Introducing the amazing Paw paw, Indian Banana - Asimina triloba, Paw paw fruit seems like it should belong in the tropics (varieties grow all up and down the continent). The consistency is like that of a creamy custard and has a flavour reminiscent of banana, mango, pear, and papaya.
This fruit is best enjoyed when it appears "over-ripe". The skin should be a rich yellow with brown (almost black) markings and bruises, and will yield when squeezed. If the skin is green and flesh is firm, it's not ready yet!
Paw paw grows on small shrub like trees and comes in a number of slightly different varieties and as they ripen from green to bruised with large black spots with yellowing, the flavour and sweetness intensifies to something similar to a caramel custard. The paw paw tree grows all across North America edging forests and on fertile land. Paw paw are an interesting plant in that they do not rely on typical pollinators to breed, rather the flowers attract carrion insects in search for some rotting meat. People who grow Paw paw have been known to hang chunks of meat in the shrubs to help attract insects and increase pollination. Paw paw is also home to both the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly larvae and the Pawpaw sphinx moth larvae. Paw paw is the largest native berry to North America, and the only of its species, of its kind, to not be confined to the tropics. While the yummy fruit is relatively low maintenance and resistant to many bugs, the fruit does not travel well and when fully ripe, does not look the prettiest, thus is has never had great commercial success and has largely been forgotten.
