford.

The Pawpaw tunnel in Maryland and the Paw Paw Bends of the Potomac River near Paw Paw township in West Virginia are all named after the Pawpaw tree.

The third Sunday in September has been designated as National Pawpaw Day by the National Calendar.