Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

The pawpaw is the largest edible fruit native to North America. It grows wild from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, including the creek bottoms and shaded woodlands of Northern Illinois, and produces oblong, greenish-yellow fruits with a flavor most people compare to banana, mango, and vanilla custard.

Legend has it George Washington chilled pawpaws in spring water and ate them by the spoonful; we have a direct record that he grew them at Mount Vernon. Lewis and Clark subsisted on them when their provisions ran out in September 1806.

In the two centuries since, forests were cleared, the modern food system rewarded fruit that could ship, and suburbs replaced woodlands. The pawpaw quietly fell out of the American diet.

Its short shelf life kept it out of grocery stores. Its sole pollinators are flies and beetles. Its leaves are the only food zebra swallowtail caterpillars will eat. The pawpaw is, in every sense, a fruit of place. That is exactly why it is worth bringing back.

Imagine cutting into a ripe mango whose flesh tastes like banana and vanilla custard. It is creamy and pudding-like, with large brown seeds that pop out easily. Best eaten fresh, straight from the tree, when the fruit gives slightly to pressure.

Like a mango, a pawpaw is best enjoyed without eating the skin or seeds. And it does not ship well: three days off the tree and the fruit starts to bruise; a week and it is past its prime. They are rarely seen in grocery stores, turning up mostly at farmers' markets and devoted festivals. The best way to know what a pawpaw tastes like is to find one, grow one, or visit the Pawpaw Festival in Paw Paw, Illinois.