Eating Pawpaw Fruit
Pawpaw Fruit are best enjoyed fresh, picked from the tree at peak ripeness. The fruit cannot ripen after it's been picked. Don't pick or purchase unripe fruit in the hopes that it will ripen on your counter like a banana- it will not.
Cut and Eat
The quickest and easiest way to eat a pawpaw fruit is to cut it in half and scoop the flesh out with a spoon. Avoid scraping too close to or eating any of the skin, and make sure to spit the seeds out!
If you want to save your seeds to try to grow your own pawpaw trees, now is the time to clean the pulp off and put them in the fridge in an airtight bag with a damp paper or some damp potting medium. If you let the seed dry out, it will never grow. Keep the seeds in the fridge until spring.
Make Pulp to freeze or use in Recipes.
Since ripe pawpaws won't last very long in your fridge if you have an abundance, the best thing to do is to make pulp and freeze it in something airtight. You also need to make pulp first if you're going to make cheesecake or icecream.
Use the Pulp for pawpaw cheesecake
A crowd pleaser. Check out these amazing recipes from our favorite pawpaw farm.
Get Creative with Recipes
I like to aim for recipes that I can create without ever heating the fruit. Sometimes cooked pawpaw fruit can cause tummy upset. Instead I lean toward things like cold set pies, sweetened dairy drinks, cake filling and frostings, and popsicles.
You can replace some of the milk with pawpaw pulp in packaged pudding mix or in an instant cheesecake mix.
ATTENTION: NEVER DEHYDRATE PAWPAW
There are many reports of gastrointestinal issues that are experienced with consuming dehydrated pawpaw. Don't mess with it.