What’s so special about North America’s largest native fruit? Make this irresistible papaya recipe and find out. Baked papaya pudding is smooth and rich, with intriguing caramel notes and an undeniable papaya kick.
For years it seemed that hardly anyone knew what papayas were. I too have been in this camp of the pawpaw unconscious, and I even grew up where this amazing fruit grows wild in deciduous forests.
But that is changing. People are curious about pawpaw and want to know more about North America’s largest native fruit. Are you one of those people? Brace yourself because papayas aren’t just something you can eat. They are a way of seeing the world. Once you know about papayas, anything seems possible.
What are papayas?
Unlike their other brethren in the Annoceae (custard apple), Papayas (Asimina triloba) are not native to the tropics. A taste of a papaya and you would never guess as they are a riot of banana, mango and pineapple flavors.
Pawpaws are undergrowth trees typically no taller than 30 feet, although it is possible to find ones that stretch a few stories into the sky. They grow in a swath from southeastern Canada to the Panhandle of northern Florida and west to the Mississippi River. The fruit, which is oblong and usually fits easily in the palm of your hand, is pale green on the outside and blends easily with the surrounding foliage of a late summer forest.
If papayas are so great, why don’t we see them in grocery stores? That’s the catch, my friend. Papayas have a shockingly short shelf life and are extremely delicate when ripe. To get your hands on them, you must either seek them out, grow them, or have a trusted connection.
Immerse yourself in the pawpaw mysticism
Papayas are such a big part of my life now that I measure the year by what the papaya trees that grow in the woods near my home in southwest Ohio are doing. April brings its tiny, three-lobed maroon flowers; May delivers the glowing canopy of her green leaves; June offers hints of young fruit. August and September are where the action is, where stolen hours are spent in the woods collecting the short-lived fruit before it rots. October is the poignant turning of its leaves to yellow gold. And from November to the following April, the trees are bare and withered, giving no indication of the joie de vivre they will bring forth in the coming months.
Eat your first papaya out in the woods if you can. It’s a chaotic, wild experience you’ll never forget. If you don’t know where to get papayas and want to experience the immersive experience of papaya hunting, listen to this episode of The Sporkful.
Papaya pudding, please
In late summer, I brave the brush and the bugs, collecting papayas to process their soft, golden flesh into skinless and seedless pulp. Then I set about making a barrage of papaya recipes. A permanent contact point? Pawpaw Pudding, a classic Appalachian recipe.
Once baked, papaya pudding is very similar in texture to crustless pumpkin pie, but the flavor is a whole different ball of wax: you’ll get intriguing notes of caramel mingled with that undeniable papaya trope. Using a food processor, it only takes a few minutes to beat the dough together. If you only have a few papayas, papaya pudding is a good recipe. To me it smacks of the bittersweet weeks when daylight gets shorter and kids go back to school, but long spans of the afternoon can still be auspicious.
More recipes for wonderfully weird fruits
- Membrillo (quince paste)
- elderberry jelly
- Cut and prepare prickly pears
- Persimmon Pudding Cake
- Rosehip Jam
papaya pudding
This is an old-fashioned baked pudding, not as creamy as custard but smooth and rich, with intriguing notes of caramel and an undeniable papaya kick.
In some regions, “pawpaw” refers to papayas (Carica papaya), rather than the North American fruit this recipe calls for. This recipe will not work with papaya, only with North American papaya (Asimina triloba). If you can’t find fresh papayas where you live, you can order the frozen pulp online.
This recipe is from The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook (Belt Publishing, 2021) and shared with permission of the publisher.
ingredients
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2/3 cup (93G) unbleached all purpose flour
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2/3 to 3/4 cup (132 ton 150G) sugardepending on the sweetness of the papayas
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1/4 teaspoon Salt
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1/2 teaspoon baking soda
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1 Cup papaya pulp (see recipe note)
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1/2 Cup buttermilk
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1/4 Cup half and half
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1 big egg
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1 big egg yolk
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2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
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3 tablespoon unsalted buttermelted and cooled
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creme fraiche Cheese or whipped cream to serve
method
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Preheat oven to 350°F.
Position a rack in the middle. Use butter or cooking spray to grease an 8 x 8 inch casserole dish, preferably glass or ceramic.
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Make the dough:
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder to combine.
In a large glass measuring cup or medium bowl, combine papaya, buttermilk, half and half, egg and yolk, and vanilla. With the machine running, add the papaya and buttermilk mixture through the filler neck. Turn off the machine, scrape the sides and add the melted butter with the machine running. Your batter should be the consistency of pancake batter.
Simple tip!
To make this gluten-free, use 1/3 cup white rice flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
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Bake:
Put the dough in the greased form. Bake until center is set but still fluffy (like a pumpkin pie), 35 to 45 minutes. During baking, the pudding may puff up and then deflate – this is normal. The edges will turn brown and the center will be flat, shiny and amber.
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Cool and serve:
Set on a wire rack to cool (the pudding will collapse as it cools). Serve at room temperature with crème fraîche or whipped cream. I love this for breakfast with a big dollop of Greek yogurt, but I could say the same about almost any dessert.
The pudding will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. I suppose you could keep it in the fridge, but it tastes better at room temperature.
Did you like the recipe? Let’s star down!
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 208 | calories |
| 7g | Fat |
| 32g | carbohydrates |
| 4g | protein |
