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Postharvest, Processing, and Cooking with Pawpaws

Sheri Crabtree

Kentucky State University

College of Agriculture, Food Science, and Sustainable Systems

Atwood Research Facility, Frankfort, KY 40601

The Pawpaw Fruit

Rich flavor and aroma resembling banana and mango, with pineapple, coconut, melon, caramel, and vanilla undertones

Smooth, custard-like texture

Nutritious and high in antioxidant activity

Pawpaw Market Potential

Farmers Markets

• –Fruit: $1 each
• –$2 to $3/pound

Gourmet Market

• –Frozen pulp
• –Ice cream

Restaurants, wineries

K. Pomper

The Potential of Pawpaw

Fresh market-unique flavor

Value-added products

Short shelf life and highly perishable

Pawpaw Harvest

Skin color is not a reliable indicator of ripeness- fruit may or may not exhibit a yellow color break when ripe

Fruit may be picked when slightly soft and fruit pulls away easily from the tree

Fruit will drop when soft-ripe

Ripe fruit bruises easily-handle with care

Postharvest

Fully ripe fruit have a shelf life of just 2-3 days

Fruit may be picked when just beginning to soften and stored in the refrigerator for ~2 weeks, then brought out to fully ripen at room temp

Processing and freezing pulp allows longer term storage

Things to look out for:

Bruising- often bitter

Red/pink discoloration- could be bacterial or fungal?

Fruit borer larvae

Skin is bitter

Large row of inedible seeds

Processing pulp manually - Hand processing - Labor intensive

Roma Food Processor with Grape Spiral with Pumpkin Screen

Hand processing results in 50% of total weight in pulp; mechanized ~40%

Select large fruit for ease of processing

• –Lower percent seed
• –Higher percentage of pulp recovered
• –KSU-Atwood, Susquehanna, Sunflower, Potomac, Wabash, NC-1, Overleese are recommended varieties with large fruit and fewer seeds.

Value-added products

Pawpaw spirits

Baked goods

Ice cream

Jam and preserves

Hot sauce, salsa, BBQ sauce

Pawpaw spirits

Beer

Wine

Brandy

Baked goods

Cakes, Cookies, Bread

Pie, Custard, Crème brulee, Pudding

Most recipes containing banana can be substituted with an equal amount of pawpaw pulp.

Pawpaw ice cream

KSU Pawpaw Ice Cream recipe:

• –1.5 cups pawpaw pulp
• –4 cups milk
• –4 cups cream
• –3 cups sugar
• –Mix well and freeze in ice cream freezer

Pawpaw pulp can also be blended with yogurt, or used in a fruit smoothie PawPaw Home made ICE CREAM

UMMER TOMAT GRADE YOUR HEALTHSTYLE

Pawpaw jam

6 cups pawpaw puree

4 cups sugar

One packet pectin

1.5 tsp

Simmer pawpaw puree on stovetop, slowly adding sugar. Simmer and stir for 8 minutes. Add pectin, bring to boil, and turn off heat. Pour into sterilized jars and place in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Hot sauces and salsa

Substitute pawpaw in fruit salsa recipes containing mango, papaya, peach, or pineapple Pawpaw barbeque sauce and hot sauce

Pawpaw barbeque sauce and hot sauce