Pawpaws (asimina triloba) are North America’s largest native edible fruit. They are an understory tree in the eastern half of the United States and into deep southern Ontario (Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent, and Niagara).

Pawpaw fruit ripen very quickly. Their taste resembles bananas, with a tropical mango/pineapple flavour.

Our grove was planted between 30-40 years ago by John’s grandfather. Every September, we check daily to see if the fruit is ripe. When ripe, they have a slight give. Their window of ripeness is very short, so we gather as soon as they are ripe and prepare the pulp for the freezer.

We cut the fruit open, scooping out the pulp and removing the seeds. We freeze our pulp in portions in the freezer.

Pawpaws are delicious straight from the trees, or baked in goods in place of bananas. They also make a delicious ice cream!

This year, we tried a snickerdoodle recipe. This recipe comes from Georgia at The Comfort of Cooking. Her Soft Banana Snickerdoodles recipe can be found here: https://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2015/08/soft-banana-snickerdoodles.html. We adapted Georgia’s recipe for our cookies.

Pawpaw Snickerdoodles

Mash enough pawpaws to make one heaping cup of pawpaw pulp. I cut the pawpaws open lengthwise, scoop out the pulp with a spoon, and pull out the seeds. Set this aside.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer, combine pawpaw pulp, 1 1/3 cup sugar, oil, molasses, and vanilla. Mix well so that everything is evenly combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. You will have a nice cookie dough texture.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, up to 1 day.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Prepare ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon mixture in small bowl for rolling.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Working quickly, roll into 1” balls. Roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture, and set cookies on the prepared cookie sheets, at least 2” apart. Gently press with a fork.

Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and when cooled slightly, move cookies to a cookie rack to cool further.

We learned that black walnut trees could be tapped and that they produce syrup much like maple trees.

After a few months we pruned the plant back and dried the clippings.