Perfectly ripened in September’s sun, a fist-sized pawpaw falls with a shake of the trunk, its pale green skin supple beneath my fingertips.
A gentle pinch could easily bruise the fruit, so I cradle it with care.
Under the dappled light of a pawpaw tree stands Adam D’Angelo, Project Pawpaw founder and lead researcher.
Once a staple in an early American diet, pawpaws were replaced as technology made it easier to shop produce from around the world. After the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the fragility of a global food chain, people began to recognize the benefits of returning to a more sustainable, seasonal diet.
Pawpaws are having a moment.
D’Angelo researches how to make them more shelf-stable so more Americans get to try pawpaws.
“It’s this intensely seasonal, delicious and exotic fruit that is unlike anything else that people can grow here in North America. That combination of traits has made it such an exciting and thrilling fruit for people to source and find and enjoy and share,” says D’Angelo.
The tropical-tasting flavor of the pawpaw is often described as a hybrid of a banana and a mango, with the texture of a soft, ripe avocado. But if you’ve never heard of a pawpaw, you’re not alone.
Before my older sister began dating D’Angelo a few years ago, I had no idea what pawpaws were despite their historical prevalence in American culture.
The American Pawpaw is found in forests throughout many eastern, southern and Midwestern states. Although they can grow all around us, there is one reason that most Wisconsinites have never tried a pawpaw.
“You have just days from when you pick a pawpaw to when it is no longer edible — it has a very short shelf life,” D’Angelo says.
The pawpaw’s ephemeral nature has helped cultivate its cult following, he says. Enthusiasts like D’Angelo are leading outreach to make pawpaws more mainstream throughout the U.S.
He developed Project Pawpaw for several years before launching in 2023, and its early efforts are already paving the way toward a sustainable and local future of fruit. D’Angelo uses traditional plant breeding techniques to bridge the gap between tree and table, conduct groundwork research and keep small farms in operation.
Until about 100 years ago pawpaws were well-known for their delicious flavor and packing a nutritional punch. Pawpaws were the favorite dessert of George Washington, and they fed the Lewis and Clark expedition for several weeks, D’Angelo says.
Indigenous groups carried the seeds throughout the Midwest, selectively planting trees with higher quality fruit for a valuable source of food.
Throughout widespread growing zones, pawpaws are the namesake of several towns.
Although it used to be the norm to eat only what your community could grow, native produce like the pawpaw disappeared in the consolidation of our food system. Pawpaws are not on grocery shelves, but year round, consumers can buy bananas and oranges grown halfway across the world for 20 cents apiece.
D’Angelo says low sticker prices have devalued global fruits and vegetables, especially considering enormous losses along the way. Forty percent of all produce goes to waste, according to RTS, a waste management company. It’s a staggering statistic considering that in the U.S. alone more than 47 million people are food insecure, according to Feeding America, a coalition of food banks working to eliminate hunger.
“So often in life we go through so many twists and turns to get our basic needs, when so much of it is right around us,” says Ken Kelly, a Wisconsin landowner.
Kelly grows a variety of trees, including pawpaws, on his 20-acre chunk of land in the hills of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area. He’s always felt a sense of unease
depending on the global system, preferring whenever possible to grow and eat with the seasons.
“We want people to grow fruit and share it with their neighbors, and help raise awareness about these fruits and the wonderful history they have surrounding them.”
Rachel Kittel is a Madison teacher in her first year of growing pawpaws. She also recognizes various benefits of local produce.
“Whatever small steps citizens can do to grow their own produce and keep things local benefits both me as a person in the community, but also the grower,” Kittel says.
From the time he was young, D’Angelo knew he wanted to improve the lives of farmers. He recalls feeling disheartened as he watched friends in his native state of New Jersey lose their farms. Throughout the 20th century, the number of farms in the United States dramatically decreased, while average overall farm size increased, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service.
As an undergraduate at Rutgers University, D’Angelo discovered plant breeding and genetics as a method to improve the faults of the food system.
