Above is a bowl of paw paws, the only North American tropical fruit. You won’t find it the grocery store, because it so easily bruises it is considered unmarketable. It also only ripens on the tree, and then must be eaten or frozen within a few days.

When we moved into our home in Brooklyn, Ed and I had a back yard garden to cultivate. Ed is the green thumb between us two, but I was given the gardening catalog and told to choose at least one plant. I read about the paw paw, and that it tasted like banana custard. And that it is not sold at market. The only way to enjoy the exquisite paw paw is to plant the trees yourself.

I really wanted to taste the elusive paw paw, so we planted two trees. You need two so they can cross pollinate.

This is what the ripe paw paw looks like when you cut it open. Rich yellow flesh, with a consistency somewhere between a mango and a banana. It’s chock full of vitamins and minerals. And yes, it tastes like banana custard.

The green skin is thin and leathery. The seeds are hard and brown and shaped like buttons. You eat neither, only the abundant yellow flesh. Best to cut the fruit in quarters, bite in and work the pits off the flesh in your mouth, spitting them out while enjoying the banana custard flavored richness.

In addition to eating paw paw, you can turn it into many delectable treats. Ed makes paw paw juice. It’s a rich pulpy nectar.

Ed also makes paw paw smoothies. Those are my favorite. Ed usually adds vanilla yoghurt. And sometimes rum or tequila (yum!). Or fresh mint, like in this case. It’s often so thick you need a spoon.

Other treats are paw paw ice cream (very popular with the family at Thanksgiving), paw paw cookies, and – pictured here – paw paw pâte de fruit. Ed modified a raspberry pâte de fruit recipe to concoct these tasty treats.

September is harvest time. That bowl represents a daily haul on the heavy days, although we also had one day where we collected two such bowlfuls.

Here you can see where we planted the two paw paw trees in our backyard. They are in the back left and back right corners. These trees are about 30 years old now. When they arrived for planting, we received three year old plants. We didn’t learn until after planting that paw paw trees don’t bear fruit until they are 10 years old.

So we had to wait a while before we could finally taste the elusive paw paw.

The left corner tree

The right corner tree.

At the time of taking these pictures most of the paw paws had already ripened. But there is still one branch with a bunch of paw paws visible in the right corner tree.

Let’s take a closer look.

You can pick paw paw directly from the tree. When it is ripe and ready for eating, a gentle twist will pluck the fruit easily off. However most of our paw paws are now so high in the trees that we would have to climb ladders to test and pluck them. It’s easier to let them fall from the tree on their own, and then gather them from the ground. At harvest time that means a daily, or twice daily trip to the yard to gather the latest batch before other critters or decay gets to them. Like I said, unless quickly eaten or frozen, they will spoil within days.

So during harvest season, most paw paws will get “deviled” within a day or two of falling off the tree, their delicious flesh preserved in containers and put into the freezer.

Half our freezer ends up taken up by paw paw by the end of harvest season, and if processed while fresh the frozen fruit flesh keeps for up to a year. Ed will defrost a container and make juice or smoothies or ice cream throughout the year.

It is easier to remove the seeds from the paw paw flesh when defrosting them than while deviling them. That is why the frozen paw paw containers include the brown button seeds.

Back in the yard. Here is that last bunch of paw paws still holding on to the tree. Perhaps they are last to ripen because they grew in the shadiest section.

Sometimes when they fall off the tree, the paw paws get damaged like the one at left – it must have hit that wood beam in such a way that it split. Most paw paws however land with little bruising or tearing, like the fellow at right.

Or this perfect specimen.

Every “harvest day” lately has become like an Easter egg hunt, what with all the new varieties of bushes and whatnot Ed has had planted below the trees. I don’t mind the search, in fact I kinda love it. Easter egg hunting always was one my favorite holiday events as a kid. I remember our Kindergarten teacher asking us kids our favorite holiday, and while most said “Christmas”, unsurprisingly, I said “Easter; because you can hide and seek your presents”.

Of course the paw paws that land in our neighbor’s yard are a little harder to gather up…

See the paw paw?

Let’s get a closer look.

That one was easy. Can you spot this one?

There it is!

Okay, this one is even harder. You’d probably need to zoom in to catch a glimpse of the paw paw hidden here.

Okay, let’s go a little closer. You see it?

Now you see it, right?