Yesterday, I had the privilege to tour an urban farm located in the heart of Washington D.C. The farm is surrounded by subsidized housing, located north of the White House near Howard University. The Common Good City Farm engages in small-scale sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices at their half-acre of growing space in a public park. Over the last 15 years, Common Good has provided over 10 tons of fresh produce to the community and has partnered with over 8,000 people in educational programs rooted in caring for the soil and tending to the earth.
In addition to a variety of high-producing row crops and a medicinal garden, Common Good City Farm has a small orchard complete with figs, peaches, and pawpaw trees. The pawpaw, also known as a custard apple, is a small understory tree that produces the largest edible fruit native to North America. They are prolific in the parks and along trails in the National Capital Region, Appalachia, and as far north and west as Michigan, providing a tasty snack for hikers and wildlife. Pawpaw tastes like a combination of bananas and mango with hints of vanilla and citrus notes.
I am doing a big disservice by writing about pawpaw trees in a local paper in northern Nevada. According to UNR Cooperative Extension, pawpaw trees are capable of growing in northern Nevada, however, they are unlikely to produce fruit. The trees prefer to grow in acidic soil, making our alkaline-dominated soil an inopportune habitat. The trees require around 400 hours of chill which means that they are likely to flower during the false Nevada spring in February. Once blossomed, the tree needs around four months of frost-free conditions to set and grow fruit–so Memorial Day weekend and the late May freeze would be a deal-breaker.
To further complicate access for curious Nevadans to the fruit of legend, ripe pawpaw fruits have a notoriously short shelf life of 3-5 days. So, it is virtually impossible and highly unlikely that you will find pawpaws in grocery stores, even in places where pawpaws grow prolifically. They can be found in the realm of farmers’ markets and on-farm produce stands. In short, pawpaws are my new favorite fruit that I have never tasted.
Should you find yourself in a place where pawpaws are grown, in September or October when they are ripe and ready, please do me a favor and try one. The experience of eating pawpaw represents a special moment emblematic of being in the exact right place at the exact right time. So often, we try to stretch accessibility to produce items like these. We have gotten used to enjoying avocados in our guacamole and bananas in our cereal in the height of the winter. Pawpaws, much like the Heart of Gold Cantaloupe, force us to be rooted in the soil, experiencing the particular terroir of the present.
For kicks, here is a recipe celebrating an ingredient that we are collectively unlikely to ever find.
Pawpaw Pudding
INGREDIENTS
½ c butter, melted then slightly cooled.
2 c sugar
1 ½ c flour
1 t baking powder
¼ t salt
½ t ground cinnamon
¼ t ground ginger
¼ t ground nutmeg
3 large eggs
2 c pawpaw pulp
1 ½ c milk
1 t vanilla extract
Whipped cream for serving
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 baking dish.
2.In one bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. In a second bowl, whisk together eggs and pawpaw pulp until smooth. Whisk in milk and vanilla, then melted butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until combined.
3.Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes until just set in the center. Cool to room temperature before cutting. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
If you absolutely must try pawpaw, I am right there with you. Frozen pawpaw pulp can be bought online from
earthy.com and integrationacres.com.
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