Plant breeding is a process that has existed for as long as agriculture. The fruits and vegetables we eat today have gone through generations of breeding and selective cultivation in order to taste, function and grow the best they can be, according to the USDA.
D’Angelo says he hoped to use plant breeding to help small farmers, guided by his inherent belief that small farmers are better incentivized and able to take care of their land than large farmers.
Kelly couldn’t agree more. He recently established his land as an orchard nursery and plans to sell a variety of produce grown on the land.
“It’s a sort of haven for wildlife and it hasn’t been tilled and plowed and overworked,” Kelly says. Industrialization of farm lands can lead to soil erosion and biodiversity loss, but smaller scale farms like Kelly’s wild patch can support a wider variety of species.
Although extenuating circumstances kept him away from the area for several years, his pawpaw orchard thrived in his absence.
“It was a real lesson to see how resilient a tree it is,” he says.
Kelly and others with experience growing pawpaws emphasize how low maintenance the trees are.
This is just one of many strengths D’Angelo hopes to harness to help farmers and communities with Project Pawpaw. The fruit has the ability to grow in a variety of climate zones with minimal intervention on the part of growers, and they’re also a fan favorite.
“We call it a ‘charismatic fruit,’ because people who’ve just seen pictures of it want to try one,” D’Angelo says. “They love the story of it and how culturally significant it is in the U.S.”
The research objectives of Project Pawpaw involve selectively breeding larger fruits with tougher skins, fewer seeds and a greater ratio of flesh to seeds. In early research, pawpaws have great breeding potential and are already making quick progress.
David Hlubik is the research farm manager of Project Pawpaw, currently caring for the project’s preliminary research orchard on his family’s farm in southern New Jersey. The orchard houses more than 800 pawpaw seedlings, and its goal is to serve as a test orchard for others who want to grow pawpaws in the future.
“We were thinking, ‘How can we do this and really eliminate as much labor as possible?’” Hlubik says. “When they’re cultivated commercially, the grower is also going to want to eliminate a lot of maintenance as much as possible.”
Down the line, Hlubik envisions hosting educational tours of the orchard for both beginner farmer groups and experienced farmers looking for a new crop to try out.
Orchard partnerships are a mutually beneficial arrangement, providing the project a basis to conduct research and farmers with a new crop to sell. Project Pawpaw plans to cultivate similar orchards in Wisconsin and Georgia soon, eventually expanding throughout the U.S.
“We’re not naive enough to pretend like pawpaws are the solution to our climate and sustainability and food woes, but they’re one of the solutions,” D’Angelo says. “They’re a step in the right direction, and the hope is that the work we’re doing and the way that we’ve chosen to accomplish this work will inspire this for other crops and other farming systems.”
There hasn’t been much research done on pawpaws, Hlubik says, adding, “I think it’s the reason why Adam really liked it, and I got in on it with him… it was a crop with a lot of unrealized potential.”
This research requires decades, and funding lags behind the current resurgence in local agriculture seen today.
D’Angelo’s solution is to entirely crowdfund Project Pawpaw through sales of pawpaw merchandise and seedlings. All proceeds go directly back into researching stronger varieties of pawpaws.
“It’s that crowdfunded approach that made this feasible, since there’s not federally accessible dollars for this type of work,” he says.
Since its public launch, the project has raised more than $55,000. In crowdfunding, Project Pawpaw is spreading the word and planting the literal seeds for future generations interested in local agriculture and sustainable diets.
“We do on-farm trials to figure out the best methods for establishing trees,” D’Angelo says. “And we share all that information because we want people to succeed with this. We want people to grow fruit and share it with their neighbors, and help raise awareness about these fruits and the wonderful history they have surrounding them.”
Once orchards are more established, Project Pawpaw hopes to to receive grants from the government. D’Angelo envisions a future where investors recognize the importance of plant breeding research in fighting the climate crisis, yet he emphasizes that these processes have no time to wait for that day. While the best case scenario would’ve been starting 100 years ago, the next best time to start is right now, says D’Angelo.
