A chef describes pawpaws as a delightful surprise, highlighting their tropical flavor and unique texture. Tawnya Brant, the owner of Yawékon Foods and host of APTN’s “One Dish One Spoon,” compares the taste of pawpaws to a blend of banana, mango, and pineapple, with a creamy consistency that turns caramel-like when ripe.
Pawpaws have a rich history in North America, once widespread from Florida to Missouri to southern Ontario, where Indigenous communities cultivated them before colonization. Despite their historical significance, pawpaws are not widely known due to their short shelf life and susceptibility to bruising, making commercial harvesting and selling challenging.
Thomas Mathias, a farmer in Ontario’s Niagara region, experimented for over a decade to successfully grow pawpaws on his farm. He credits the use of llama and horse manure to attract blue bottle flies for pollination. The farm, run by Mathias and his sister, Beth Secord, yields hundreds of pounds of pawpaws annually, attracting increasing interest from consumers.
Brant suggests farmers’ markets or pawpaw festivals as the best places to find pawpaws in Canada. She recommends using pawpaws in various culinary creations but advises caution against consuming the skin and seeds due to their toxicity. Brant, who is nurturing her own pawpaw trees, looks forward to sharing the unique fruit with more people, calling it a cherished annual gift.