Loaf pans filled with pawpaw quick bread.

If you’ve never heard of a pawpaw, don’t feel bad — I only just learned about them myself, though I’d been hearing about them for months from Sam Consylman, one of the farmers at the Livengood Family Farm stand at the South and Passyunk Farmers’ Market.

When pawpaw season finally arrived, Sam invited me and another loyal South- and Passyunk-market goer to go foraging for this rare fruit in the Susquehannock State Park.

So, on a sunny September morning, Christine and I trekked out to Lancaster to learn about pawpaws. We shook trees, dodged snakes, avoided groundhog holes and tucked into this unknown fruit, tasting almost like a cross between a mango and a banana.

Learning about and hunting for pawpaws — a fruit indigenous to this area — was memorable to say the least.

It turns out that pawpaw flesh, like bananas and apple sauce, takes well to baking. I made pawpaw cookies first, which were good but cake-like, and so, I experimented with a quick bread. I replaced the banana in my mother’s delectable banana bread recipe with the same amount of pawpaw flesh.

Success! Moist and fruity, the pawpaw quick bread tasted better and better with each passing day. Now, because pawpaw season is over, use bananas instead — it is a wonderful recipe, and the bread, when baked in small loaf pans, makes a nice gift.

A no trespassing time.
A farmer next to a pawpaw tree.
Pawpaws hanging from a tree.
Pawpaws hanging from a tree with a fruit grabber pulling them down.
Sam Consylman holding a pawpaw.
Sam Consylman holding four pawpaws.
Sam Consylman squeezing the flesh from a pawpaw.
A bundle of pawpaws on a table.
Sam Consylman holding a bundle of pawpaws.
Sam Consylman holding a bundle of pawpaws.
A pile of pawpaws.
A bucket of pawpaws.
Sam Consylman holding a bundle of pawpaws.
Freshly baked pawpaw quick bread.
Print
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Pawpaw Quick Bread


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4.9 from 15 reviews

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Ingredients

  • butter or spray oil for greasing
  • 2½ cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon table salt
  • 2 scant cups sugar
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups pawpaw pulp*

*An equal amount of mashed ripe bananas can be used in place of pawpaws


Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a bundt pan or 2 standard-sized load pans (8 x 11) or 5 mini loaf pans. Set aside.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Add the pawpaw pulp, and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix only until the flour is incorporated — don’t overmix.
  3. Pour batter into prepared pans and place in the oven. (If using mini pans, place them on a sheet pan first.) Bake for 40 to 45 minutes for mini pans or 45 to 60 minutes for the bundt and larger loaf pans. Cake should be brown and should start to leave the sides of the pan.
  4. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 45 minutes
  • Category: Quick Bread
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American