“Time may be money, but money is not time. There’s no way to rush these processes. And no matter how much you spend, there’s no substitute for having trees in the ground and a long-term research program,” he says. “So that’s why we’re starting it right now.”
Fruit on fire
The American pawpaw is at long last back in the limelight. With festivals attracting thousands of enthusiasts and homegrown patches popping up all over the country, pawpaws are the fruit on fire. Keep reading to learn all about the this forgotten fruit.
Who?
- Project Pawpaw is leading the way to make this native fruit more mainstream.
- Adam D’Angelo, a plant breeding and genetics expert, founded Project PawPaw to help small farmers and bridge the gap from tree to table.
- Generations of breeding and selection carried out by Indigenous peoples have helped pawpaws become more aptly suited for colder climates.
- Festivals have celebrated pawpaws throughout growing zones for decades.
- Home growers and farmers alike have the opportunity to grow their own pawpaws and participate in Project Pawpaw’s collaborative research process.
What?
- As the largest native fruit of North America, these fist-sized fruits are in the same family as their tropical cousins, the plant family Annonaceae. “They got stuck in North America as the continents divided, and the rest of their family lives down in South America as the cherimoya, the soursop and the custard apple family,” D’Angelo says.
- They can be a great alternative crop with a low environmental impact for small farmers to earn extra cash and diversify their crops.
When?
- It is ideal to plant a pawpaw tree in either spring or fall to minimize heat stress on the plant. In colder zones like Wisconsin, it’s better to plant in the spring to avoid premature frost, which can kill the seedling.
- A 2-year-old seedling will usually produce fruit between four to six years after being planted, although this depends on many factors — soil quality, fertility, sun exposure, microclimate, weed pressure, water availability and more will each impact the rate at which the tree grows and begins fruit production
Where?
- Pawpaws perform best in areas with hot, humid summers and cold winters.
- They’re found throughout southern, eastern and some northern parts of the United States and thrive in moist, fertile and relatively acidic soils.
- They typically produce the most fruit when grown in direct sunlight but are also often found wild growing in forests.
Why?
- “It’s native. It’s very resilient, delicious, nutritious. Just has so much going for it,” says Ken Kelly. Early scientific studies and traditional medicine suggest using pawpaw leaves medicinally may even have cancer fighting properties, although more research is needed.
- Here in Wisconsin, you can grow and care for your very own pawpaw patch with the proper care and information. Many pawpaw varieties have resulted from home growers and hobbyists selecting better trees, something D’Angelo calls the “next generation of research.”
How?
- Project Pawpaw offers free growing guides on its website, developed and tested based on its crowdfunded research. These guides serve as an ongoing source of information for beginner pawpaw enthusiasts to learn more about the processes of planting, germination and grafting.
- Grafting is a method to combine different aspects of species into one individual plant. If your tree doesn’t produce fruit you like, you can easily change it to a named variety by grafting. Grafters cut a gash into the top layer of bark in the original tree using a sharp knife. Next, they embed a branch of a different, more desired specimen (called a cultivar, or a named variety) into the gash. If all goes well, when the tree heals, it will take on the desired elements of the grafted cultivar!
- To germinate a pawpaw seed, you can buy them online or even pluck the large black seeds from a pawpaw you’re eating, although beware that seeds will not necessarily produce the same fruit as their parents. Seeds should be stored in a damp paper towel or within damp peat moss to stay moist.
- You can plant your stratified seeds about one inch deep into well drained soil container options including tree pots, plastic grow bags, or ½ gallon milk containers with drainage holes punched in the bottom. Make sure the soil has adequate drainage and is not waterlogged to prevent seeds and developing roots from rotting.
- Seeds can be expected to germinate two to four weeks after planting and seedlings to emerge from the soil approximately six to eight weeks after planting.
Cover photo: Project Pawpaw merch helps raise money to support its research objectives. Photo by Serena Jordahl. Tile photo: Adam D’Angelo, Project Pawpaw founder, gently shakes a branch laden with ripe pawpaw fruit on the Near East Side of Madison. Photo by Serena Jordahl.