It may come as a surprise that the exotic-tasting pawpaw fruit thrives in Canada. Chef Tawnya Brant assures that getting a taste of this fruit is a delightful experience.
“Imagine the essence of the tropics. If that had a flavor, if that were a scent in itself, that’s likely what a pawpaw embodies,” expressed Brant, the proprietor of Yawékon Foods and the host of APTN’s One Dish One Spoon.
Hailing from the Mohawk community of Six Nations of the Grand River, Brant describes the fruit as a fusion of banana, mango, and pineapple, with a velvety consistency that turns almost caramel-like as it ripens.
“It’s akin to a peculiar banana — slightly shorter and plumper, more oval in shape — and they harbor large seeds within,” she shared with The Current‘s Matt Galloway.
Pawpaws have flourished in North America for centuries, once widespread from Florida to Missouri and southern Ontario. Indigenous communities extensively cultivated these fruits before European settlement, but their prominence waned as forests were cleared for agriculture. Despite this, some pawpaw trees still thrive in the wild and select orchards in regions of southern Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, yielding their harvest in autumn.
The limited awareness surrounding pawpaws can be attributed to their short shelf life, as they quickly brown once harvested. Additionally, their susceptibility to bruising makes large-scale commercial harvesting and distribution challenging.
Exploring the wilderness for wild pawpaws in a concealed spot near London, Ont. with forager and ecologist Mathis Natvik.
Brant’s initial encounter with pawpaws occurred approximately ten years ago when a friend brought some to her late mother’s garden. Prior to this, she had heard tales of the fruit and how the Haudenosa