The pawpaw: America’s forgotten native fruit finds new popularity

Geoff Bennett:

Apples, oranges and bananas are sold in abundance in supermarkets across the country, but some say the most American fruit is one you will likely never see in the produce department, and it's one you have probably never heard of, the pawpaw.

Our Deema Zein bits into the long history of this forgotten fruit.

Deema Zein:

In Southeast Ohio, a 27-year tradition has taken root, an annual celebration of a little-known fruit with a cult following.

Chris Chmiel, Founder, Ohio Pawpaw Festival:

Have you had a pawpaw? Here in Appalachia, the pawpaw is sort of like, I'd say one of the stars of the native plants that we have. There's a seed in there.

Deema Zein:

Chris Chmiel is the founder of the Ohio Pawpaw Festival, where this star is center stage in events like the pawpaw cook-off.

Man:

I'm kind of struggling with picking up on notes of pawpaw.

Deema Zein:

And a range of pawpaw-inspired swag and refreshments from pawpaw T-shirts and pottery to pawpaw beer and even…

Woman:

A pawpaw iced matcha latte with oat milk.

Deema Zein:

For Chmiel, the festival is meant in part to spread the word about this lesser known native fruit.

Chris Chmiel:

When somebody gets a chance to eat a pawpaw at the right time and they have that initial like, whoa, it's just a good hook.

Deema Zein:

That instant surprise comes from an unexpected taste that many find hard to peg.

Woman:

I would describe the taste of a pawpaw kind of like a mango.

Woman:

Maybe with a little bit of papaya or stone fruit.

Man:

Like fresh grapes off of a vine.

Man:

Nature's own banana mango smoothie.

Chris Chmiel:

I describe the pawpaw flavors as a tropical custard because there's a lot of diversity in the flavors, and that has to do with genetics, but also ripeness and where they're grown.

Deema Zein:

This tropical tasting fruit grows wild across a vast stretch of the Eastern United States from the Panhandle of Florida and up into Michigan. Eaten and celebrated by Native American tribes, there's evidence that indigenous people are responsible for the abundance of pawpaw today.

Andrew Moore, Author, "Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit": There's thought that people in the Ohio River Valley had been selectively breeding or certainly selecting good-tasting pawpaw for thousands of years and perhaps that is the reason why some of the best pawpaws came from the Ohio River Valley and parts of the Midwest.

Deema Zein:

Andrew Moore is the author of "Pawpaw: In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit." He says the pawpaw was also prized by iconic early Americans. It helped sustain Lewis and Clark on their journey West, and George Washington grew the pawpaw on his Mount Vernon estate.

Andrew Moore:

One could make the argument that the pawpaw is the most American fruit. It's been here for millions of years. It's indigenous to this place. People have been naming places after the pawpaw and writing songs and poems about the pawpaw.

This is where I had my very first pawpaw ever.

Deema Zein:

Moore got his first taste of this fringe fruit at the Ohio Pawpaw Festival 15 years ago. Before then, he'd never heard of it, like most Americans these days.

Andrew Moore:

Generations ago, we could go out into the woods and our parents knew where the pawpaw patches were, our grandparents knew where the pawpaw patches were. But at some point in the 20th century, we stopped going to the woods for our food. We started getting most of our food from supermarkets and the food system became very industrial.

Deema Zein:

That transition away from foraging our food led to the downfall of the pawpaw, which has a short shelf life and is more fragile compared to other fruits.

Andrew Moore:

But I don't think those are reasons to say that the pawpaw can never be brought to the people. We bring all kinds of fragile, short-shelf-life fruits to markets. And one of the things I have begun to think about with the pawpaw is that it's just something we haven't gotten around to doing yet in terms of incorporating into our food system.

Oh, yes.

Deema Zein:

Moore, who grows pawpaws and sells them to his local co-op in Pittsburgh, says that research, currently under way at schools like Kentucky State University, could help develop a breed of pawpaw suitable for market shelves.

But, for now, part of the pawpaw's charm is that you can't find it in most grocery stores.

Andrew Moore:

You still have to go to the land to get this fruit, or you have to have a connection to community, to other people around you to find this fruit. It is nice that there is this fruit that can still bring people closer to each other and to the land.

Deema Zein:

In the meantime, festivals like this have popped up around the country.

MAN:

Of what avail are school taxes if the young people are not taught the glories of the pawpaw?

Deema Zein:

Making sure this beloved American fruit lives on.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Deema Zein.

Geoff Bennett:

And there is more online, including more on what people say pawpaws taste like. That's on our Instagram.