The video below will explain everything you need to know about the pawpaw fruit, one of the only truly American fruits which were beloved in colonial times. I don’t know what surprised me more, the fact that I had never heard of the pawpaw or that the phrase “as American as apple pie” is not 100% accurate. As it turns out, apples originated in Asia, as did grapes, oranges, and peaches.
If the pawpaw fruit still grew in abundance as it once did, then it might be on every Thanksgiving table next to the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, especially here in the southeast. Instead, it’s almost impossible to find and almost completely forgotten.