What Are Pawpaws? Your Guide to Pittsburgh’s Tropical-Tasting Fruit

Pawpaw fans love the fruit’s custardy, tropical notes of mango and banana — definitely not the flavors you expect to grow in Appalachia. But if you haven’t encountered pawpaws before, there’s a pretty good reason why. They have too short of a shelf life to meet market demands, and there aren’t as many trees here as there used to be, mostly due to industry. The fruit’s brief season and scarce nature is arguably what makes it so special — especially when you get to know its story of survival.

How Long Have Pawpaws Been Here?

Pawpaws, or Asimina triloba, have been a part of Native American cultures for millennia and play an important role in Indigenous foodways. Iroquois people mix them into sauces and corn cakes, Cherokee people use the tree fibers in the inner bark to make rope and string, and the Shawnee Tribe, which marks time by phases of the moon, named one of those phases after the pawpaw. Fossils of the fruit were even discovered at The Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Avella, Pa., the oldest site of human habitation in North America.

Where Can I Find Pawpaw Trees?

Pittsburgh is on the edge of the native range; pawpaws can grow in the deep South, Mid-Atlantic, and all the way up to the Ohio River Valley. The trees mainly grow in the understory of woods, but they’re often called a “river fruit” because they thrive along waterways. If you want to go foraging, here's a map with some of the suspected sites where pawpaws grow in Pittsburgh. (Yellow circles mark the spots!)

How Can I Taste a Pawpaw?

Grow Pittsburgh is hosting Paw Paw Parties at Garden Dreams in Wilkinsburg on Sept. 16 and 30. Zebra swallowtail butterfly expert Gabrielle Marsden will share how pawpaw trees are linked to this particular species of butterfly.

Also check out Garfield Community Farm and East End Food Co-op; they’ve sold pawpaws in recent years. Keep a lookout for specials from Community Cultures at local farmers markets; Trevor makes a fermented pawpaw soda that’s incredible!

If you’re up for a road trip, check out these regional festivals:

Where Can I Learn More?

Be a pawpaw nerd like me and buy local author Andrew Moore’s book “Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit.” Moore does a deep dive into the past, present, and future of this unique fruit.